Wat Pho

Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple complex located in Bangkok, Thailand, across from the city’s Grand Palace in the Phra Nakhon District. It is the Bangkok’s oldest, largest, and most visited Buddhist shrine. It is officially named in the Thai language as Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan. The shrine is best known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha for its immense golden-lacquered statue of Buddha, which is the largest image of Buddha in Thailand. This statue is the centerpiece of the temple and stretches 150 feet (46 meters) in length while standing 50 feet (15 meters) high. The temple is home to a further 1,000 images of the Buddha spread throughout the complex, which represents the largest number of Buddhist images in the country. It is known as the birthplace of Thai massage, a form of massage incorporating yoga practices, acupressure, and traditional Indian medical practices. Wat Pho is regarded as the first open university in Thailand, where the inscribed tablets hung throughout the complex described aspects of literature, archaeology, astrology, and traditional medicine.

Wat Pho was constructed between 1688 and 1703 during the reign of King Phetracha, the ruler of the Ayutthaya Kingdom that served as a precursor to the modern Thai state. It retains a position of great importance in Thailand, and Wat Pho is ranked as one of only six highest grade royal temples in the country. While only part of the complex is open to visitors, it is one of the biggest tourist draws in Bangkok. Though Wat Pho is not a major site of Buddhist pilgrimage, it remains popular with local Buddhists and tourists alike. In 2011, the complex’s marble inscriptions were incorporated as part of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Memory of the World” initiative, a program that is intended to document and preserve important elements of cultural heritage and knowledge.

Brief History

Wat Pho was constructed on the site of Wat Photharam, an older complex that was known as a regional center of education before the foundation of Bangkok at the end of the eighteenth century. During the course of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Wat Pho became an increasingly important site for Buddhist reflection and study. During the reign of King Rama I, Wat Pho underwent a period of major renovations during the Rattanakosin Period at the end of the seventeenth century. Rama I is credited with salvaging much of the Buddhist imagery on display at Wat Pho from abandoned temples throughout the region. This initial phase of renovation reportedly took more than seven years to complete.

However, it was King Rama III who, beginning in 1830, was most responsible for transforming Wat Pho into its contemporary form. During the course of sixteen years, Rama III oversaw a complete renovation of the site, enlarging the temples and turning it into one of the most renowned centers of learning in the region. He ordered scholars to collect as much traditional knowledge as they could gather and engrave this information on a series of 1,431 marble engravings that were hung throughout the complex. These inscriptions, which are known in the modern era as the Epigraphic Archives of Wat Pho, provided information on a variety of subjects, including medicine, arts, literature, poetry, archaeology, and religion. The information was gathered from throughout Southeast Asia and represented a sum of knowledge stretching back as much as five hundred years.

Rama III opened the complex to people from all backgrounds, thus establishing Thailand’s first center of public learning. Rama III was also responsible for the construction of the Reclining Buddha in 1832 and the establishment of a center for traditional Thai massage on the grounds. During the reign of Rama IV, the temple was officially renamed Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm, though it is more widely known by the name of Wat Pho.

Overview

The temple (or “wat” in the Thai language) grounds cover twenty acres in total and includes two walled compounds that are divided by a road running through the middle. On the northern side of the street lies the larger part of Wat Pho, known as the phutthawat, which includes most of the major tourist attractions. On the southern side, the sankhawat is the monastic complex, which, except for the massage school, is largely off-limits to visitors. It contains the residential quarters of the Buddhist monks who reside at Wat Pho. The site includes ninety-one chedis, which are cone-shaped towers used for meditation. The complex also contains several gardens and a small museum, a more recent addition that was established to accommodate tourists.

The temple continues to engage in many of the traditional activities for which it has long been famous. The Wat Pho complex houses the Thai Traditional Massage School, which, in addition to teaching students traditional massage techniques, offers foot massages, body massages, and body massages with herbs to visitors. The construction of the school was ordered by Rama III after concerns were raised that the tradition of Thai massage was threatened with extinction.

The Reclining Buddha statue remains the most famous aspect of Wat Pho. It is a Buddha-style statue from the early Bangkok school of art. The statue's stature shows the Buddha sitting on his side with his legs slightly bent at the knee and his left hand resting on his thigh. This distinctive pose is called the sihasaiyas, or “Sleeping Lion,” posture, and is intended to evoke the position of the Buddha at the time of his death and subsequent entry into Nirvana. The statue was constructed from a brick core overlaid with stucco and plaster, then finished with gold lacquer.

On the soles of the statue’s feet are a series of panels inscribed with mother-of-pearl that display the 108 Lakshmana, which are the physical traits and attributes by which the Buddha can be identified. These include the lotus flower, the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment, dancers, white elephants, parasols, the Dharma wheel, and several images associated with prosperity, royalty, and health. Other images show aspects of the Buddhist religious cosmology, including the four continents and their surrounding oceans. Sitting in front of the statue are 108 bowls in which visitors may offer alms in hopes of currying the Buddha’s favor, and which are used to maintain the temple’s structure.

Bibliography

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Iverson, Kelly. “Wat Pho: Bangkok’s Temple of The Reclining Buddha.” Culture Trip, 30 May 2018, theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/history-of-wat-pho-the-temple-of-the-reclining-buddha. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Norwich, John Julius. "Wat Pho." Great Architecture of the World, De Capo Press, 2001, pp. 266-267.

“Temple of the Reclining Buddha.” Thaiways Magazine, www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok/bangkok-city-tours/best-of-bangkok-sightseeing-tours/temple-of-the-reclining-buddha-or-wat-pho-or-wat-phra-chetuphon.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

“Wat Pho.” Lonely Planet, www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/bangkok/attractions/wat-pho/a/poi-sig/1148214/357640. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

“Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimonmangkalaram Ratchaworamahawihan or Wat Pho.” Tourism Authority of Thailand, www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/wat-phra-chetuphon-wimonmangkalaram-ratchaworamahawihan-or-wat-pho. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

“Wat Pho Temple.” Civitatis Bangkok, www.introducingbangkok.com/wat-pho. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

“Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha).” US News & World Report, travel.usnews.com/Bangkok‗Thailand/Things‗To‗Do/Temple‗of‗the‗Reclining‗Buddha‗62500. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.