Wat Pho

Today we headed out to Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  Buddha in the reclining position is also called the Parinirvana Buddha. The reclining position symbolizes Buddha's moment of death, when he achieved the final stage of enlightenment.  According to Buddhist teaching, if you achieve this state, you will not re-enter the cycle of life.  

    Wat Pho is a huge complex that consists of two primary sections- a section accessible to all, which includes the reclining Buddha (which is, incidentally, the largest in the world) along with grounds, smaller temples, statues, trees, spires, etc.  and a section that is closed off from visitors which serves as a working Buddhist monastery.

  [ Side note: I still can't get past all the monks wandering around here.  I've learned enough since we've been here to understand that they aren't the exotic creatures they are made out to be in US culture (which I knew of course, but still secretly felt) but it still feels a bit surreal to see them everywhere.]

    There is a strict dress code for the temple (not the whole complex)- shoes off, long dresses or skirts, and shoulders covered.

  It was particularly awesome to be covered head to toe given the 95 degree weather.  You can't tell in the photos, but we are dripping with sweat.

    The reclining Buddha is huge and beautiful.  It's made of plaster and brick and covered in gold leaf.  His feet are covered in mother of pearl art work, depicting the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha.( It isn't the photo.  The artwork is actually sideways on his feet).

looking straight up the walls.

The walls are covered with hand painted pictures.  It is an amazing, amazing space.  

Walking through didn't give rise to any religious impulse- while I deeply appreciate Buddhist philosophy and practice and engage some of that practice myself,  I'm not Buddhist. There were also hundreds of people jostling around, so I wasn't feeling very reflective in the moment.  But there were others who stopped to pray at one or another of the little shrines that ran along the temple. 

Running along the back wall of the temple behind the Buddha are 108 bowls.  It is tradition to drop a 1 baht coin into each bowl and make a wish, thus gaining good luck and the blessing of Buddha.  

     

The grounds of the Wat were originally the site of a school for traditional Thai medicine.  There are statues of yoga positions around the complex and the complex is still home to a school of traditional Thai massage. 

    There are also Stupas everywhere- monuments to various people who have died.   The tile work is beautiful.  The…I’m not sure of the word…the geometry? of the space is so different than what you’d see in the US.

    The complex has over 1000 Buddha images, many of them lined up along the outer walls of one smaller temple.  Walking along those Buddhas was the one time I felt a religious response. 

There are also many Bodhi trees around the space.  Supposedly, one of them is a cutting from the original tree that the Buddha sat under when he attained enlightenment, but I didn’t know that while we were there, so I have no idea which one.

   

  After our time in the Wat, we popped over to the Amulet Market up the street: thousands of  amulets- the Buddha, important monks, small animals, all of which are meant to bring good luck.  For us, it was just fun to look through and pick a few that we liked. But there were people who took selection very seriously- using magnifying glasses to examine the images and read the writing, to make sure they were choosing the right ones.

   

  We took the water bus back home before dinner, because what the girls love more than anything else in Thailand is……the pool in my brother’s apartment.  It is, I must say, a very nice pool.

    

Then we headed out again to a night market, for dinner, and finally, home for some much needed sleep.