Kruba Chaiya Wat Dong Rong Kaew is one of youngest guru monks in Chiang Mai who is only 29 years old this year. Kruba Chaiya was born on 15th March BE 2534. At the age 13, he was already ordained as a novice to practise Buddhism and magical practice under the guidance of Maha Supan the abbot of Wat Hua Song and later was ordained as a monk at the age of 20. At the age of 16, while he was learning Buddhism and magical practice under Maha Supan, he managed to meet up with Kruba BoonChum.
Maha Supan strongly encouraged Kruba Chaiya to study under the guidance of Kubra BoonChum as he knew that Kruba Chaiya had great talents. Hence, Kruba BoonChum decided to take in Kruba Chaiya as his disciple and guided Kruba Chaiya in meditation, Buddhism and magical practice. After under the guidance of Kruba BoonChum for a duration of 2 years, Kruba Chaiya went to Wat Nam Pew to seek deeper knowledge and at the mean time there was also a well-known guru monk that resided in Wat Nam Pew as well.
The well-known guru monk that resided in Wat Nam Pew was the abbot of the temple. He is Kruba Indra who is among the top few guru-monks in meditation and magic practice among the Northern Region of Thailand. Kruba Indra was 101 years old when he saw Kruba Chaiya and agreed to accept Kruba Chaiya as one of his disciples. Kruba Chaiya got his ordination name from Kruba Indra before Kruba Indra passed away at the age of 102.
By the time Kruba Chaiya reached the age of 20, he was ordained as a monk under Maha Supan and was given the title of Phra Chaiya Pataphi. Due to many miraculous incidents that devotees encountered from Kruba Chaiya, more and more people would seek blessings from Kruba Chaiya. During BE 2555, a rich merchant who was a devotee of Kruba Chaiya brought a piece of land and invited 108 guru monks from northern part of Thailand to build a temple for Kruba Chaiya to reside in. Hence, the temple was named Wat Dong Rong Kaew.
There is also a thing that happens during Kruba Chaiya’s ordination. In Thailand,the parents of the monk will always keep their child's first hair that was shaved as a monk and kept in a transparent container to place it at the Altar. This was no different for the family of Kruba Chaiya. As his mother discovered that Kruba Chaiya’s hair sticks together and crystallized stones can be seen around it. After this news spread around, devotees started to gather whenever Kruba Chaiya shaved his hair to gather it and place his hair in a small bag to keep inside their wallets. Many devotees encountered positive things and this drew more and more devotees to gather together when Kruba Chaiya shaved his hair.