by Jim Goodman
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| temple at Wat Pha Lat |
When King Mengrai founded
Chiang Mai in 1296, he laid out a city in a nearly square shape, surrounded by
moats and walls on all four sides.
The king, his ministers, high-ranking nobles and the royal guards lived
within the city. Besides the
palaces, nobles’ mansions and the barracks, the other buildings were mostly
temples and monasteries. The
Kingdom of Lanna was a Theravada Buddhist state, religion was royally
patronized and thus monks formed a large part of the urban population.
Some of the nobility had homes
on the other side of Chang Puak Gate and the northern moats. Most of the commoners lived outside the
city, especially between the eastern walls and the Ping River and in Haiya, the
neighborhood south of the walled city.
They regularly entered the city during the day, mainly to the daily
market through the center of the city.
But these temporary crowds returned to their homes by evening, when the
gates were locked and quiet prevailed within.
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| the tunnel chedi at Wat Umong Maha Therachan |
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| a tunnel of Wat Umong Suan Puthatam |
Most of the temple compounds
stood beside groves of trees, usually away from the commercial zone. This made them excellent locations for
pursuing a largely quiet and contemplative lifestyle. Yet from early in Lanna history, a faction of monks sought something
even closer to nature, remote from the limited hustle and bustle of old Chiang
Mai. They would be known as the
forest monks and concentrate on meditation in temples well beyond the settled
areas.
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| the chedi at Wat Umong |
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| discarded image at Wat Umong |
King Mengrai was a very
religious-minded sovereign and often consulted with monks on matters pertaining
to state policies as well as religion.
One of his favorite advisors was the monk Therachan, who lived at the compound
now named after him—Wat Umong Maha Therachan. He used to meditate inside a tunnel chedi on the compound.
As construction proceeded inside the city, of palaces, temples, roads
and such, he complained to the king that the commotion was disturbing his
meditation.
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| martial scene in stone, Wat Umong |
In response, King Mengrai
ordered tunnels excavated within a mound on a hill in the forest west of Chiang
Mai. This was the first forest
temple in the region, established around 1300 and named Wat Umong Suan Putthatam. Therachan moved here
and, we can assume, meditated in peace ever after. The compound was abandoned in the 15th century
and fell into ruins until it was finally renovated and reconstructed in 1948.
Chiang Mai’s expansion since
then has put its western suburban neighborhoods right up to the walls of the
compound. Yet it’s still a very
quiet place and sprawls over a much bigger area than any city temple
compound. Besides its
architectural and sculptural features, Wat Umong is also a meditation center
for the laity. Thais and foreign
tourists enroll for as many days as they like, rise and eat early, listen to
lectures, do some temple maintenance work and meditate as many hours as they
can in special meditation quarters.
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| ladies in stone, Wat Umong |
Tall, leafy trees shade most
of the pathways. The meditation
center and information office is a little ways inside the compound. Signs everywhere urge for quiet and
consideration. Tour group leaders
don’t use megaphones here, either.
The road continues past the meditation center and ends in front of the
temple’s main architectural attraction—the mound with the tunnels inside and
the chedi on top.
Three tunnels about 25 meters
long lead from the base of the mound to a long corridor tunnel at right angles
to these, with a seated Buddha image in the center. Altogether, they make a more capacious site in which to
meditate than the cramped tunnel chedi
of Wat Umong Maha Therachan. But
as they are full of tourists every day, they are no longer used for that
purpose by resident monks, who live in separate huts in the grove behind and to
the right of the chedi.
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| ancient times on a stone stele, Wat Umong |
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| enemy warriors, Wat Umong |
On the mound above the tunnels
stands a large chedi in the Ayutthaya
style, like an inverted bell, restored in 1948. A row of sculpted Buddha figures surrounds the base of its
spire. Off to one corner of the
area is a sculpture of a skin-and-bones Buddha at the peak of his ascetic
practices, just before he abandoned them.
