Wat Suan Dok
Wat Suan Dok ( Thai : วัด สวน ดอก - roughly: Flower Garden Monastery ) is a Buddhist temple ( Wat ) in Chiang Mai , northern Thailand . It is a Third Class Royal Temple . The temple is located on Thanon Suthep (Suthep Street) about one kilometer west of Pratu Suan Dok (Suan Dok City Gate).
The Chiang Mai campus of the Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya Buddhist University is located on the temple grounds .
history
Wat Suan Dok was built in 1370 by King Kue Na of the Lan Na Kingdom for the monk Sumana. The temple was built in the center of Wiang Suan Dok (Thai: เวียง สวน ดอก ), a fortified settlement (Wiang, เวียง ) of the Lawa , which existed before Chiang Mai was founded. The outlines of the fortification can still be clearly seen on satellite images, north of the Thanon Suthep some earth walls are still preserved. King Kue Na maintained his flower garden here (Thai: Suan Dok Mai, สวน ดอกไม้ ), which gave the temple its original name: Wat Buppharam Dok Mai ( วัด บุปผาราม ดอกไม้ ) or Wat Suan Dok Mai for short ( วัด สวน ดอกไม้ )
Legend has it that a monk from the Sukhothai Kingdom , Maha Sumana Thera, found a relic of the Buddha after a vision , which according to the vision should be kept in Chiang Mai. Following an invitation from King Kue Na, Suman's Thera initially spent two rainy seasons at Wat Phra Yuen near Lampang , while the king had a new temple built for the relic, Wat Buppharam Dok Mai. When the time came, the relic miraculously split into two parts. One part was enclosed in a shrine at Wat Buppharam Dok Mai as intended, while the other was brought to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep on the back of a white elephant .
Attractions
- The large, 48-meter-high Sri Lankan style chedi can be seen from afar. It is said to contain the relic of the Buddha. Originally, long stairs on all four sides led to a narrow terrace around five meters high around the chedi; today they have been replaced by a ramp. The balustrade is formed by the combination of a seven-headed Naga and a Makara in the classic Lan-Na style.
- The large Sala Kan Parian (Sermon Pavilion) is just east of the large chedi. It dates back to 1932. It was built by the famous monk Kru Ba Srivichai, who had an ubosot built and the chedi renovated at the same time . The two main Buddha statues of the Sala Kan Parian are aligned back to back. One statue in a seated meditation posture (Bhumisparsha- Mudra ) looks to the east, while the other, standing, carries a bundle of blades of grass in her right hand and looks at the chedi. In front of the seated statue is a slightly smaller statue that was created in the La Na style at the time of King Kue Na. Unusual are the feet of this statue, on which - Sri Lankan influenced - the toes are individually formed. There are also numerous other statues, some of which date from the 1930s.
- In the recently renovated ubosot there is a 4.70 meter high bronze Buddha statue in meditation posture (Bhumisparsha-Mudra), which was created in 1504 during the reign of King Mueang Kaeo . It is called "Phra Chao Kao Tue". What is remarkable about this statue are the equally long fingers, which indicate the classic Sukhothai style, while the depiction of the robe is more likely to be assigned to the Ayutthaya style.
- In the northern part of the temple there is a collection of whitewashed mausoleums of various sizes. The remains of members of the Lan Nas royal families are interred here. Princess Dara Rasmi, one of the wives of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and daughter of Lan-Na-King Intha Wichayanon, had the remains from the entire Chiang Mai area transferred here in an appropriate environment at the beginning of the 20th century.
Impressions from the temple area
Entrance gate to Wat Suan Dok
Royal cemetery
Standing Buddha statue in the Sala Kan Parian of Wat Suan Dok
swell
- Carol Stratton: Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004, ISBN 1-932476-09-1
- Michael Freeman: Lanna - Thailand's Northern Kingdom . River Books, Bangkok 2001, ISBN 0-500-97602-3
- Donald K. Swearer et al .: Sacred Mountains of Northern Thailand . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004, ISBN 974-9575-48-2
Web links
Coordinates: 18 ° 47 '17.6 " N , 98 ° 58' 3.7" E