Friday, December 19, 2008

281206 Wat Xieng Thong - misc

The scripture library that looks almost identical to the red chapel:

PC280394

But it has a roof with only two layers, & baluster windows, while the red chapel has a three-layered roof, & windows with no balusters, making it a good perch for cats.

A little chapel housing a standing Buddha statue:

PC280383

The rows of little T-shaped protrusions along the edges are bai rakaa (ใบระกา), said to represent the scales or spines of nagas:

PC280384

The Wat Xieng Thong alarm clock aka. drum tower:

PC280026

Two of the many stupas in the temple grounds:

PC280038

Another structure behind the sim - a pavilion with a seated Buddha statue:

PC280395

A hunter trying to kill a deer?

PC280395a

Click here for someone else's clearer photo of this.

[280209 update]
The last photo explained, thanks to the webmaster of the Lao Buddhism website:
I talked with my fellow monk from Luangprabang asking him about the painting in Wat Xiengthong, he told me mostly paintings describe about the Jataka stories. So the painting that you asked me should be about the hunter who was chasing the deer running past the Buddha. The hunter asked the Buddha whether he saw the deer passed by. Avoiding telling the true, the Buddha told the hunter that He had closed his eyes (which means that he didn't tell a lie neither tell the true).

...painting is about the ecology, the wildlife conservation. As we know, Buddhists observe the five precepts, the first precept is about abstraining from killing living being, and other Four Sublime Brahmavihara (abodes) are including: Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic joy, equanimity. Therefore, the painting of a deer behind the Buddha must describe that Buddhism cares for wild animal that help protect and conserve the animals. The letter in Tham script tells us not to kill animal, or to rescue them.

Here are the phonetic about the Thamscript. But I am not sure the middle word, especially the dropped down alphabet. Satthāvanam Jākadijhantam nadāsi.

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