The Tiger Cave Temple (, ) is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

north-northeast of

Krabi Krabi (, ) is the capital of and main town in Krabi Province (''thesaban mueang''), on the west coast of southern Thailand, where the Krabi River flows into Phang Nga Bay. The town lies south of Bangkok, and as of 2020, has a population of 32, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. A sacred site, it is known for the tiger paw prints in the

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

, tall

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

statues and the strenuous flight of stairs to reach the summit.

History

The foundation of the temple dates back to 1975 (B.E. 2518) when a Vipassana monk named Jumnean Seelasettho (Ajahn Jumnean) went to meditate in the cave. During his meditation, he witnessed tigers roaming around the cave. This discovery led to naming the temple Wat Tham Suea. Another legend says that an actual huge

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

used to live and roam the cave. The naming of the temple also comes from discoveries of a tiger paw prints on the cave walls, and also the bulge of the cave resembling a tiger's paw.

Geography

The surroundings of Wat Tham Suea consist of a tropical rain forest including many old trees in the Kiriwong Valley. Caves to visit are Tum Khon Than, Tum Lod, Tum Chang Kaeo, and Tum Luk. Many Thanu ancient artifacts were found around the caves and temple grounds. Mountains also cover most of the land around the Tham Sua region along with many other small caves that are not accessible to tourists. In various parts of the temple, you can see human skeletons and decorated skulls. The Tham Sua temple is a Thai Buddhist meditation center and also has places of archaeological and historical significance. Examples of these historical attractions are stone tools, pottery shards, and molded Buddha footprints.

Staircase

Previously, the temple had one stairway with 1,237 steps leading to the summit (see photo). The stairs have been recently updated with a rebuilt section and now has 1,260 stairs leading to the summit. Some of the

stair riser Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...

s are more than a foot (30 cm) high. The top of the stairs is 278 meters' elevation. Elsewhere on the compound, 184 steps lead to the foothills area where monks live in the caves. Monkeys roam the lower stairs and temple grounds. Respect the monkeys and they will be disinterestedly hanging and resting in the stairs and in the jungle.

Statues

At the top of the mountain there is a large golden

statue. This statue, other temple buildings, and much of Krabi town can be seen from shrine at the top of the stairs. Karbi Tiger cave

Gallery

References

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