Wat Chet Yot
Wat Chet Yot ( Thai : วัด เจ็ด ยอด , original name: Wat Photharam Maha Wihan - วัด โพธาราม มหา วิหาร ) is a Buddhist temple ( Wat ) in Chiang Mai in the northern region of Thailand .
location
Wat Chet Yot is located northwest of the city of Chiang Mai on the Super Highway Chiang Mai - Lampang ("National Road 11"), north of the intersection of Huai-Kaeo and Nimmanhemin Straits.
Building history
The construction of the temple was commissioned by King Tilokarat in 1455 after sending monks to Bagan to study the design of the Mahabodhi Temple there, which in turn is a copy of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya in northern India .
According to the Jinakālamālī Chronicle, the king is said to have planted a Bodhi tree here in 1455 and built "a great shrine in this monastery" in 1476, probably to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Buddhism here. Because in the following year 1477 the Eighth Buddhist World Council was held at Wat Chet Yot to renew the Tripitaka , the Buddhist Pali canon .
Temple structure
The Wihan Maha Pho
The design of the central sanctuary, the Wihan Maha Pho (also: Maha Chedi มหา เจดีย์ ), actually resembles the Mahabodhi temple, the Indian style is clearly recognizable. On the flat roof of the rectangular, windowless building are the seven peaks (Thai: Chet Yot) that gave the temple its name: a pyramid-like tower with a square base, offset slightly backwards in the middle with four smaller versions at the four corners and two bell-shaped ones Chedis on the front of the two small side wings.
Inside the building there is a barrel-shaped corridor with a Buddha statue at the end . A narrow staircase leads to the roof to the right and left of the Buddha figure. A bodhi tree is said to have grown on the roof in the past, but it was removed in 1910 to prevent the structure from collapsing.
On the outer walls are 70, partly heavily weathered stucco reliefs by Thewada , divine beings who are supposed to live in the heavenly spheres. Their faces are said to have been modeled after people from King Tilokarat's relatives.
More buildings
On the extensive temple grounds there are three more chedis in Lan Na style (also: Prasat style ): a bell-shaped stupa is located on a cube-shaped base with alcoves on the four sides, in which there are Buddha figures . King Tilokarat's ashes are buried in the largest of the three chedis.
In the northeast corner of the temple area there is a small ubosot with a gable field made of fine wood carving.
In the western part of the area there are some Buddha statues with different hand positions ( mudra ). Descriptions in English provide explanations.
- Impressions from the temple area
Tilocarat chedi
Chedi Animisa
Chedi Animisa
Wood carving on the gable board of the Ubosot
Pilgrimage
Wat Chet Yot is also the destination of a pilgrimage for people born in the year of the snake .
A slightly different kind of pilgrimage can also be carried out here in the temple, the visit to the Seven Great Stations ( สัต ต มา หา สถาน , Satta Mahasathan). These seven stations each represent an event that after Thai Buddhist legends immediately after the enlightenment of the Buddha is said to have taken place. They are visited in sequence on major Buddhist holidays - such as the Visakha Bucha holiday .
A similar system of the Seven Great Stations is located in several Thai temples, such as Wat Suthat in Bangkok .
The Seven Great Stations of Wat Chet Yot are said to have been laid out by King Tilokarat. The king built a small chedi on the temple grounds for each station. In each chedi there was a Buddha statue with a certain hand position (mudra) that suited the respective station. Of most of them, however, only the foundations can be seen today, and the pond in the east of the facility can still be seen.
- Bodhi Throne ( Phot Banlang - โพธิ์ บัลลังก์ ) - here the future Buddha meditated looking to the east.
- The Buddha is then said to have stood northeast in front of the Bodhi tree for a week and looked at it. This station is called “Animisa Chedi” ( อ นิ ม มิส เจดีย์ ) because it is said to have stood there “without blinking”.
- Rattana Chong Krom Chedi ( รัตน จงกรม เจดีย์ ) - after showing his respect for the Bodhi tree, he went to the place where he had achieved enlightenment after seven days. Here he practiced walking meditation .
- Rattanakhara Chedi ( ร ตน ฆ ร เจดีย์ ) - in the fourth week after enlightenment, the Devas built a crystal house for him northwest of the Bodhi tree. Here the Buddha spent seven days pondering Abhidhamma .
- Achapalnikhroth Chedi ( อช ปาล นิโครธ เจดีย์ ) - it is located east of the Bodhi tree. One week after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha practiced meditation under the achapalnikroth tree ( banyan tree , ไม้ นิโครธ or ต้นไทร ) for seven days .
- Muchalintha Chedi ( มุ จ จ ลิ นท เจดีย์ ) - after leaving the banyan tree, the Buddha went in the sixth week to the Muchalin tree ( Barringtonia , ไม้ จิก ) southeast of the Bodhi tree, where he stayed for seven days delighted in the happiness of his enlightenment. Other sources place this station on the small pond in the east, where the king of the Nagas spread his seven heads over the Buddha to protect him from a storm.
- Ratchayatana Chedi ( รา ชาย ตน เจดีย์ ) - after enjoying the joy of enlightenment for seven days, the Buddha went to the Ratchayatana tree ( ไม้ เกด ), which was south of the Bodhi tree. Here in the morning the guardian of the four cardinal points appeared to him and offered him an olive. The Buddha spent seven more days under the Ratchayatana tree. Other sources speak of the god Indra , who presented the Buddha with a “ myrobalan fruit”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Wat ched Yod (Seven - Spiers Temple) ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (in English)
literature
- Michael Freeman: Lanna - Thailand's Northern Kingdom . River Books, Bangkok 2001, ISBN 0-500-97602-3
- ศิริ ศก ดิ์ คุม รักษา (Sirisak Khumraksa, ed.): หนังสือ ชุด แผนที่ ความ รู้ เมือง ไทย - ศาสน ศิลป์ บน แผ่นดิน ล้าน นา ( Buddhist Art of Lanna ). Plan Readers Publication, Bangkok 2003, ISBN 974-91558-8-2
Web links
- Temple website (in Thai)
Coordinates: 18 ° 48 ′ 32.7 ″ N , 98 ° 58 ′ 17.9 ″ E