Ajahn Chah Memorial Day – Monastic Procession (2023)

Every year on Ajahn Chah’s memorial day, January 16th, a week‑long Dhamma program is held at Wat Nong Pah Pong — Ajahn Chah’s first monastery, founded near his birthplace. The week includes daily Dhamma talks, group meditation sessions, and chanting for the more than 600 monks and approximately 5,000 laypeople who attend. The event culminates in a large procession, where everyone — the monks leading — walks with flowers in their hands toward the crematorium that was built for Ajahn Chah’s cremation in 1993. More than one million people were present at the ceremony that year. This video shows the monks leaving the Sala at Wat Nong Pah Pong to begin the procession to the cremation site on Luang Por Chah Memorial Day, January 16, 2023 – a day marking the 31st anniversary of his passing and exactly 30 years since the grand cremation ceremony in 1993. The recording conveys the dignity, simplicity, and discipline characteristic of Ajahn Chah’s branch of the Thai Forest Tradition. The procession is the culmination of the memorial day, when the sangha gathers to honour Luang Por Chah’s life, teachings, and boundless kindness. May this recording serve as a source of clarity and benefit for all who feel connected to Ajahn Chah’s legacy and the living practice of the Forest Tradition.