Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

We had the opportunity to visit the Doi Suthep Buddhist temple this past week near Chiang Mai. The Doi Suthep mountain sits on the edge of the city, with the temple being at the peak, about 4,500 feet above the city. If the air is clear, you can look up from most places in the city and see the temple glittering in the distance. Being up there affords great views of the city on a clear day. 

        

       

The temple was originally built somewhere around 1383. Legend has it that there was a monk who came to possess a shoulder bone of Buddha. Long story short, the relic was gifted to a king. The bone split a part and a piece was put on the back of a white elephant who was released into the jungle. The elephant is said to have climbed this mountain, trumpeted three times and then died. A temple was then ordered to be constructed. 

To get to the temple, first you drive up the steep, switchbacking road to a small village near the top. You then have to climb 309 stairs to reach the actual temple. 

                                  

The temple itself is comprised of many different buildings, shrines, and courts. Everyone must take off their shoes to enter. 

                                   

People were everywhere, buying flowers, incense, and candles to put in the shrines. The center of the temple had a square where people would walk around and around, holding flower offerings and reading prayers. There was one monk who would chant over children and tie a bracelet on their wrist. 

       

       

        

       

This is a Buddhist temple, but there are many Hindu influences, with Hindu gods and idols being intermingled. Gold, intricate carving, and bright colors were everywhere. 

        

                                           

                                            

                                           

                                            

The afternoon excursion offered many things to observe, ponder, and consider as a westerner. Our lives have been shaped so differently from the children who grow up here, where it would be routine to buy flowers as offerings for the shrine, or be taken to receive an amulet from the monk on a Saturday afternoon. 

In contrast, we are preparing for a Christmas celebration tonight in which Mike will be taking on the role of Joseph in Candelight Carols. It will be an outdoor, candlelit live nativity, acted out under one large tree that holds about the same amount of wood in one tree that would make an entire forrest of black spruce in Alaska. We will tell about that experience in the next post...