Wat Khun Krai > Wat Ban Kruat (48km) – part 3/4

After that Chinese temple, we moved to Wat Khae where I learnt about Khun Phean, a magician and the story of Buddha painted inside the temple. We also visit “Khum Khun Phaen” a traditional Thai house. So many informations!

Map.

When we arrived first at Wat Khae we met the staff who tried to explain the special story of this place. They even call someone who could explain everything in english. People believe that a certain Khun Phean had magic powers that he learnt from Master Khong. Apparently he was very handsome very attractive. He was able to spell magic words and transform tamarind leaves into wasps and hornets to fight the enemy. At this period, the region or the country was under attack. Khun Phean improve his army a lot and they could win the battle.

In the same temple area, there is a huge Tamarind tree which is about 1000 years old. That’s lots of wasps and hornets!

Nearby the tree is “Khum Khun Phaen”, a traditional Thai house built as part of the literature and historical conservation park. This is the same kind of house we could not visit at the palace. This is the central area surrounded by the rooms.

Another point of view.

Some pottery that people at that time were certainly making.

Happy children :-)

We now entered in the temple where Buddha is standing. On the walls, there is the story of Buddha. I’ve used totoshop to make everything flat again and in order. The white lines onto certain picture is coming from the ropes suspended in the temple. They are used to scare the birds. That’s not the most important actually so let’s start the story of Buddha.

Right after the mother gave birth to Siddhārtha (Buddha), she died.

When Siddhārtha was born, he was able to walk and he could do that onto lotus flower. What a performance!

Very quickly, everyone understood that he was special and consider him as their master.

Once a while, when Siddhārtha would go around his domain and discovered the real world. He would see some poor poeple, some other dead.

His father, a king named Suddodana Tharu, wanted him to become the next one. He locked Siddhārtha in their palace with lots of beautiful women until he would found his wife. After the birth of his son, Siddhārtha was still not satisfied, he was bored. He loved his wife and son but he wanted something different for his life.

One night, with lots of pain in his heart, he decided to escape accompanied by a trusted man.

Once he felt far enough from his domain, he stopped and cut his hair.

He tried to get away from everything he knew looking to find his answer. He would eat only 6 grain of rice per day. He tried holding his breath. He became very skinny and nearly died. But after all of that, he didn’t find any more answer. Siddhārtha was thinking about another way to get answers. Then he found a fig tree, sit close to it and started to meditate. He meditated for 49 days. People around, curious and amazed, took care of him.

After that time, he said that his mind became pure and 6 years later he found the enlightenment (the meaning of life) and became Buddha. People came to visit him and offered him food.

Some other beautiful women tried to attract him but he was above that.

Once he was ready, he taught his new ideas about life to his 5 closest servant who assisted him previously.

Later, 1250 monks arrived from all around Thailand to listen to Buddha ideas.

Buddha travelled around the country to spread his new idea about life.

His father, wife and son believe deeply in him.

Then Buddha visit his mother in heaven and talked about what he has discovered.

After that, he came down from the sky and was very well welcomed by his admirers and believers.

When he taught, Buddha did not pretend to be a god. He said he was just a man who had found the meaning of life (enlightenment), and that any person can also find the meaning of life. For the rest of his life, he walked all over Southern Nepal and parts of India to teach people what he believed. He started a Sangha, which is a group of Buddhist monks and nuns. Many people became enlightened because of him. At the age of 80, Gautama Buddha died of food poisoning. [Wikipedia]