Wait a minute — how did a blog about a Fulbright assignment in Sri Lanka suddenly start talking about Bangkok, Thailand? In late April, when Fulbright decided to temporarily suspend operations in Sri Lanka, we quietly relocated to Thailand while Fulbright pondered the next steps. We had always wanted to visit Thailand (another tropical, Buddhist-oriented southeast Asian country) and were excited at the opportunity to spend some time there, and this was a wonderful break. We ended up spending less than a week in Bangkok, and stumbled into one of the most noteworthy national spectacles of the last seven decades: the coronation of King Vajiralongkorn (King Rama X), the first coronation since 1950!
It was exciting to be in Bangkok — a canal-laced, lively city of over eight million people, spread out along the Chao Phraya River — and filled with lots of things that we wanted to see (and, of course, eat!).
But we soon discovered that while we were able to eat very well, the impending four-day long coronation festival and activities actually closed most of the temples and shrines we had on our list of must-sees. Instead, we were treated to the genuine warmth and great excitement of almost everyone we met as the city geared up to host a tremendous, rare and even inspiring celebration of Thai tradition, identity, and nationhood.
The day before everything shut down, we visited the famous Wat Pho temple complex in the heart of the city. Wat Pho — and the name refers back to the Bo Tree (or Bodhi Tree) that saturates this blog — dates back to at least the 17th century and has been renovated and expanded ever since. It is a big site full of temples, monasteries and golden-eaved prayer-halls, but three things stand out — the chedis (the ceramic-covered distinctive, spires that are actually stupas), the collection of historic gold-leaf covered Buddha images, and finally the truly massive, truly impressive Reclining Buddha.
The arresting chedis are a Thai Buddhist take on the traditional stupa (dagoba) mounds that often contain the relics of sacred or important people. Wat Pho has over 70 that commemorate Buddhist religious leaders as well as Thai royal family members.
They are all different sizes and are often decorated in colorful and elaborate floral motifs. Look closely, and you can see that the patterns and motifs are executed in small pieces of porcelain painstakingly cut and pieced together. One story holds that these bits of porcelain were first brought to Bangkok as ballast in Chinese trading vessels.
From a distance they are stunning, bright and beautiful (like these fabulous examples) and then when you get closer you see how they are joined together mosaic-style to form rich, textured, beautiful floral designs.
And while we were admiring the chedis, a small plant growing out of the face of one (near the center of the image on the left below) caught my eye. From the elongated drip-tip to the heart-shaped base of the leaves, you can tell this was a small Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa). In fact, it is a free-range offspring of the temple’s resident Bodhi Tree that was itself propagated from the Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, that you saw in our preceding blog post. There’s no other conclusion — this tree seemed to be following us all over Asia!
Along with the chedis, Wat Pho houses a spectacular and important collection of Buddha statues that were gathered from important national historic sites such as Sukhothai and Ayuthaya. They are a cross-section of the different regional styles and show how tastes and changed over time.
At Wat Pho the Buddha exhibit displays hundreds of Buddhas with different mudras (hand gestures), distinctive and mesmerizing interpretations of his supreme enlightened facial expressions, and fascinating treatments of his monastic robes.
Switching to a larger scale, the most visited part of the Wat Pho shrine is without doubt the colossal Reclining Buddha. At over 15 meters high, 146 meters long, and covered in gold-leaf, it is almost too big for the building meant to house it. It depicts the moment of the Buddha’s death and passage into nirvana (sometimes you’ll see it called nibbana) and it gently projects an overwhelming sense of tranquility and calm. Look for the more “normal-sized” humans in some of the pictures below to get an idea of the dimensions!
Like many other depictions of the Reclining Buddha, there are prominent symbols inscribed on the soles of the feet, this time rendered in Mother of Pearl. There are by tradition and teaching 108 “Auspicious” marks or signs (or 32, or 132, depending on who is doing the math) that indicate Buddhahood and at Wat Pho they are etched between the Buddha’s toes and heels.
The soles of the Buddha’s feet are inscribed with 108 auspicious signs that indicate Buddhahood.
Visitors to the shrine are given the opportunity to purchase a small dish of 108 coins: you then place a coin in 108 different small bowls as you circumambulate the statue. They say doing this helps increase your spiritual concentration but the real merit (or punya, the ‘good’ karma that everyone has heard about) is in the act of giving. The shrine attendants periodically collect the coins and then count out 108 of them per bowl, and then offer them for sale them again to the next visitor. The coins are recycled and merit is earned — everybody should be pleased!
Right after our visit to Wat Pho, Bangkok started to transform itself for the coronation of King Rama X. Major tourist sites that happened to be downtown or along the processional route were closed to be draped in bright yellow ribbons (the color loyal to the royalty) and large portraits of the new monarch began to go on display around the central city.
Buses and trains began to run for free to transport eager subjects from around the country to the capital for a look at their new king: this extraordinary municipal generosity filled the city with visitors, and kept the transport systems quite busy!
Street-hawkers did a brisk business in yellow shirts, and the vibe was contagious as the excitement mounted. Strict security measures meant a very long wait out in the hot sun and steamy streets, and though we joined the crowds early we began to suspect we would probably not see the new king in the flesh; nevertheless, it was wonderful to experience the joyful enthusiasm of the city, and to see the teeming crowds in their sunny yellow shirts, all ready to be part of a day when history would be made.
Finally, it was time for the main event — the royal processional, with King Rama X bobbing atop a human-powered palanquin, made its way from temple to temple downtown in front of cheering throngs. We were happy to get caught up in the excitement in Bangkok, just before we got our next assignment — this time to Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, along the old Silk Road in Central Asia! Our five days in Thailand flew by, and next time we will stay longer (and eat more Thai Mango Sticky Rice!).
Uzbekistan? Check out the next — and final — blog to see what that was all about!
Your blog is so fun, packed with fascinating trivia and gorgeous visuals. Those amazing mosaics! Enjoyed the video of crowds waiting to see the king. I’m impressed that every single person seemed to be wearing yellow shirts; what about you? 🙂 Can’t wait for the final installment on Uzbekistan. I’ll miss this blog!
“There are by tradition and teaching 108 “Auspicious” marks or signs (or 32, or 132, depending on who is doing the math) that indicate Buddhahood and at Wat Pho they are etched between the Buddha’s toes and heels.”
I’ll bet that tickled! 🙂