This week’s biggest TikTok star isn’t Charli D’Amelio or Khaby Lame, it’s a Buddhist monk from Thailand.
Videos of him started going viral in February after a rumour emerged that he was a staggering 163 years old. However, this isn’t actually true.
It’s scientifically impossible for someone to live to that age, but Luang Pho Yai is over 100 and his videos have fascinated TikTok users.
Let’s meet him…
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109-year-old Thai monk goes viral
Luang Pho Yai, or Luang Ta as he’s also been referred to, is a 109-year-old Buddhist monk in Thailand.
His granddaughter began posting videos of him on her TikTok account @auyary13 in January and has now accumulated over 612,000 followers.
In her TikTok captions, she calls her grandfather Luang Ta. However, it’s unclear whether this is his real name or a nickname.
He is extremely frail and wears a traditional orange monk robe in all of the videos.
She has recently been documenting his recovery after he was hospitalised in Thailand.
One particular clip of him lying on a hospital bed with his hand on a child’s head has had over 74 million views this week.
Don’t confuse him with Ajahn Maha Bua
If you type in Luang Ta on Google, information about a Buddhist monk called Ajahn Maha Bua, also known as Luang Ta, will appear.
However, they are not the same person and the man in the TikTok video should not be confused with him.
Ajahn Maha Bua was a Thai Buddhist monk who was one of the most famous teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition.
The well-known educator was born in 1913 and died in 2011 at the age of 102.
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TikTok users slam negative comments
Many TikTok users are slamming others who are mocking the monk’s appearance feeble appearance.
One person wrote: “Sometimes we try to be funny and end up being mean. Im not hating, I do it too… Let’s just give the man the respect his long life deserves.”
“It’s sad how people just keep making fun of him,” said another whilst a third added: “Just imagine all the things he’s lived through and all the stories he could tell.”
Another person commented: “Some of these comments made me loose what little faith I had in humanity.”
These jokes are distasteful. He may be one of the wisest people ever and ya’ll are cracking jokes. He is a sentient being worthy of the bare minimum of respect that is say nothing if you have nothing nice to say,” said another.