Phramongkolthepmuni (Sodh Candasaro; 1884 - 1959), the late abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, was the founder of the Thai Dhammakaya meditation school in 1914. Phramongkolthepmuni was born Sodh Mikaewnoi on 10 October 1884 to the family of a rice merchant in Amphoe Song Phi Nong, Suphanburi, a province 100 km to the west of Bangkok. At the beginning of July 1906, aged twenty-two, he was ordained at Wat Songpinong in his hometown and was given the Pāli name Candasaro.