Ajahn Chah entered this world on June 17, 1918, in a small rural village known as Ban Kor, in Ubon Ratchathani Province in northeastern Thailand. The various renderings of the village name—Ban Kôr, Baan Goor, Ban Gor—reflect the fluidity of transliteration rather than any substantive difference, pointing back to the same modest settlement. This setting, far from the bustle of urban centers, formed the geographical and cultural cradle of his life and practice. The landscape of northeastern Thailand, often referred to as the Isan region, is marked by simplicity and hardship, conditions that readily lend themselves to a life of renunciation and contemplation.

To reflect on these bare biographical details is already to sense something of the spiritual atmosphere that shaped him. A birth in such a village, within Ubon Ratchathani Province, evokes an environment where the rhythms of nature, community, and traditional Buddhist faith interweave. The date, June 17, 1918, situates his life at a time when older rural ways were still very much alive, offering fertile ground for the emergence of a forest monk whose teachings would emphasize direct experience, simplicity, and letting go. In this way, the time and place of his birth are not merely historical coordinates, but the first conditions for a path that would later illuminate the hearts of many practitioners.