Wat Intharawihan: The Temple of the Standing Buddha

As mentioned in my last post, here’s another temple we’ve visited which is another one of the 40,000+ temples in Thailand – the Wat Intharawihan.  In this temple, another giant Buddha, Luang Phor To stands tall in the midst of the complex that’s why it is called as The Temple of the Standing Buddha.  The statue is made of bricks and stucco which is also gilded with gold.  Just like in El Salvador’s Divine Mercy Shrine, there are stairs by the sides of the Buddha where devotees can climb to paste gold leaf on the image.  They do this to honor the teachings of Buddha and if one is suffering from a physical illness, he/she must paste the gold leaf to the body part of the image where his/her illness is located.  And just like any other religion, as early as childhood, devotees are already taught how to pray and pay respect to their respective gods.

A Little Girl Praying to the Image of a Monk

I haven’t got a perfect shot of the Ubosot or prayer hall because again, it was too hot.  What I managed to take are only these, crossing my fingers to give justice to the fine art of the place.

The interior of the prayer hall is also well crafted with mural paintings and smaller images of sitting Buddha.  The area is just small, ideal for solemn prayer or a tête-à-tête with a monk or the temple abbot himself.  Thai people often go to the temples to consult with these holy people of their day-to-day living and dealings with life.

Around the temple complex, you can see more and more images of Buddha and highly revered Buddhist monks.  It’s just like Catholic churches where there are also plenty of images of Mary, Jesus, angels, and patron saints.

Aside from holding such relics and of being a house of prayer, the temple also serves as a cemetery for funerary urns and museum for some memorabilia of the dead royal people.  It made my skin hair stand on end realizing that these niches hold the cremated bodies of Thai royalty.  It’s just overwhelming to me, you know!

Moreover, there’s also a fountain of holy water for drinking the same as Divine Mercy’s.  While Catholic churches have belfry for a big sounding bell, Buddhists have small prayer bells that are just hung near the ground.  The ringing of these bells serves as a call to worship just like what Catholics do.

And no more further elaborations for Buddhism nor Catholicism, here are our pictures instead!

Thailand posts are not over yet.  There are still more to come only here on The Other Side of Mae! #tosomtravels