Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand, practiced by roughly 95% of the population. The Thai way of life is closely interweave with their Buddhism religious belief. What better way to understand the locals’ way of life than to visit a place of worship.
Wat Pha Sorn Kaew is a stunningly beautiful temple and one of the more notable landmarks in Khao Kho, the northern Thai district of Phetchabun. Completed in 2004, the temple is built on a 830 metres high hill against a backdrop of neighbouring mountains with a panoramic view of the surrounding.
The temple’s architectural design is unique and markedly different. Atop the temple are 5 white-coloured towering statues of Buddha, in increasing size, one behind the other. The largest one wore a gold Thai-style crown, and I guess this represents and celebrates his attainment of Buddhahood.
In the white-coloured temple hall, the life story of Prince Siddhartha from his birth to attaining enlightenment is told through a series of paintings hung on the walls.
The Buddha statue made of pink-coloured stone in the center of the hall.
We made offerings by clipping dollar notes onto a Naga paper sculpture. A Naga is the Sanskrit word for a deity taking the form of a king cobra, in both Hindusim and Buddhism. It can be depicted with a single head or with many heads, while sheltering Buddha when he was meditating. This Naga paper sculpture is depicted with 5 heads.
Outside the temple, devotees respectfully offered their prayers with a single stalk of lotus flower and incense sticks. The lotus symbolises purity, faithfulness and spiritual awakening in Buddhism as the flower always emerge from murky waters pure and clean.
Another form of offering by pasting gold leaf on hanging spheres outside the temple. We are not sure about this practice though. And as the temple is not in the country’s tourism mainstay areas, most of the texts here are in Thai which we don’t understand.
The temple’s main pagoda and surrounding buildings are on the other side of the road. The style resembles that of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, which is described as free-flowing, organic style inspired by natural forms and highly individualised.
The exterior is adorned with over 5 million pieces of mosaic, be it coloured glass, tiles, stones, beads or ceramic plates and bowls, the design is eye-catching and somewhat dazzling.
The interior of the main pagoda with gold-coloured Buddha statues in various poses.
Being there on a weekend, even though there was a constant stream of devotees moving in and out of the compound, there was still a feeling of serenity within this place of worship. The white temple was still undergoing renovations during our visit but it was definitely worth the trip.
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Read about our trip to Bangkok / Khao Kho in Thailand – Bangkok / Khao Kho Itinerary 2018 .
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