Wat Suan Dok (, , roughly "flower garden temple"), also known as Wat Buppharam (, ) is a Buddhist temple (

Wat A wat (, ; , ; , ; ; , ) is a type of Buddhist and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State (Myanmar), Yunnan (China), the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Etymology The word ''wat'' is borrowed from the Sanskrit ''v ...

) in

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

northern Thailand Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is a region of Thailand. It is geographically characterized by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys that cut through them. ...

. It is a Royal Temple of the Third Class. The temple is on Suthep Road, approximately one kilometre west of Suan Dok gate at the west side of the moat. The Chiang Mai campus of the Buddhist Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University is housed within the temple compound.

History

Wat Suan Dok was founded by King

Kue Na Kue Na (; ), Dhammikaraja (), or Song Saen Na Dhammikaraja () was the 6th monarch of the Mangrai Dynasty. He reigned from 1355 to 1385. He was the son of Pha Yu and Chitradevi. Kuena was deeply devoted to Buddhism. He invited Phra Sumanathera fr ...

Lanna The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cultural developme ...

for the monk ''Sumana Thera'' in the year 1370 CE. The temple was built in the centre of Wiang Suan Dok (), a walled settlement (Wiang, ) of the

Lawa people Lawa ( or ; ) are an ethnic group in northern Thailand. The Lawa language is related to the Blang language, Blang and the Wa language found in China and Myanmar (Burma), and belongs to the Palaungic languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic languag ...

older than Chiang Mai itself. The outlines of the fortifications can clearly be traced on satellite images, and remains of some of the earthen walls can still be seen north of Suthep road. King Kue Na's flower garden (, suan dok mai), which was located here, lent the temple its original name: Wat Buppharam (), or Wat Suan Dok Mai () for short. According to legend, ''Maha Sumana Thera'', a monk from the

Sukhothai Kingdom The Sukhothai Kingdom was a post-classical Siamese kingdom (Mandala (political model), ''maṇḍala'') in Mainland Southeast Asia surrounding the ancient capital city of Sukhothai Historical Park, Sukhothai in present-day north-central Thaila ...

, after having had a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

discovered a

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

of the

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 ...

which, also according to the same vision, was to be housed in Chiang Mai. Sumana Thera stayed two rainy seasons at Wat Phra Yuen just outside

Lamphun Lamphun (; , ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district. As of 2006 it has a population of 14,030. Lamphun lies north of Bangkok and ...

at the invitation of King Kue Na while the latter had Wat Buppharam Dok Mai built. When the moment arrived for the relic to be housed in the newly built temple, it miraculously duplicated itself. One of the relics was housed, as intended, in a shrine inside Wat Buppharam Dok Mai, while the other relic was placed on the back of a

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

which then climbed up

Doi Suthep Doi Suthep (ดอยสุเทพ), is a mountain ("doi") west of Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is in elevation and is one of the twin peaks of a granite mountain. The other peak is known as Doi Pui and is slightly higher (). Doi Suthep is from ...

, the mountain directly west of Chiang Mai, where it trumpeted three times and died. Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep was built on that spot to house the second relic.

Sights

*The large 48-meter-high bell-shaped '' chedi''—built in a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n style—can be seen from afar. The relic of the Buddha is said to be contained within. Stairs on all four sides originally led up to the narrow terrace encircling the chedi but these have since been replaced by ramps, the

baluster A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s of which are decorated with seven-headed

nāga In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

s emerging from the mouths of

makara Makara () is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, and of the god of the ocean, Varun ...

s, as is typical for the classic Lanna style. *The large ''sala kan prian'' (,

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

hall) is directly east of the main chedi. It was built in 1932 by the famous monk ''Phra Krubra Srivichai'', who also had an ubosot built as well as the main chedi restored. The main

Buddha statues Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as () in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure in an image may be someone else who has obtained B ...

inside the sala kan prian are placed so that they look out at opposite directions. The statue of the Buddha seated in meditation ( Bhumisparsha Mudrā) looks towards the east, whereas the other statue, a standing Buddha holding a bundle of straw, faces west towards the chedi. Placed in front of the seated statue one finds a smaller Buddha in the Lanna-style, created during King Kue Na's time. The feet of this statue are unusual in that the toes are, influenced by Sri Lanka, individually formed. Flanking the images are more statues of the Buddha, some of which are from the 1930s. *The recently renovated ''ubosot'' contains a 4.70 m (15.4 ft) high

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Buddha statue in the Bhumisparsha-

Mudra A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual ges ...

posture, which was cast in 1504 CE during the rule of King Mueang Kaeo. The statue, which carries the name ''Phra Chao Kao Tue'', is remarkable in that the fingers of the Buddha are all of the same length, indicative of influence from Sukhothai, but with robes depicted in the style of the

Ayutthaya Kingdom The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai people, Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (city), Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. Europe ...

. *A grouping of

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

s, which house the

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

ashes of members of the royal family of Chiang Mai, is in the northwestern quarter of the temple grounds. At the beginning of the 20th century, Princess Dara Rasmi, one of the wives of King

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

(Rama V) and daughter of the Lanna king Inthawichayanon, had the ashes collected from around Chiang Mai to be interred at their present setting.

Gallery

File:Chmaiwsuandok050611c.jpg, Entrance gate, Wat Suan Dok File:วัดสวนดอก เชียงใหม่.JPG, Royal cemetery File:Chmaiwsuandok200107a.jpg, Standing Buddha in the ''sala kan prian'' File:Chmaiwsuandok050611b.jpg, Chedi, Wat Suan Dok, 2005

Bibliography

* Carol Stratton: ''Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand''. Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004, * Michael Freeman: ''Lanna - Thailand's Northern Kingdom''. River Books, Bangkok 2001, * Donald K. Swearer ''et al.'': ''Sacred Mountains of Northern Thailand''. Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004,

External links

Information and Activities MCU Chiang Mai Campus
(

Thai language Thai,In or Central Thai (historically Siamese;Although "Thai" and "Central Thai" have become more common, the older term, "Siamese", is still used by linguists, especially when it is being distinguished from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6 ...

website) {{Coord, 18, 47, 17.59, N, 98, 58, 3.71, E, type:landmark_region:TH, display=title Suan Dok Thai Theravada Buddhist temples and monasteries 14th-century Buddhist temples 14th-century establishments in Thailand