Ajahn Thate

The cremation of Venerable Ajahn Thate took place on 8 January 1996, a day of bright sunshine. People from all over Thailand — led by HM the King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the royal family — came to pay their final respects. Each region where the Venerable Ajahn had stayed was represented — even from overseas. It is estimated that there were ten thousand monks present and many hundreds of thousands of lay people. The temporary car park was filled with up to thirty thousand vehicles, including many small and large buses from all parts of Thailand. There were free food stalls and refreshments. A half a million memorial books of the Venerable Ajahn Thate's teachings were distributed free to those present.

On 26 May 1982 The Supreme Patriarch of Buddhism in Thailand (the late Somdet Phra Vaasana Mahaathera) came to officiate at the ceremonial opening of the a Mondop building there and officially declared Wat Hin Mark Peng to be a 'Model Monastery' and gave the Ajahn Thate official recognition of his high status in Buddhism in Thailand.

Ajahn Thate came to dwell and meditate in the forest near what is now Wat Hin Makpeng in 1964. There, as well as constructing kutis (or sleeping quarters) and temples for the monks, he assisted with funding local schools, hospitals and sewerage treatment works.

Phra Ajahn Thate Desaransi (1902–1994), also known as Ajahn Tate, Luangpu Thet Thetrangsi, Phra Desarangsee, or by his monastic title Phra Rajanirodharangsee, was a famous meditation master and Buddhist monk from northern Thailand. He was a disciple of Ajahn Mun and thus a first generation student of the Thai Forest Tradition and one of the founding teachers of the lineage. Following the death of Ajahn Mun in 1949, he was considered to be the Ajahn Yai, or the head of the Thai Forest Tradition lineage until his death in 1994.

Ajahn Thate was born into the family of Ree-o rahng on 26 April 1902 (in the Buddhist calendar the fourth day of the waning moon in the year of the tiger). His birthplace was the village of Nah Seedah, in the subdistrict of Glahng Yai, Bahn Peur District, Udorn-thani Province. His father's first name was Usah, and his mother's Krang. They were rice-farmers and both had grown up as fatherless orphans. Thate was one of ten children. Ajahn Thate was a disciple of the very respected Forest Monk teachers Ajahn Sao and Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta. One of his fellow disciples at that time was Ajahn Chah. Another fellow disciple who remained a lifelong friend was Ajahn Maha Bua. Living and meditating in isolated caves and forests, Ajahn Thate began to obtain acute insights into the workings of the mind.