Today, the temple is best known for its massive golden Buddha statue which towers over the surrounding neighborhoods.
I stepped out onto a rickety floating pier and into an even ricketier motorboat. The captain, a cigarette drooping out of his mouth was bailing water out of his boat as I approached. It was from the heavy rainstorm the night before... or so I sincerely hoped.
Dhammakaya, a distinctly Thai school of Buddhism, is somewhat controversial. Some claim it's a cult, others liken it to a megachurch. They run several extremely rich temples across the country. From what I understand, the main teachings of Dhammakaya focus on meditation practice, but the real controversy comes from the teaching that the state of nibbana (nirvana) is actually the true self rather than the non-self. I don't really know enough about Buddhist philosophy to really get into it.
From what I've seen, the tradition doesn't necessarily seem like a cult, but it does go against the grain enough to rub the conservative religious establishment the wrong way. This was especially apparent when, in 2013, the temple's abbot was nominated to the office of Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. After two years of delay, the military junta who took power following the 2014 coup refused to progress the nomination, which was subsequently withdrawn.
I set out on foot from the MRT station on a dark, drizzly morning. I rarely come to this part of town, and even though the walk was new for me, I had no trouble following the statue to the temple... it's hard to miss.
As I was making my way towards Wat Paknam, I decided to take a detour for breakfast, and I am very glad that I did! A cafe chosen at random off of Google Maps turned out to be the perfect spot to sit across the canal from the temple to get the best views of the Big Buddha.
I ordered khai jiao, a crispy Thai omelette served with chili sauce over rice, and an iced coffee and I sat on the patio and watched the longtail boats make their way up and down the canal.
I noticed a sign at the cafe offering boat rides and decided to be spontaneous. I paid 150 baht for a 15-minute sightseeing ride on the canal with drop off at the temple pier.
The driver waved me aboard, and I stepped into the boat, which seemed to be made out of Styrofoam covered in thin plastic. He tossed his cigarette overboard, pulled the engine starter a few times, and the boat coughed to life as we pulled out of the dock and onto the canal.
It was a quiet weekday morning, and the canal was empty and still. We drove up and down the waterway, past old homes and temple piers. The driver pointed out the best photo spots for me to take pictures of the wat and the statue, and we even stopped alongside an old woman with a rowboat who was selling souvenirs and soft drinks as a sort of mobile market. I bought a bottle of water, and we kept going.
Eventually, we made our way to the temple's pier, across the river from the cafe. Wat Paknam's great pagoda and golden Buddha rose into the sky above me as I stepped out onto the land.
Almost the instant I got off of the boat, the heavens opened and, no exaggeration, I found myself in one of the heaviest rainstorms I've ever been in (and I've been in a ton here in Southeast Asia). Fortunately, I was in a sort of covered walkway between the pier and the main temple buildings, but there was no way that I was going to try to sprint across slippery wet marble through the sheets of water to get to the temple itself.
I ended up stuck and camping out with other refugees from the rain while waiting for the storm to pass. Luckily, when it rains this hard it never lasts long. It took about twenty minutes for the rain to slack off enough that I wasn't too uncomfortable walking on.
The first building that I came to from the pier was a sort of shrine honoring Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro, the abbot during the first half of the 20th century and the founder of the Dhammakaya Tradition of Buddhism.
The grounds of Wat Paknam are beautiful, and every building and pagoda is a work of art in and of itself. However, the main attractions that pull in visitors from all across the world are the Great Pagoda and the Big Buddha, and truthfully, they were what I was here to see.
In 2017, Phra Buddha Dhammakāya Thepmongkhon, a 226-foot tall, seated Buddha of pure bronze was commissioned to honor the Thai Royal Family. The Buddha sits in a posture of the meditation method taught by Luang Pu Sodh. It is the first solid bronze seated Buddha statue in the world.
After a delay during COVID, construction was finished with the ceremonial enshrinement of a holy relic in the lotus bud on the head of the Buddha, and a structure of gold as a "heart" in the left side of the chest.
The Maharatchamongkhon, meaning "Blessed Great Land", is a giant stupa more commonly referred to as the "Great Pagoda".
The towering white stupa is a five-story, 260-foot tall twelve-sided polygon was commissioned in 2004 in honor of the 6th cycle (72nd birthday) of both King Rama IX and Queen Sirikit. It was completed in 2012.
The pagoda's lower floors contain a meditation museum as well as artifacts from the temple's history, but what is most interesting, and the main draw of visitors, is the psychedelic emerald-colored crystal stupa hidden within the upper chamber.
The stupa and colorful murals covering the ceiling are meant to evoke images of Buddhist cosmology. It really is a stunning sight, and far from the traditional temple murals and paintings that you'd expect to find across Thailand.
The less visited Wat Khun Chan sits just across the canal, and I walked through it as I made my way back to the BTS station.
Wat Khun Chan is smaller but no less photogenic than its neighbor, with dozens of beautiful chedis, Burmese-style pagodas, statues, and shrines to explore.
As I made my way through the temple, it began raining again, so I had to hurry on my way.
It was pouring and I was thoroughly soaked by the time I finally made it back to the station. Nevertheless, I was very happy to have fit another mini adventure into my busy weekly schedule.
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