About

163-Year-Old Man refers to a series of viral videos by TikToker @Auyary13 documenting her 92-year-old Buddhist monk father Luang Pho Yai or Amkha Chantasaro in the hospital, presumably near the end of his life. Videos of Yai went viral on TikTok in early 2022 and inspired jokes about his age and rumors that the man was 163-year-old and practicing Sokushinbutsu, a Buddhist monk practice where the person mummifies themself while alive. The age rumor has been debunked and it is unknown if he is practicing Sokushinbutsu.

History

On November 21st, 2021, TikToker^[1] @auyary13 posted a seemingly old video clip where she approaches her grandfather, Luang Pho Yai, in a dilapidated building, gaining over 109,000 views in three months (shown below, left). On January 18th, 2022, the TIkToker^[2] posted a second video where she goes into Yai's room to take him to the hospital, gaining over 10 million views in a month (shown below, right). The caption translates to, "I agree to go to the hospital. The offspring will be broken. want to be together for a long time I don't want you to endure pain like this 😣😣."

She continued to document her grandfather over the following months. On January 19th, the TikToker posted a video of Yai eating, gaining over 2 million views in a month (shown below, left). On the same day, she posted a video where they both speak to each other and feel his leg, gaining over 1.2 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On January 20th, the TikToker posted a video of Yai being transported to a hospital in an ambulance after suffering a broken thigh and hip, writing that he had to have bone surgery and a brain scan, gaining over 477,000 views in a month (shown below).

On January 28th, the TikToker posted a video of Yai in his hospital bed, captioned, "Pulse is normal? But strangely, the awakening was unconscious at all. Usually catch a bit and you will startle, but today everything is calm. 🥺" gaining over 2.5 million views in under a month (shown below, left). On February 1st, she posted a video giving Yai water through a syringe, gaining over 30 million views in three weeks (shown below, right).

On February 18th, the TikToker uploaded a video of Yai sitting up in his hospital bed, gaining over 35 million views in six days (shown below, left). On February 19th, she posted a video of Yai patting his great granddaughter's head, gaining over 79 million views in five days (shown below, right).

On February 22nd, the TikToker uploaded a video of Yai in his hospital bed wearing a yellow beanie and shirt, gaining over 6 million views in two days (shown below).

On February 25th, the TikToker uploaded a video of Yai in a wheelchair at the hospital (shown below). The caption tells commenters to "stop the drama," and translates to, "Taking Luang Pho Yai Ta to sit and watch the children and villagers prepare for the annual event at our temple. Seems tired but my heart is fighting 🥺 (People who think differently, please stop the drama. I'm tired.)"

Death

Luang Pho Yai died at 6:40 PM on on March 22nd. That day, Auyary13 posted two videos, one announcing his death and another showing someone attempting to revive him (shown below, left and right).

On the 23rd, Auyary posted the schedule for his funeral to TIkTok.^[6] On the 24th, she posted a video showing a group of monks surrounding his body in the hospital bed and celebrating him along with images of his funeral, captioned, "The funeral watering ceremony for Luang Ta Akha" (shown below).

Online Presence

Age Rumors / Memes

As the videos went viral, TikTokers made jokes about the man's age in the comments, some guessing his age (examples shown below). This helped spread rumors about him purportedly being 163 years old, along with several videos claiming this on YouTube^[4][5] posted around February 20th, 2022. Some assumed he was going through the Buddhist monk practice of Sokushinbutsu, a process of mummification while alive, but this is unconfirmed. Snopes^[3] debunked these rumors on February 21st, 2022.

Although the Snopes article claims the monk is 109-years-old based on a comment by auyary, an article on his death from thairath.co^[7] claims he is 92-years-old

Search Interest

External References