Thailand

Published on  May 18th, 2014

Temple of Wat Pho Bangkok Thailand

Wat Pho is named after a monastery in India where Buddha is believed to have lived.Prior to the temple's founding, the site was a centre of education for traditional Thai medicine,  and statues were created showing yoga positions.  An enormous Buddha image from Ayuthaya's Wat Si Sanaphet was destroyed by Burmeses in 1767, King Rama I (1782-1809 A.D.)  incorporated its fragments to build a temple to enlarge and renovate the complex. The complex underwent many changes in the next 260 years.
Under King Rama III (1824-1851 A.D.), plaques inscribed with medical texts were placed around the temple.
These received recognition in the Memory of the World Programme launched by UNESCO on February 21, 2008.
Adjacent to the building housing the Reclining Buddha is a small raised garden, the centrepiece being a bodhi tree which is propagated from the original tree in India where Buddha sat while awaiting enlightenment.  The temple was created as a restoration of an earlier temple on the same site.
For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Pho

Wat Arun Temple Bangkok Thailand

Wat Arun Rajwararam, Thai pronunciation: "Temple of the Dawn")
is a Buddhist temple (wat) in the Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand, on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River.  The full name of the temple is Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan. Named after Aruna,  the Indian God of Dawn, the Wat Arun is considered one of the most well known of Thailand's many landmarks. Drawn on a novel by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (The Temple of Dawn-The Sea of Fertility). The temple is so named because the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. The monastery has existed for many years since the days when Ayutthaya was capital of Thailand. At the time named Wat Mokok, situated in a place called Tumbol Bangmakok.
The word Bangmakok, meaning " Village of Olive", has since been shortened to "Makok".
Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn, is on the river and is not to be missed. In 1767 King Taksin arrived here at dawn after the sacking of Ayutthaya. The existing temple was expanded to the "Emerald Buddha" to accommodate.
For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Arun

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