Temple Ruins

---

Today we have a short half day guided tour, followed by an afternoon at leisure. WOW almost a vacation!

Our wake up was early, 5:30 am, breakfast at 6, and off we were at 7 AM for the 45 minute drive to the ancient Buddha statue at Sukhothal.



We arrived at the historic center at Sukhothal and boarded a tram for our ride around this ancient sacred site. These ruins were first built in 1245 and the construction was of a volcanic stone. I understood the stone was mined from volcanic lava tubes, but that was not actually correct.



It seemed the mining was to find lava, which was then poured, hot, into specialized molds to make bricks, columns and arches for whatever was needed for the construction. The stone itself is too brittle to carve so it is actually molted. Costly and dangerous work, but the king had the money, then men and the power so it was not an issue.



Now these were the sights I came to Thailand to see. Really ancient representations of the Buddah, not the crazy modern depictions that showed many different representations, but the sacred original designs. All I could say was, impressive.



First we saw the standing Buddah. As we stood at its feet we were dwarfed by it's size. Simple, made from a plaster like material it was simple yet elegant. He stood flanked by protective walls and overlooked the temple area. Most impressive, however, was the central feature, the Sitting Buddah. This is the teaching Buddha, again made of a plaster for material, simple, white and sitting out in the open for all to marvel at. It was really the best representation we have seen so far.



The Buddah of gold, and Jade and other precious jems were nothing compared to these simple elegant statues. The others showed the power of their builder while these showed the power of the Buddah.



We then passed a temple of the three gods, called the Hindu triumvirate or trimuriti. they are named: Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva. The triumvirate consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world. Brahma is the creator of the universe, Vishnu is the keeper, while Shiva is the destroyer.



While walking around the temple of the three gods, Barb and I saw an opening at the base of the Tempe to Brahma, so when no one was looking we ducked inside. The temple was hollow with little to see inside but we enjoyed a peaceful moment and took a few photos.



Next we followed the trail to another sitting Buddah, this was a true depiction of the teacher. He was sitting on a bench and was obviously lecturing to the people below. Again the statue was simple, made of black plaster but was more impressive than the sleeping Buddah of 475 feet long and covered in gold.



Finally, came the largest version of the sitting Buddah. Here he was protected by rows of columns and a tiny door which added to the appearance of gigantic size of the statue. Still a simple plaster casting, no gold or jade, just a simple elegance that really gave you a feeling of peace, not pretentiousness.



There is a story of this Buddah since he is also known as the Speaking Buddah. One day the king of Siam, really spelled Siayam, meaning black people,wanted to go to war with his enemy. He was out numbered and out armed but he wanted his people to flock to him and go anyway. So he sent his army to this temple to pray to the Buddah for strength. While they prayed the statue spoke! It said, "I will bless you." The people were stunned and they went off to war, they lost but hay they were outnumbered.



There was a side opening to the temple, if a person followed the very narrow pathway, they could et behind the statue and because of acoustics whatever they said was magnified and appeared to come from the Buddah itself. Cool ideaa. It's good to be the king.



After this visit, back to the bus and a short ride to lunch at a local watering hole. The food was good and once again plentiful. I guess after last night, World Spree wanted to make sure these Americans never left a meal hungry again!



A short 45 minute ride back to the hotel and time for vacation. I hit the pool with some of the others. We talked, laughed and walked or swam in the 90 foot long pool. The water was warm, the temperature hot and the beer was cold. A great way to spend the afternoon.



Dinner was on our own and I chose a simple Margherita pizza. I was joined by Richard, Mike and Ricky. Another evening meal spent and off to bed. Early day tomorrow as we head back to Bangkok by bus.



PHOTOS

1 Main Temple

2 A sitting Buddah

3 me inside Brahma temple adding a sacred stone

4 Trimuriti Temple to the three gods

5 Sitting or Speaking Buddah

6 Secret tunnel to make the Buddha speak

---