Khru Ba Sriwichai

Khruba Siwichai (Thai: ครูบาศรีวิชัย, also spelled Sriwichai) was a Thai Buddhist monk born in 1878 in the village of Ban Pan, Li District, in Lamphun province of northern Thailand. Siwichai is best known for the building of many temples during his time, his charismatic and personalistic character, and his political conflict with local authorities.

Siwichai was born to a humble peasant family in Ban Pang. Early accounts suggest that on the particular day that he was born there was a heavy thunderstorm and rain and was thus given the name of Fuen, "quake" or Fahong, "thunder". Given the context of his birth, may around his village accredited him as the phu mee boon or a person having merit. As a child, Fahong has been described to have compassion with all beings. Previous biographies cite that as a child he would release the animals that his father caught for cooking or beg him to not hit fish as their heads would hurt.

From an early age Fehong expressed a serious interest in Buddhism as the believed that his family's present state of poverty was a consequence of his misbehavior in his previous life and became a well behaved monk so his parents would have a better life. He was ordained as a novice (samanen) at the age of 18 at the local temple in the village of Ban Pang. Fahong was ordained as a monk in 1899 at Wat Ban Hong Luang at which point the took a religious name of Phra Siwichai and went on to study with his first teacher Khruba Khattiya in Wat Bang Pan.

As a student the Khruba was known to have great respect and reverence towards the science of magic and spells. Additionally, Khruba Siwichai gained reputation for his asceticism Traditional accounts of his early career suggest Khruba Siwichai was an exemplary Buddhist monk, eating only one vegetarian meal a day and refraining from "habit-forming practices as chewing betel and fermented tea leaves, and smoking". His generosity and compassion were evident to everyone around him. One of his biographers Sanga Suphapha said the following:

Khruba Siwichai became the new abbot of wat Ban Pang after the former abbot, Khruba Khattiya, passed away. Soon after, he began building a new temple and finished it in 1904, naming it Wat Sri Don Chai Sai Mun Bun Rueng even though villagers still referred to it as a Wat Ban Pang. This new temple was but the beginning of a career involving the repair and construction of over one hundred religious and nonreligious projects such as temples, roads, and bridges. Some of his more renowned monuments were temples on the top of Doi Suthep, the Suan Dork temple in Chiang Mai and the reliquary at the Camthewi temple in Lamphun. Villagers were urged to donate their money and labor as an act of merit (bun). Nationally known Buddhist monk and writer Phikkhu Panyanantha described Khruba Siwichai as a monk not of rank, but of the people and gained massive popular support and the status of a ton bun (holy men). A highly respected northern Thai monk writes:

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