Wat Ban Tham - Legend of Khun Phaen, the Misty Horse

Story of Wat Ban Tham This temple has a history that has been passed down to the people that it was built in the Sukhothai period. According to the story, there was a very wealthy man who saw a large and beautiful cave in Ban Tham that was suitable for living. There were well-lit chimneys and constant wind blowing in and out, making it cool and comfortable like being in an air-conditioned room. So he invited a monk named Luang Pho Thong, the first abbot, who turned out to be famous for his Buddhist magic, to stay in this cave. Luang Pho Thong raised a myna bird and trained it to speak human language. Even today, there are myna birds living there. The wealthy man brought Luang Pho Thong to stay in this cave and relied on Luang Pho to teach him about Dhamma, which made his faith and devotion grow even more. So he built a Buddha statue in the style of Phra Buddha Chinnarat, 11 cubits high and 8 cubits wide (the interior is unknown). The outside was covered with cement, lacquered, and gilded, to be a place for people to worship. Luang Pho Thong had very strong spiritual powers. You can travel along the rocky crevices of the mountain to Khao Tok Tham Mangkon Thong, which is about 10 km away from Wat Ban Tham. When you get there, you can bathe in the lotus pond and collect a bundle of 20 lotus leaves. It is just enough to go back and forth. This distance, if you are not strong enough in concentration, you cannot go all the way because in the mountain there is beautiful land and sandy beach. There are many villages of Laplae people. Those who want to pass through must have good morals and integrity. If you are not moral and integrity, you will be harmed by the giant butterfly woman who guards the gate. Later, the wealthy man had a son, so he brought him to be a disciple of Luang Por and ordained as a novice. Later, the novice saw Luang Por going into the mountain crevices every day and wanted to go too. Even though Luang Por tried to stop him, he would not listen. Luang Por had to make a promise to the novices that if they saw anything on the way, they would stay still, walk with restraint in their senses, following Luang Por’s footsteps, and not get involved in anything they saw. The novices accepted the promise, so Luang Por took them on a journey together. When they arrived at the gate of the city of Laplae, the Venerable Father had strong concentration and was able to pass through as usual. The novice followed the Venerable Father’s footsteps and followed behind with unstable concentration. The ogress who was guarding the gate saw the strange novice and wanted to test him. She transformed into a beautiful young woman and greeted him with sweet words. The nun who was feeling naughty and lost her concentration when she saw the young woman and was thinking of flirting. When she got the chance, she tried to offend him. When the ogress tested her, she knew that the novice was dishonest and immoral and should not have passed through the gate of the city of Laplae. She spoke words to stop him. The novice refused to listen and wanted to hurry after the Venerable Father. The young woman transformed into an ogress and twisted the novice’s neck until he died. When the Venerable Father arrived at the village of Laplae, he waited for a long time but did not see the novice come. He thought that the novice must have been harmed by the ogress. He hurried back to look and found that the novice had been twisted to death. He asked the ogress and found the truth. The novice monk who broke the precepts and oath was punished to death. The abbot asked the ogress to help fix the novice monk and bring him back to life. When the novice monk woke up, he quickly took him back to the cave. From that day on, the novice monk fell ill and no one knew the cause. After 7 days, the novice monk died. Only the abbot knew the cause of the novice monk’s death. However, because he was afraid of trouble, he did not tell anyone about it. From that day on, the abbot used stones to seal the cave hole that had been penetrated by the mountain tightly to prevent anyone from wandering in again. The abbot himself also stopped entering the mountain hole. Since then, the mountain hole has been blocked for a long time until today. It turned out that stalactites and stalagmites have completely blocked the way, leaving only traces. As for the rich man, after his son died, he thought that in the future, if his children ordained in this cave again, there would definitely be another disaster that caused death like this. So he ordered the workers to build a temple at the foot of the mountain below the mouth of the cave. And it has been called “Wat Ban Tham” until today. Regarding this Laplae city, there is something strange that the villagers have told each other that there have been people who have gotten lost in the Laplae village many times. Moreover, if there is a lot of rain in a year, that year there will be water flowing down the valley into the stream at the stream. The water will flow down behind the temple as a beautiful waterfall. And it appears that in the stream where the water flows, you will see betel nut peels, pomelo peels, and other fruits flowing down with the water. People in that area believe that these are things that the Laplae people have thrown away and floated down with the water.