Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (Wat Doi Suthep) releases this amulet of Kruba Sivichai, the temple in Tambon Suthep, Amphoe Mueang, Chiang Mai Province. Kruba Sivichai was born in the village of Ban Pang, Lamphun Province. He was a Thai Buddhist monk born in 1878 to a humble peasant family. It is the day when he was born. There was heavy rain and thunderstorms, and his parent gave him the name Farong in Thai, which means "Thunder." Related to an ancestor in his holiness, given the event of his birth, many around his village accredited him as a person with achievement.
As a child, Kruba Sivichai has been described as having compassion for all beings. He releases the animals his father caught for cooking or begs his father not to hit the fish as their heads hurt. Kruba Sivichai had done many good deeds for Buddhism in his life. His goodness could hardly fade from Thai people's minds, especially for his many construction and renovation works. His charisma and personality increased his reputation and influence. Many began to describe him as the title of a bodhisattva with miraculous powers. Kruba Sivichai repaired and constructed over one hundred religious and non-religious projects, such as temples, roads, and bridges.
Early biographies report that the renovation of Wat Phra Singha temple was constructed with the help of angels as the workers who were building the temple found pots full of gold on the temple ground. According to folk tales, Kruba Sivichai consistently denied having these extraordinary powers, but his public ascription of him as bodhisattva remained. From an early age, Kruba Sivichai expressed a serious interest in Buddhism as he believed that his family's present poverty was a consequence of his misbehavior in his previous life, and he became a well-behaved monk so his parents would have a better life.
He was ordained as a novice at 18 at the local temple in his village. Kruba Sivichai was ordained as a monk in 1899 at Wat Ban Hong Luang, where he took the religious name of Phra Sivichai and went on to study with his first teacher, Kruba Khattiya, in Wat Bang Pan. Phra Sivichai was known to have great respect and reverence towards the science of magic and spells as a novice. Additionally, Khuba Siwichai gained a reputation for his asceticism. His generosity and compassion were evident to everyone around him. One of his biographers, Sangha Suphapha, said the following:
- He showed compassion and mercy towards anyone who appealed to him and did nothing valuable to himself. He was not a rank monk but only a monk of the people. As a result, he was always moving about, doing valuable things wherever he went. They led Buddhists to rejoice that a monk with the vast heart of a Bodhisattva had been born into the world.
