Photos

Wat Yanasangwarn is in Chornburi Province. It is a temple in the Chinese Buddhist style of the Mahayana Sect.

This tower is built in its grounds. It is a copy of the Mahabodi Temple at Bodhgaya in India. The original temple marks the sport where the Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha. Returning pilgrims from India in the past sometimes built replicas of this sacred site, in Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka etc. They built these to provide a place for Pilgrims, unable to travel to India, to pay homage. (See workshop for the original ancient temple at Bodhgaya). The original is a sealed structure, except for a small chamber that holds the central Buddha image.

This replica however is a hollow structure, with marble walls and floors, and with staircases leading to every level. It is richly ornamented, empty, and used for nothing at all. Some of the glass windows are broken, litter blows around, and birds nest amidst the marble ornaments. It is difficult to see what such a building could be used for. So what was it built? It is a fine example of votive building. That is, it was built, I suspect, to earn merit for the donors, that is, as a meritorious act. It is a beautiful background for Thai families to be photographed, and seems to have no other purpose. This illustrates again, a difference between eastern and Western attitudes to such things.