A Mountain Wat

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Today I went on a trip to a wat which was built near the top of a mountain just outside Chiang Mai.

Apparently what happend is that the King of Lanna was given a valuable Buddha relic that he wanted to house in a wat. He decided where to put it, but then it miraculously split into two identical clones of itself! He had to find another location and determined to found a new was to commemorate the miracle.

The relic (one of them) was placed on the back of a riderless white elephant which was then allowed to roam free. It wandered outside the city and then started to climb this high mountain Doi Suthep, which was named after a holy hermit called Suthep who lived in a tiny hermitage on the mountainside.

The elphant just kept on going, higher and higher up the mountain until it neared the hermitage, whereupon it trumpeted three times. Then it walked about a little bit until it found an area of level ground, trumpeted three times again and then knelt down.

I'm not sure if elephants can really be said to kneel. Apparently they are the only knee-less mammals. They do have four elbows, though.

At any rate the elephant stopped and lowered its body slowly to the ground and then, dropped dead. It was decided to bulid the wat there, where the elephant had fallen. Its body was cremated and its ashes are still preserved in a stupa there.

The wat itself is a splendid edifice, boasting a golden pagoda of a main stupa with a golden umbrella next to it - something peculiar to northen Thai wats.

There is an amazing view from the grounds of the wat out over Chiang Mai. The outline of the moat that bounds the ancient city could be clearly seen, and this meant that you could work out exactly where everything was - it was like a gigantic map of Chiang Mai.

There was an array of 9 golden buddhas, one in each of the traditional main postures. They have a buddha posture for each day of the week (some days have two) and Thais will put money in the collection box relatig to the day of the week of their own birthday.

I understand a bit more about the subduing Mara posture now. I didn't see why dangling your fingers demonstrated command over ignorance.

The point is that the Buddha was in the meditating position with both arms across his waist. By letting his right arm drop he showed that he had meditated long enough to be sure of his powers.

I also visited a Hmong village a bit farther along the mountain. This was very heavily commercialised and a complete contrast to the village visited on the trek.

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