Thousands mourn northeastern monk
Around 64,000 mourners paid their respects on Tuesday to the late northeastern monk Luang Phor Koon Parisuttho, whose body was among the 647 "Khru Yai" cadavers placed for Abhidhamma prayer at Khon Kaen University's (KKU) Golden Jubilee Convention Hall since Monday before the royally sponsored cremation rites are held on January 29.
About 50,000 mourners laid funeral flowers at the convention hall for the monk while another 14,000 people laid flowers at the temporary crematorium erected at Buddhamonton Isan, a religious venue within the Wat Nong Waeng compound in Khon Kaen’s Muang district, said KKU Faculty of Medicine dean Charnchai Panthongviriyakul on Wednesday.
Visitors also made cash donations of Bt1.2 million for merit-making for the monk, he said.
The abbot of Wat Bai Rai in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Dan Khun Thot district was one of the country’s most revered monks. He died aged 92 on May 16, 2015, and his will donated his body for medical research at KKU and requested that his body then be cremated and the ashes scattered on Mekong River at Nong Khai.