The Reclining Buddha of Wat Pho – Bangkok, Thailand (2006)
“Bangkok” is not the actual name of the city. The name kicks off with “Krung Thep” (which means something like “village of wild plums”) and consists of several adulatory words strung together and pronounced in rapid fire Thai which describe the city’s key hallmarks — one of which (not surprisingly) is that this is the place where the Emerald Buddha resides. Another part of the name is the call out that unlike Ayutthaya — this city is “impregnable”. Just like its verbose sprawl of a name, Bangkok is a free-wheeling, international mecca attracting all sorts of colorful characters. On the surface, a visitor to the city is bombarded with rush-hour traffic along with the incessant commercialism and hedonistic glitter of a behemoth capital of the tropics, but if one takes the time to go behind this facade, the steady pulse of Theravada Buddhism can easily be experienced in the countless temples (wats), shrines, monasteries, and other grounds of contemplation not yet swallowed up by rampant urbanism.
Head of Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho
I start first with Wat Pho which is a restored temple built over the grounds of what was likely the oldest Buddhist temple in Bangkok. The Wat Pho complex is adjacent to the Grand Palace/Wat Phra Keo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha). The current temple design of Wat Pho was created in the early 1800s by King Rama III and houses a 43m (141ft) long Buddha in the lion/reclining pose. This Buddha is tightly squeezed within the temple and has the facial and body characteristics found in the classical style of the Sukhothai period. The Buddha is made of a brick core and a plaster exterior that has been covered and smooth over with gold foil. Its face bears a slight smile — reminiscent of the smile of the stone Reclining Buddha of Gal Vihara in Sri Lanka (see “The Colossi of Gal Vihara” at http://wp.me/p2Bq4y-kR). While not as long as the reclining Buddhas I’ve seen in Burma (i.e., the Shewethalyaung Buddha in Bago, Burma built in 994AD and 55m long — see “The Python Who Was Once A Monk” at http://wp.me/p2Bq4y-wW; or the 65m long Chaukhtatgyi Buddha in Rangoon — see “William of Yangon” at http://wp.me/p2Bq4y-s1), the feet of the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho contain a unique artistic flourish.
Mother-of-Pearl feet
The statue’s feet are 3m high and 4.5m long and the bottom of each foot has been meticulously inlaid with mother-of-pearl. These mother-of-pearl soles have then been carved and divided into 108 rectangular tiles which depict specific Buddhist iconography and symbols — such as cranes, tigers, elephants, lotus blossoms, and altars. Within the center of each foot is a dense circular flower petal design which invokes the wheel of the Dharma. Behind the statue, the 108 panels of each foot are echoed in the form of 108 bronze prayer bowls placed in a row where coins may be donated by visitors.
The central prang of Wat Arun
Across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Pho and the Grand Palace complex is one of Bangkok’s best known sites — Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). This temple is lit up each night and sits on a site that dates back to the 17th century. When the Emerald Buddha was carried away from Laos and brought to Thailand, it was first placed by King Rama I at Wat Arun until Wat Phra Keo was constructed. Wat Arun has a steeply terraced middle tower (called a “prang”) that is influenced by Khmer design. The ashes of King Rama II are enshrined within the grounds of Wat Arun since he is credited with restoring the temple during his reign. Traces of the origin story of the Emerald Buddha (see previous post: “The Jewel of the Chao Phraya” at http://wp.me/p2Bq4y-DJ) are found in the history of another important religious piece in Bangkok — the Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit.
The Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit (2006)
The temple of Wat Traimit contains what is to believed to be the world’s largest solid gold statue: a 5.5 ton/5500kg Golden Buddha in the “vanquishing of Mara” pose. This Buddha is about 3m tall and gold to its core — unlike other “gold” Buddhas which are actually brick or stucco-based with gold-foiled exteriors. But, for over 200 years this statue sat in Wat Traimit in obscurity. It was believed to be one of the remaining intact stone Buddha images that were transported to Bangkok from the ruins of Ayutthaya and nothing more. No one suspected anything about the statue’s true nature until the 1950s when the statue fell during an attempt to move it. At first the workers assigned to moving the statue thought they had broken the statue because of the big crack that appeared. But, as they took a closer look at the cracked statue, they saw something flickering back at them. They chipped away the plaster coating and the gold Buddha emerged. It was thought that the monks at Ayutthaya had purposely tried to hide this priceless image from the invading Burmese by disguising it under a coating that would make it look like the other stone Buddha images of the old capital. When I visited Wat Traimit, the temple was in a state of disrepair and the Golden Buddha sat on a simple platform under a flat roof with little else. In 2010, the Thai government in conjunction with the Thai Sangha finished construction of a large new temple where the Golden Buddha was then placed. This new temple also has a museum section devoted to the history of the Golden Buddha.
The Standing Buddha of Wat Intharawihan
Tucked off a small avenue near the busy King Rama VIII Rd in the northern district of Bangkok is another temple of note — Wat Intharawihan. At this Wat, there is a tall Standing Buddha (32m high and 10m wide) which dates back to the Ayutthaya period (17th century). This Standing Buddha has a particularly striking face with a large triangular nose. This face made such a lasting imprint in my mind that 2 years later when I was in Singapore I saw its doppleganger at the Temple of 1,000 Lights. This temple in Singapore was built in 1932 and contains a large (15m height/300 tonnes) seated Buddha known as the “Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya”.
Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya at Temple of 1000 Lights – Singapore (2008)
When I learned that the person who had commissioned the construction of this temple and Buddha was Thai, I was convinced that this person had to have been influenced by the face of the Standing Buddha of Wat Intharawihan. The 2 faces are like mirrors of one another — although constructed out of different materials and built many 3 centuries apart.
Wat Saket atop the Golden Mount – Bangkok
Phu Khao Thong or the Golden Mount is a man-made hill that is found in the center of Bangkok. On top is Wat Saket — a chedi with gold foil applied to its exterior. Inside this chedi is a relic of the Buddha that was brought from Sri Lanka. The hill itself is actually the remains of an enormous brick chedi that was in the process of being constructed, but due to poor design and engineering this structure collapsed. During the passing centuries, the bricks eroded and the onslaught of rain and mud resulted in the formation of a big lump. King Rama V then oversaw the conversion of this lump into a hill with trees,vegetation, and a series of steps and pathways were built in order to lead people to the top where Wat Saket pierced the sky.
Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple)
In the late 19th century, King Rama V finished building another temple in Bangkok — Wat Benchamabophit (or the Marble Temple). This tranquil and impeccably designed temple has an air of modernism about it — although it is now over a 100 years old. Inside the main temple hall is an exquisite Buddha image that was cast in 1920. I happened to visit the Marble Temple after the tail-end of a heavy, but short rainstorm. From the moment I entered the temple grounds, all the chaos and blight of the Bangkok summer felt wiped away as if hit by a flash flood.
The Seated Buddha inside the Marble Temple
The masonry and the lines of this temple are immaculate. The Buddha within its core sits serenely before a canvas of sea-blue. I felt cleansed — and it wasn’t because of the rain. It was because I had been quickly absorbed into the quiet bosom of this sacred space. I can remember singing along to “One Night In Bangkok” when it first came out in the 80s. I never really paid attention to the lyrics until the time of my first trip to the city. There’s a line in the chorus of the song that says “you’ll find a god in every golden cloister.” No doubt this line may have various interpretations. But, it takes on a literal meaning when you do actually explore the side-streets (or “soi”) of this city because there is usually some golden image there to greet you. Some like the Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit are on celebratory display. Others may be hidden beneath plaster coatings, but maybe — if one goes beyond the cacophony of Khao San Road, the sleek din of Sukhumvit, and the carny pleasure of Patpong — these still await discovery.
