For the entire forty-one years since Luangpu became the Abbot of Wat Paknam in 1918 he had worked so hard and rested so little that his health began to take its toll. Luangpu knew five years in advance of his impending death. He forewarned his disciples of this fact and urged them to carry on his missions after he passed away.
In 1956, Luangpu became fatally ill with hypertension and a hernia which necessitated a surgery at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Subsequently his health deteriorated and he had to be hospitalized twice at the Monastic Hospital. Luangpu knew his illness was incurable. He told the monks close to him that his illness was the karmic retribution from his past evil deeds, something which was not escapable. Although the doctors tending to him were the best Thailand could offer, he said no medicine could cure his karmic illness, that it was as if an impermeable stone was blocking the path of the medicine preventing it from reaching where it was needed.
By 1957 Luangpu's condition had worsened. He knew he could not live much longer, but he still attended to his duties as best as he could. He continued to see visitors every day and handed out the amulets personally. This was an arduous task even for a healthy person. Every evening he would call the monks to meditate near him for one or two hours. Every night he would give instructions to the Dhammakaya meditators at the workshop. As his health faltered, he no longer had the strength to train the newest workshop meditators or lead meditation sessions. Without Luangpu's involvement, the emphasis of the temple tended to swing further and further into the direction of academic studies. One by one, his die-hard meditators left the temple for the forests or went to carry on their meditation elsewhere.
One day Luangpu called Chand Khonnokyoong to tell her:
"Don't die early! Don't give up the teaching life for the seclusion of the forests. After my passing the others will have to rely on you to teach the Dhammakaya Knowledge and keep them on the straight and narrow path. If you don't teach them, they will fall victim to the work of the Mara."
Before Luangpu passed away, he made prophecies about the temple. He said that Wat Paknam would become very popular and there would be many new students coming to join the congregation. To ensure the prosperity of the temple, he ordered his body to be embalmed instead of cremated. He told them, "The 'dead' will feed the 'living'." In other words, this was meant to indicate that his corpse would attract pilgrims to visit Wat Paknam and pay homage. And the pilgrims will make donations to the temple, thus feeding the 'living'. Instructions for meditation would be given to the pilgrims from a tape recording of Luangpu's voice in the chamber where his body lies.
Luangpu passed away on February 3, 1959 at the age of seventy-five, ending his monastic life of fifty-three years.
The Royal Palace donated a gold coffin to honor Luangpu. His embalmed body was placed in this gold coffin and remains there to this day. Every year since Luangpu's passing, thousands of people from around the world have come to Wat Paknam to pay homage to Luangpu and make donations to the temple. Many have come to observe the Eight Precepts, take part in austerity practice and practice meditation. True to Luangpu's prophecy, today, Wat Paknam is one of the most popular Buddhist temples in Thailand.
"Carry on doing the work as if I were alive. Never stop meditating.
Keep doing good and continue to support the monks."
.... Luangpu's last words