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| hallway at Wat Padaeng |
To the right of
the tunnels lies a yard containing religious images removed from homes or
temples and no longer used. As it
would be sacrilegious to destroy them, people leave them here, at a kind of
image dumping ground. Some are
broken, missing heads or missing bodies, but others are still intact and
attractive pieces of religious art.
Even more impressive are the
works on exhibit inside and outside the long hall in front. Some are paintings with mostly
religious themes. The bulk of them
are stone carvings depicting mythological and quasi-historical themes. A majority of them are rectangular or
even round slabs of stone embedded in the lower walls of the building. Others are free-standing steles.
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| viharn and chedis at Wat Padaeng |
The works are mostly
high-relief sculptures ranging in theme from the religious, such as the death
of the Buddha or portraits of very Indian-looking deities, to secular scenes
like riding off to war on elephants and horses. Martial scenes characterize several sculptures, along with
portraits of demon-like enemies.
But the set also includes depictions of women making offerings and
groups of young monks. The high
quality of the carvings, with realistic faces, attention to detail and sheer
number of figures fitted into some of the steles exhibited in this fine outdoor
museum further augment the experience of visiting Wat Umong..
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| chedi at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep |
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| stream beside Wat Pha Lat |
Back in front of the tunnels,
a lane turning left passes a few shrines on the way down to a large pond, home
of ducks, catfish and turtles. At
a booth above the bridges to the small island visitors can buy food for the
creatures in the pond. There’s
also a coffee shop here. For those
residing at Wat Umong, in the wee hours of the morning here they might catch
sight of rabbits and squirrels scampering about and even deer poking their
heads through the bushes on the far banks. As Chiang Mai’s first forest temple, Wat Umong still remains
close to nature.
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| staircase figures,Wat Pha Lat |
Not far from Wat
Umong, on a wooded hill above a residential neighborhood road, stands the much
smaller compound of Wat Padaeng.
Except for the chedis, the
compound consists mainly of recently constructed buildings, has no sculptural
displays or facilities for laymen to learn or practice meditation. Yet it qualifies as a forest temple,
with a couple dozen resident monks and an atmosphere even more tranquil than at
Wat Umong.
After Wat Umong, the next
major forest temples constructed were on Doi Suthep, the mountain west of the
city that has always been revered by Chiang Mai people. Even today, except for the temple
grounds, a royal palace and two Hmong villages, thick forests swathe the entire
mountain. The construction of the
temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, visible from the city 15 km away, dates from
the 14th century, commissioned by Lanna’s King Nuena.
According to the popular
origin story, a monk from Lamphun claimed to have found a Buddhist relic—a
shoulder bone of the Buddha—and presented it to King Dhammaraj of
Sukhothai. But after proper
installation and a round of rituals, the relic didn’t seem to affect anything
and Dhammaraj lost interest.
However, King Kuena, who had just taken over in 1355, had heard of it
and secured permission for its transfer from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai.
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| elephant at rest, Wat Pha Lat |
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| Phra Phrom image, Wat Pha Lat |
Upon conveyance to Lamphun the
relic broke into two pieces. The
smaller piece wound up in a local temple. Kuena ordered the larger piece placed on the back of a
white elephant, which was released into the forest. The animal at once began ascending Doi Suthep. It made a couple stops along the way,
then came to a spot high up the slope, trumpeted three times and fell over
dead. The king ordered a temple
built on that spot to house the relic.
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| monks' huts, Wat Pha Lat |
The temple buildings have
largely been replaced by very ornate modern versions. But the original chedi,
24 meters high, built in 1384 and completely gilded, still stands in the main
courtyard, surrounded by small shrines and images. The monastic communities that once lived here were even more
isolated than those at Wat Umong.
