Buddhist History Park: Wat Phai Rong Wua, Suphanburi

Suphanburi, which means "The Land of Gold", is a province in the Chaophraya Basin of central Thailand just a bit northwest of Bangkok. It is home to Wat Phai Wang Rua, a massive Buddhist temple complex and park which boasts the largest collection of metal Buddha images in the world, as well as four miniaturized versions of some of India's most famous Buddhist holy places.

It's part temple and part park - a place where people can learn about the life of the Buddha.

It's impossible to miss the huge Phra Phutthakhodom, a giant seated Buddha that towers over its surroundings. This is the world's largest cement Buddha, and in front of it is the world's largest alms bowl and the world's largest iron gong. While the seated Buddha is impressive, it's far from the only thing to occupy your attention at Wat Phai Rong Wua.

Nearby is an Indian-style tower all in white - a replica of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in India where the Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment.

The replica of Mahabodhi Temple is just one of four replicas of Buddhist sites from India. The interior featured several beautiful statues covered in flakes of gold leaf left as offerings by merit makers.

Other temples in the park are models of the temples at the sites in India where the Buddha was born, gave his first sermon, and attained nirvana. We were given a few hours to explore the expansive park, and broke off in smaller groups to walk around.

Another castle-like temple sat nearby. Constructed in a striking Hindu-Khmer style, this massive concrete structure boasts one hundred peaks and spires. It's design reminded me something of the temples at the Angkor Historical Park in Cambodia.

The large interior hall of this temple building was decorated in a rich gold and red, and a distinctly Indian-style statue of the Buddha sat before a large Dharma wheel in the posture of offering a blessing. Before the statue, visitors had left fresh lotus buds and fragrant garlands of flowers in offering.

The temple was surrounded by a pond and a garden full of trees. The open hall and cool marble floors led me to believe that this hall was designed for meditating. It was a quiet place, and incredibly peaceful.

Nearby, the temple's main prayer hall stood. It was one of the biggest temple halls I have ever seen, with ornate sweeping eaves and gilded decorations making the entire place glitter in the mid-morning sun.

The interior hall was huge, cavernous. As I entered the hall, lit only by the dim light from the windows, I passed a table loaded with metal bars and small sheets of gold-colored tin. These were offerings to the temple. The metal bars, obviously for large donations. The small sheets of paper, to be purchased for 20 baht or so and given to the temple.

A monk sat to one side before a collection of small vessels containing holy water. He gave blessings to those who wanted them. Other people stuck tiny pieces of gold leaf to a series of large metal spheres lining the opposite wall of the temple hall.

Every wall of the ornate temple featured colorful paintings depicting the life of the Buddha, from his early days as an Indian prince, to his wanderings as an ascetic in the wilderness, to his enlightenment and achievement of nirvana.

These beautiful murals made standing in the temple feel like being in a comic book, and was such a unique sight to see that we ended up spending quite a long time just looking at all of the colorful walls.

Normally Wat Phai Rong Wua is really popular and full of visitors, but we are still so lucky to be able to travel around Thailand without any tourists! In fact, my walking adventure was the only group there that day, and it felt like we had the freedom to explore this entire beautiful Buddhist park by ourselves.

Besides the various temple halls and structures, Wat Phai Rong Wua is best known as the world's largest collection of metal Buddhist statues. The field surrounding the temple buildings is filled with thousands of Buddhas, sitting in orderly lines almost like tombstones. Each one is different, and they stretch out as far as you can see.

Before leaving, we stopped by a reclining Buddha. This is different from the typical reclining Buddha image, where Buddha has his eyes closed and his head resting on his arm or a triangular pillow. This Buddha was raised up on one arm, and his eyes were open.

I learned recently that there are two types of reclining Buddha statues. If the Buddha's eyes are closed, it represents his death and attainment of nirvana. If his eyes are opened, he is sleeping and meditating.