Ever since first stepping foot in Thailand in 2011 I knew it was a special place. It touched me to the core and ever since it's been a place I've never wanted to or have been able to forget. Buddhism has a special place in my heart, soul and mind, and today I had my first real Buddhist Temple experience - in Thailand. I was blown away.
Before we entered the temple we walked on the outskirts of the grounds being able to view this giant Buddha from afar. As we got to the main entrance of the temple we took off our shoes and listened carefully to the directions on what we needed to do. In the front there was an alter where we needed to stop and make our blessings. There were candles, incense and flowers. The first thing we needed to do was light our candle and place it on the rack with the other burning candles. We then lit our incense and placed that with the other incense and the same with the flowers. We then kneeled down in front of the alter and privately said a blessing. We also blessed the Buddha, the teachings and the Monks by placing our hands near our third eye and bowing our head to the floor three times. Also included in our "entry packet" was a small stack of thin gold sheet stickers. Once our blessings were finished we put a gold "sticker" on each of the five Buddha statues in the background.
After this we were off walking around the temple. Little did I know I was about to get to see this big gold beauty up close and personal!
If you look closely you will see it is made up of many small golden tiles.
In no way did I expect to see a Buddha of this size, beauty or stature. I was captivated. I had a couple moments of my emotions almost starting to pour out, but I held it together. At this point anyway. We continued walking around the temple and slowly made our way out after in depth discussions on the history of Buddha. In all of my readings I did not realize that the Thai people and the Chinese viewed Buddha differently. I thought they all thought of Buddha as the same man. In short I think they do - it's more so the history that's different. Wow - doesn't that sound like all types of religion...
When I left that temple my soul felt SO full. A piece of my puzzle was finally found which now put me one step further in my journey of life.
I hope each and every one of you are able to experience something as beautiful as I did today. Namaste. :)
Elizabeth, when I was in Indonesia I visited a pyramid that contained 120 panels that told the life of Budda in picture (carvings) form.
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