Reverend Father Samret, Saraburi
Luang Por Samret, Saraburi, a sample statue before the actual construction. I came to ask for blessings, asking for success, success in everything. Amen. Luang Por Samret is sacred. It was excavated on Monday, the 2nd, the 12th waning moon of the 12th month, the year of the pig, B.E. 2502. The statue is made of soil covered with cement, decorated and installed on the bank of the Raphiphat canal, east side. The Royal Irrigation Department was the one who excavated it. The story goes that while the Royal Irrigation Department had workers pile up the soil, the soil at the place where Luang Por soil was, became hard. So, they dug around as much as they could. Later, the soil cracked into the shape of a Buddha statue. No one expected it. The villagers who heard the news gathered to watch and criticized that the Irrigation Department workers were the ones who molded it. In the evening, Nang Foi, who lives behind the market, passed by the Buddha statue. Nang Foi took sugarcane peels to make incense and tamarind leaves to make gold to worship the Buddha statue as a way to mock it. Nang Foi then went back home. But before she got there, she had a severe headache. Nang Foi realized that she had insulted the Buddha statue. When Nang Foi arrived home, Then, she lit incense and asked for the Buddha image. Her headache immediately disappeared. That same night, Grandma Kliang Sukcharoen, whose house was near the Buddha image, experienced a spirit medium. Grandma Kliang had never been a medium before. The villagers gathered to watch and someone asked who the spirit medium was. The spirit medium replied that it was the spirit medium that had been dug up. He told the villagers that through the spirit medium that he had been here for two periods. He came with the elephant handler to catch elephants for three days but did not get any elephants. At night, the mahout went up to sleep on a stretcher in the tree. The Buddha image that the elephant handler had brought fell into the area where they had dug up. The elephant handler searched for him but could not find him. Grandma Nu asked the spirit through the spirit medium what his name was. The spirit medium replied that if he told her his name, she would have to promise to invite monks from five temples to chant and set up a shrine, make a bowl of five every day, and hold a ceremony in the middle of the 12th month every year. Grandma Nu agreed. The spirit told her that his name was Luang Pho Samret Sakdisit. Whatever was done was sacred and everything was successful. Many people who came to see brought bowls of water to make holy water, and took them home to put in a water jar at home. The water in the jar at home made a miraculous “jit jit” sound. Later, Grandma Ngek and the villagers in the market hired Mr. Thawee Dararat to plaster cement on the statue of Luang Pho. However, the Royal Irrigation Department at that time wanted to stop the construction, saying that it was blocking the way and wanted the villagers to move the statue to another place. However, the villagers did not dare to move the statue, and no one dared to plaster the cement on the statue until it was completed in 1962. The Royal Irrigation Department ordered an excavator to level the road on the canal bank from Tha Luang to Nong Kae District. While the excavator was digging around the base, it almost hit the statue. Lightning struck in the open, even though the sky was clear. The driver quickly stopped the car and jumped out to ask for forgiveness. The excavator did not dare to dig near the statue again, causing the road on the Raphiphat canal bank to divert to avoid the statue as seen today.