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Wat Mai (New Temple), Luang Prabang

Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham often simply Wat Mai or Wat May is a Buddhist temple or wat in Luang Prabang, Laos. Built at the turn of the 18th century, it is the largest temple in Luang Prabang.

Wat Mai, the largest and most richly decorated of all Luang Prabang temples, its full title is Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham and has intricate carved designs, in black lacquer and gold leaf, depicting the penultimate reincarnation of Buddha.

Located near the Royal Palace Museum, it was built at the turn of the 18th century and has been restored and extended since then.

An emerald Buddha statue sits inside the red and gold interior and the Prabang is brought to the temple at New Year (in April) for three days, encouraging an influx of pilgrims to the wat.

Two chapels and a stupa in the middle of them.
As soon as we enter the Wat Mai precinct we see, on the right side, two chapels and a stupa in the middle of them.

  • The monks' dwellings are in front of the entrance.
  • Wat Mai is on the left side of the entrance.

Monks' housing and offering room.
Facing the entrance we can see the monks' dwelling and the offering room.

  • In front of this, there are two groups of sculptures with three buddhas each.

Wat Mai five-tiered roof.
The five-tiered roof of the wooden sim follows the standard Luang Prabang style, but the roofed front veranda, with its gables angled towards the sides of the chapel rather than towards the front, is an anomaly.

  • This unusual plan may have been influenced by local vernacular architecture, as exemplified in the old wooden house just across the street from Wat Mai.
  • Wat Mai was spared destruction by the Chinese Haw, who reportedly found the sim too beautiful to harm. Most of the other 20 or so buildings are newer.

Front veranda on the facade of the Wat Mai.
Wat Mai's main attraction is its balcony. The roof of the veranda is painted crimson red and decorated with Dharma wheels as well as golden floral motifs.

  • The golden stucco porches and traverses are engraved with scenes from Phra Lak Phra Lam, as well as numerous representations of gods and animals belonging to the signs of the zodiac.
  • The demon king is represented in the form of a giant crab that waves its claws to attack the monkey general Hanuman.
  • The avant-toit supports are carved in the shape of nagas.

Gilded bas-relief carvings.
Around the main entrance, the stunning gilded bas-relief carvings, executed in the 1960s, are also extraordinarily detailed, including the depiction of the Vessantarra Jataka, the story of the final reincarnation of the historical Buddha.

  • In the upper part, sacred carvings depict the Buddha in a heavenly palace and on a sacred chariot. The physical appearance of deities highlights the most attractive aspects of the human body, with the Buddha dressed like a king, bodhisattvas looking like princes, and goddesses adorned with jewels worthy of royal brides.
  • Interspersed are small scenes of daily life, showing simple wooden houses on stilts, and their occupants sitting outside. The village women wear the phaa sin, a cloth wrapped around the hips, naked above the waist, and go about their business: they carry baskets and jars of water, and come from the river.
  • Domestic animals – water buffalo and pigs – as well as elephants, tigers and a bear are engraved at the base of the bas-relief. The characters and animals are set in an idyllic golden landscape of mango and palm trees.
  • Heaven and earth are juxtaposed. The kingdom of heaven resembles the human world, it is happy, perfect, devoid of suffering, and life on earth is like paradise, the sacred becomes banal, and daily life on earth becomes sacred.

Interior of Wat Mai.
The interior of the sim is an amalgamation of gold and crimson red and houses an immense statue of Buddha.

  • The Phra Bang, which is normally housed in the Royal Palace Museum, is brought here and put on public display in a temporary pavilion in front of the sim at Wat Mai during the Bun Pi Mai Lao celebrations.
  • See more at Phra Bang - Wikipedia.

Reproduction of the Emerald Buddha.
The Emerald Buddha is an image of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in a meditative posture, made of a semi-precious green stone (jasper rather than emerald or jade), clothed in gold and about 66 centimetres (26 in) tall. The image is considered the sacred palladium of Thailand. It is housed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

  • Historical sources indicate that the statue surfaced in northern Thailand in the Lan Na kingdom in 1434. Some art historians describe the Emerald Buddha as belonging to the Chiang Saen Style of the 15th century CE, which would mean that it is of Lan Na origin.
  • The Emerald Buddha remained in Chiang Mai until 1552, when it was taken to Luang Prabang, then the capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Some years earlier, the crown prince of Lan Xang, Setthathirath, had been invited to occupy the vacant throne of Lan Na as his mother was the daughter of the king of Chiang Mai who had died without an heir. However, Prince Setthathirath also became king of Lan Xang when his father, Photisarath, died. He returned home, taking the revered Buddha figure with him.
  • In 1564, King Setthathirath moved it to Vientiane, which he had made his new capital due to Burmese attacks and where the Buddha image was housed in Haw Phra Kaew. The Buddha image would stay in Vientiane for the next 214 years.
  • In 1779, the Siamese General Chao Phraya Chakri invaded Laos, looted Vientiane and took the Emerald Buddha to Siam.
  • See more at Emerald Buddha: Presence in Laos in the 16th century - Wikipedia.

Trough for holy water (Hanglin).
Take note of a long wooden gutter in the rafters, shaped like a mythical serpent, and notice how it works. It is used in Lao New Year celebrations.

  • Water is poured into a container on the serpent's tail, runs along the trough and gushes from its mouth, bathing an image of Buddha housed in a wooden structure near the altar.

Questioning the Buddha with Chien Tung sticks.
To ask questions to the Buddha we use Chien Tung sticks.

  • Kau chim, kau cim, chien tung, "lottery poetry" and Chinese fortune sticks are names for a fortune telling practice that originated in China in which a person poses questions and interprets answers from flat sticks inscribed with text or numerals.
  • In Thailand, kau chim is commonly known as seam si (alternatively spelled siem si, siem see).
  • The papers contain lyrical notes that describes your life at the present time with the purpose of helping you reflect on how you can be better. It is important to highlight that despite the name, the papers do not actually predict your fortune or future.
  • The tradition is very similar to o-mikuji, which is practised at Japanese shrines with the key difference being that o-mikuji is more superstitious and is purchased with money.
  • See more at Kau chim - Wikipedia and O-mikuji - Wikipedia.

See also

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Location

Location: V4RM+6X9, Sisavangvong Road, Luang Prabang, Laos