Once a year, though, on the night before Buddha’s birthday, devotees
hiked up the mountain to pay respects to the enshrined relic. Other than occasional visits by monks
on pilgrimage, this was their only contact with the outside world,
In 1935, Kruba Sivichai, a
monk with a reputation for restoring old temples in northern Thailand, organized devotees to build a
paved road from the foot of Doi Suthep to the temple. Nowadays, this road makes it easy to get there, so the
temple has become a popular tourist attraction and a village full of food
stalls and souvenir shops has grown in front of it.
About a third of the way up
the mountain, a lane branches left down and around a couple of nondescript
roadside buildings to the premises of Wat Pha Lat—Temple of the Sloping
Cliff. In their eagerness to get
to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, most travelers pass this by, yet this is the best
contemporary version of a classic forest temple. The shrines and other buildings lie on angled slopes,
surrounded by trees and near a running stream.
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| Wat Rampoeng |
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| 16th century chedi at Wat Rapoeng |
The compound was built around
the same time as Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, on a spot where the white elephant
carrying the relic paused to rest.
Compared to Wat Doi Suthep, the buildings are modest, spaced apart from
each other, and the chedi isn’t
gilded. The small number of
resident monks lives in a row of huts in the center of the compound, while the
main meditation center lies on the lower part of the compound slope. Monks may also choose to do this
exercise along the bank of the stream.
Lots of birds flutter among the trees, while squirrels, lizards and
peacocks meander near the shrines.
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| miniature gold trees, Wat Rampoeng |
Besides its exquisite natural
setting and serenity, Wat Pha Lat also features interesting sculptures. The shrines hold various Buddha images,
but more striking are the guardian creatures in front of them or at the bottom of
the staircases. These range from
mythical lions to Thai-style sphinxes to creatures with a dragon body and the
upper torso of a human (or maybe a god).
Other works of art include a four-faced Phra Prom, the Buddhist version
of the Hindu god Brahma, a reclining elephant and a celestial scene carved on a
wooden door.
The last of Lanna’s classic
forest temples was Wat Rampoeng Tapotharam, the Temple of Ascetic Practices, about
four km southwest of the old city.
In the late 15th century, King Yot Chiang Rai, following up
an itinerant monk’s tale of miraculous rays of light emanating from beneath a
certain tree, discovered a container holding a tooth of the Buddha. To honor this relic, in 1492 he ordered
a monastery built on the spot.
Like at Wat Doi Suthep, the
original buildings have all been replaced, except for the chedi, erected early 16th century to store the
relic. Shaped like a cone, it has
eight diminishing tiers. Wat
Rampoeng was periodically abandoned and reopened and served as a compound for
Japanese troops in the 1940s. From
1974 it took on an additional identity as a meditation center. Though the surrounding forest has
largely made way for a suburban residential neighborhood, the temple lies at
the end of a quiet lane, still has lots of trees around it and is far enough
back from the Canal Road that traffic noise is inaudible.
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| viharn interior, War Rampoeng |
While it doesn’t enjoy the
same isolation as Wat Pha Lat, for civilization, not a forest, lies just
outside the entrance gate, Wat Rampoeng has a community of several dozen monks,
all dedicated to the same forest monk lifestyle. At any given time, it also houses many meditation students,
who sign up for usually a 24-day course in the vipassana meditation method.
As at Wat Umong, they wear white clothing, rise and retire early, don’t
eat after noon and spend most hours learning and practicing meditation.
The two viharns (assembly and worship halls), while new, are outstanding
examples of religious architecture.
The sloping roofs are dark, setting off the gilded decorations along
their edges, as are the walls, with golden embellishments above the doors and
windows. In front of the entrances
stand miniature, gold-leafed trees, left there by pious devotees. Altogether, Wat Rampoeng is one of the most beautiful
compounds in the Chiang Mai area.
Forest temples were designed
to be close to nature. Yet they
are also endowed with exquisite works of art. So then being close to nature implies being close to art. The one reinforces appreciation of the
other. It is this concept that
enhances the pleasure of time spent in a forest temple, whether as a
contemplative resident monk or just an enchanted visitor.
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| the bigger viharn at Wat Rampoeng |
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