Bunleua Sulilat

In his later years, Sulilat suffered a fall from one of his giant sculptures. Subsequently, his health deteriorated (the precise relation of his illness to the fall is unclear; he appears to have suffered from some blood disease), and he died in 1996. His mummified body has been enshrined at the 3rd floor of the Sala Keoku pavilion building.

Upon graduating from his apprenticeship with Keoku, Sulilat took on monumental sculpting, and proceeded with the construction (in 1958) of his first concrete sculpture garden, Buddha Park near Vientiane, Laos. Concerned about the political climate in Laos after the 1975 communist revolution, Sulilat crossed Mekong fleeing to Thailand. In 1978, he commenced the construction of a new sculpture garden, Sala Keoku, located across the river from the old one.

Bunleua Sulilat (June 7, 1932 – August 10, 1996; often referred to as Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat; Thai: หลวงปู่บุญเหลือ สุรีรัตน์, RTGS: Luangpu Bunluea Surirat, pronounced [lǔa̯ŋ.pùː būn.lɯ̌a̯ sù(ʔ).rīː.rát]; numerous variants of the spelling exist in Western languages: see below) was a Thai/Isan/Lao mystic, myth-maker, spiritual cult leader and sculpture artist. He is responsible for creating two religious-themed parks featuring giant fantastic sculptures made of concrete on the banks of the Mekong river near Thai-Lao border: Buddha Park (Lao: ວັດຊຽງຄວນ, Thai: วัดเซียงควน) on the Lao side (25 km southeast from Vientiane), and Sala Keoku (Thai: ศาลาแก้วกู่) on the Thai side (3 km east of Nong Khai).

Bunleua Sulilat was born in 1932 as the seventh of eight children to a family in Nong Khai province, Thailand. According to a legend, as a young man, he fell into a cave and thus met hermit Keoku, his spiritual mentor, after whom Sala Keoku (The Hall of Keoku) is named.