Luangpor Teean Jittasubho
(1911-1988), or Pann Intapew, was born on September 5, 1911,
at Buhom, Amphur Chiengkhan in the Province of Loei. He was
the son of Jeen and Som Intapew. His father died when he
was young. Since there was no school in the small village
of Buhom, he did not have formal education in his
childhood. The boy, like the rest of them in the village,
had to help his mother in running their farm.
At the age of eleven, he
was ordained as a novice at the village monastery, and
stayed there with his uncle who was a resident monk. During
a year and six months in the monastery, he studied Laotian
scripts and ancient local scripts. He also started
practicing various meditation methods, such as the Budh-dho
and Breath Counting methods. After disrobing, he returned
to his home.
Following tradition, he was
ordained as a monk at the age of twenty. Again he studied
and practiced meditation with his uncle for six months.
After returning to lay life, he was married at twenty-two
and had three sons. In his village, he was always a leader
in Buddhist activities and was highly respected and chosen
to be the head of the village on three different occasions.
Despite of heavy responsibilities, he continued his
meditation practice regularly.
Later he moved to
Chiengkhan, a larger community, where his sons could attend
school. Being a merchant, he sailed his steamboat along the
Maekhong River between Chiengkhan-Nongkai-Vientiane, or even
as far as Luangprabang. He had opportunities to meet
several meditation masters and his enthusiasm in pursuing
Dhamma (the Truth) continued to strengthen. Furthermore, he
began to realize that many years of being good, making
merit, and practicing various methods of meditation had not
liberated him from his anger. Finally, he determined to
start searching for the way out.
In 1957, when he was nearly
forty-six, he left his home with firm determination not to
return unless he found the Truth. He went to Wat
Rangsimukdaram, Tambol Pannprao, Amphur Tabon in Nongkai
Province (Amphur Srichiengmai at present) and practiced a
simple form of bodily movements except that he did not
follow the recitation of the words "ting-ning"
(moving-stopping) like others did. What he did was only
being aware of the movements of the body and mind. Within a
couple of days, on the early morning of the eleventh day of
the waxing moon, the eighth month of 1957, his mind reached
the End of Suffering completely without traditional rituals
or teachers.
Later he returned home. He
taught his wife and relatives what he had found for two
years and eight months, as a lay teacher. He then decided
to re-enter monkhood in order to be in a better position to
teach the people. The ordination was made on February 3,
1960.
His teachings were
spreading across the country as well as outside. He devoted
his life to the teaching of Dhamma despite his poor health.
He was diagnosed to have stomach cancer (malignant lymphoma)
in 1982. In spite of his illness he continued his work
actively and incisively until the end of his life.
On September 13, 1988 at 6:15 PM., he passed away
calmly at the age of seventy-seven in a hut on Koh
Buddhadhamma, Tabb Ming Kwan, Tambol Gudpong in Loei
Province.