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I'm not quite sure where they will find the ashes or what they're going to do with themOn Saturday I visited Wat Tham Sua with Kim. This temple is just outside Krabi and is set into one of the many incredible kardst formations that abound around here. It is often known as Tiger Temple, but this causes a lot of confusion with the place I visited near Kanchanaburi where the monks look after orphaned tigers, so it's probably best to use its full name.
The temple was founded in 1975 by Ajahn Jumnien Silsetso who is a charismatic Buddhist monk known as Thailand's Good Luck Monk. A nun whom we met in the Viharn of the temple told Kim and me that its name arose because a tiger was living in one of the caves there at the time of the foundation. However other explanations include that it was named after a rock formation in the shape of a tiger, that it was named after rock formations in the shape of tigers' paws and claws and that it was named after fossilised impressions of tigers' pawprints within the caves.
There is certainly evidence for all of these suggestions apart from the first. We saw the "rock shaped like a tiger" first, though my impression was that
Image of Buddha footprint
In cave off viharn, the actual footprint is on the mountaintop had it not been garishly painted to resemble a tiger it would have looked more like a giant toad. The rock formations, or possibly stalactitites, shaped like a tiger's paw certainly exist and looked very tigerish; and I also noted pawprints looking like those of a large cat of some kind on the floor of a large cave. I also think that the word "sua" in Thai may refer not just to tigers but also to other large cats such as leopards. "Tiger Beer" is a popular brand here, but carries a picture of a leopard. It will be remembered that the coat of arms of English kings was variously described as included either three lions ot three leopards, so species of large cats are certainly sometimes regarded as fungible.
My own guess is that though the name might have been suggested in accordance with any of the last three suggestions, it was probably chosen by Ajahn Jumnien as it was a good name for marketting purposes. His amulets are famous throughout Thailand and are available on sale in the viharn and also via postal purchase.
We got to the temple by taking Noi's songthow to the Junction,
Buddha images
Some are still wrapped as when purchased then catching a bus to Krabi bus station and then on motorbike. It was a very hot day and even the rush of air as the bike sped along did not make me feel noticeably cooler.
The temple's grounds are immense and a new pagoda was in course of construction when we arrived. Refreshment cafes, sovenir shops and convenience stores are dotted about, togehter with the usual places to buy candles, flowers etc for offerings.
Monkeys freely roam the temple grounds and seem to have little fear of human, coming very close to people and even stealing things from them - as I shall later relate. As was the case when I was in Lopburi, though, I saw no monkeys venturing into the consecrated temple areas such as the viharn, only the outside courtyards.
At the temple we first noticed the rock painted like a tiger, which was places next to a fossilised whale skull. Perhaps Ajahn Jumnien had toyed with the idea of naming the temple Whale's Head Temple. Nearby there was a Buddha image of a type that I do not remember to have seen previously in a Thai temple. It was one of those
jolly, fat Buddhas which are possible the most widely known in the west, but which I hadn't seen here before and which I'm pretty sure was not one of the nine postures that I had thought to be canonical. Perhaps this is beacuse the type of Buddhism espoused by the temple is not the common Thai Teravada Buddhism but the more esoteric Vipassana variant thereof.
We then took off our shoes and entered the viharn. The viharn is housed partly underneath an overhang of rock, though it is a bit of a stretch to say that it is in a cave. On entering we were greeted by an friendly and elderly nun, with shaven head and clad in a white robe who, as I mentioned, told us how the temple was named because of the tiger that had used to live there. She led us up a short staircase at one side of the viharn where there was a cave leading inside the rock face of the mountain. This was the very cave where the tiger had lived. There is now a shrine to the footprint of the buddha kept behind closed railings. A table is within the shrine
and, if you throw a coin through the bars and it lands on the table, the wish of your heart will be granted. It took me three goes, but I did it, the nun applauding me by the cave entrance.
The fact that there's a shrine to the footprint of the Buddha does not in any way imply that the Buddha visited the temple site two thousand and more years before its foundation. The Buddha is legendarily supposed to have left his actual footprint in Sri Lanka (on Adam's Peak) and most others are copies of this with various auspicious signs engraved on the sole to ensure relaiability.
Back in the main part of the viharn we crossed the floor to admire the skeletons and photographs of human internal organs and entrails that are, apparently, intended to remind the monks and nuns of the temple of the impermanence of human existence. There were various money raising appeals being made and Kim and I both donated to the construction of a new bell and wrote our names in the donors' book. This should mean that in due course our names will be inscribed on the bell. I wish them
Interesting wooden chair in viharn
Note teh cup holder / ashtray on the right good luck in reading my writing.
As well as many buddha images, some still in their polythene wrapping and exactly like those on sale in the viharn shop, there were also several images which I took to be those of Ajahn Jumnien himself.
Outside the viharn there are two sets of steps leading upwards. We left the longer one till later and took teh steps that led first up and then down to the walk trhough the jungle in the temple's grounds. We followed the signs to The Big Tree and to The Cave. There were many big trees but when we saw The Big Tree we could understand why it had been so named. Its bole was dead straight and seemed to shoot upwards towards the top of the mountain side. There was no foliage and the trunk continued upwards with no branches until nearly at its top it burst into short green branches.
The Cave was not far away and it was here that we saw the "tiger pawprints" and the rock formations like tigers' pawas and claws. We wandered through the jungle wich resembled the National Park near the GVI base except that there
was very little water - there did apear to be dried up streams but I wonder when these can fill - maybe later on in the rainy season which still has a good few months to go yet.
We wandered back to the main courtyard and bought something to drink. My tin of iced tea (lemon flavoured) attracted the attention of a mokey who tried to wrench it from my hand. I resisted and managed to retain the can, though it was deeply dented from the monkey's firm grip. But then the monkey teemed up with a friend and both approached me in a threatening manner with their paws outstretch, showing their sharp claws. I decided to let the monkey have the tin and it gleefully ran off and drank from it just as would have a man.
Now it was time to try to climb the 1,327 steps up to the top of the mountain. Kim had already done this back ion January, so she stayed down in the shade whilst I tried to see how high I could get. The number of stairs you had climbed was indicated by painted numbers from time to time during
the ascent, which did serve as an encouragement. I paused frequently, but had left my water bottle with my day pack for Kim to guard, so I had no water. My ventolin inhaler was also there but fortunately I had no need of that, either. I had planned to try to get to step 666 as that would be about half ways as well as being the mark of the beast or of Nero as given in Revelation but unfortunately there was no marker at that point. Instead I made it to number 675 and then descended, so as to be in time for the motorcycle which was due to take us back to Krabi town at one.
I got back just as the motorbike arrived. On our way to the temple KIm and I had ridden on two different bikes, but now we both got behind the one driver. I admire the way the Thai motorcyle taxi drivers are punctilious about wearing helments but do not worry in the least that their passengers are not - I suppose that this is in accordance with the requirements of Thai law.
Kim got off at the Bus Station, to
make her way back to the base, whilst I continued to Krabi Town to stay at a hotel overnight for the rest of a relaxing weekend.
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