Wat Lao Buddhavong July 4th, 2008 Concert Part VII Nagas on the Rooftop
Continued from: Wat Lao Buddhavong July 4th, 2008 Concert Part VI Tuk Badt (Almsgiving) and Paying Homage to the Triple Gems
I also posted this at my blog for Nye Noona readers. We arrived at Wat Lao Buddhavong on Thursday evening, the first thing I noticed right away are the beautiful Phraya Nak or Nagas on the rooftop, as a Buddhist myself, I was brought up to believe that Naga is the protector of the lord Buddha, and these are definitely protector of Wat Lao Buddhavong.
Lao Damnern Sai
According to wikipedia, the legend of the Naga is a strong and sacred belief held by Lao and Thai people living along the Mekong River. Many pay their respects to the river because they believe the Naga still rule in it, and locals hold an annual sacrifice for the Naga. Each ceremony depends on how an individual village earns its living from the Mekong River, for instance, through fishing or transport. Local residents believe that the Naga can protect them from danger, so they are likely to make a sacrifice to Naga before taking a boat trip along the Mekong River.
Traditions about Nagas are also very common in all the Buddhist countries of Asia. In many countries, the Naga concept has been merged with local traditions of large and intelligent serpents or dragons. In Tibet, the Naga was equated with the klu (pronounced lu), spirits that dwell in lakes or underground streams and guard treasure. In China, the Naga was equated with the long or Chinese dragon.
The Buddhist Naga generally has the form of a large cobra-like snake, usually with a single head but sometimes with many. At least some of the Nagas are capable of using magic powers to transform themselves into a human semblance.
This video’s description: On January 5, 2008, the Buddhist congregation in Northern Virginia celebrated the birthday of its principal monk by placing a dragon on the temple.
The Island Shrine of Buddha is very nice, and my first time seeing this in person. The placing of Phraya Nak or Nagas seems appropriate here as well. The water lilies are beautiful, but not as pretty as last year, and Lotus is the flower of Buddhism.
This library was completed last year, but at the time I thought it was the Gouti (living quarter) for Abbot, Most Ven. Bounmy Kittithammavanno, and it was announced now that it is a library for those that have interest in learning about Buddhism, and also for our younger generations. The entrance arch has a wheel of spokes, called the Wheel of the Law by its Sanskrit name of Dharmacakra (pronounced Dharmachakra). This is only one of the many signs or symbols that are holy to Buddhists because they stand for our religion and make us think of its teachings when we see any of these symbols.
The Buddha described the wheel in this way: “The spokes of the wheel are the rules of pure conduct (The way to find happiness is like a road or pathway. In fact, it is called “the Noble Eightfold Path” such as Right Understanding, Right Aims, Right Speech, Right Actions, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Meditation) the equal length of all the spokes represent justice; wisdom is the tire, the hub is thoughtfulness and the axle is the immovable truth.”
I had a chance to meet Loung Nien last year (currently known as Cuba (monk) Nien residing at Wat Lao Buddhavong). It was last July 4th, my dad wanted me to see the Bodhi tree behind the temple, and nearby is a giant tent where he does most of his sculpture work. Cuba Nien is Thai, and at the time I didn’t know where all these Nagas and sculptures were going to be placed at, all I knew was that it would be somewhere in front of the Wat (temple). I thought they were pretty, and took some pictures. I wanted to write a story about this last year, but didn’t know where to start, and now it’s all coming together, those that I saw are the beautiful Nagas on the rooftop of the Sala Houng Tum (worship hall.)
This is the end of my trip, I hope you enjoy reading and hope to see you there next year.
[...] also posted this at Laovoices.com for Laovoices readers. We arrived at Wat Lao Buddhavong on Thursday evening, the first thing I [...]
Beautiful sight to see. A Wat looks odd without Praya Nak to protect the ground. Maybe I’m used to seeing Praya Nak at temples in Laos and can’t quite accept a modern style of a Wat.
It would be something to have a central location for a big gathering in the east coast, mid west, and the west coast all going at the same time.
Nice pictures but what the heck happened with the turtle’s head? It looks painted?
Hi Padek, I didn’t do it, and I have no idea, I thought it was the specie of turtle. When I took the picture I thought it looks scary, I thought the red parts were the eyes. I’ll try to zoom in and have a closer look when I have a chance.
sabaidee ginger is nice pic i was there too last 4th july. is so hot i did sai bat. and khen pha khao tip. and i go to maket too. i got mak kheng is very fresh by to expensive.
- sabaidee padek . it is you padek connection that i know at manager online web long time ago? if is you i am happy to see u here . if not i would say nice to know .
and ginger too. i am new here i saw some one post the link on laosmile web site . want to chat with you guy but not know how to register.
Padek, here and here are close-up pictures of the turtle, I don’t know if it’s because it was late in the evening when I took the picture, and the flash made it look like that, the turtle is not that big.
Sabaidee saopakse, thanks, I’m glad you like the pictures. You know I’m from Mueng Kao, Pakse also
. This year was not as hot as last year, but it rained some, and I sort of feel sorry for the venues, I’m not sure if they made any profit. As for chatting, Darly can sign you up to use the chat box, but you can always comment on any post.
Darly, I didn’t realize this, but he explained to me that you could tell the Lao Wat (or architecture) from the Thai Wat by the roof line, the Lao Wat is more flat, such as this one, and the Thai Wat is pointier. When I fist saw this Wat, I thought it looks odd because of the roof line; I’m so used to seeing Thai Wat whilst living in Thailand. I noticed some Lao Wat in Laos also have pointy roof line, I’m wondering if they were influenced by the Thai architecture. I have not heard this from anywhere else, has anyone heard differently?
Hi Saopakse,
I turned off registration awhile back but now it is back on so anyone can register to use the chatbox. I wanted to have the chatbox open but too much spams for me to delete daily and I don’t want to sit here all day checking for spams.
sabaidee Ginger yes i s nice to know you from muang laos i am from pakse muang khong, and you? where you from?
- oh ok Darly that mean i cannot getin chat room.
saopakse, I’m from Mueng Kao, Phone Thong, Champassak near the Thai Border, we didn’t have to cross the Mekong River, but just walk across the border to Oubon, Thailand. I left there when I was little, so I don’t have much memory of Laos.
Also, we don’t have a chat room, just the chat box, and you can register now (click here) to participate in the chat.
Hello Darly (nong sao kong ai)
Thank you lai lai der… from your wonderful wishes, Ai yok mer satou our lai der….
Hello Ginger,
These are beautiful pictures, Nagas on the roof are beautiful and I love the Island Shrine with Buddha, Nagas and water lilies. Cuba Nien, he is something else “may Buddha bless him”.
Ginger and Darly, I want to comment about the roof design if you don’t mind, speaking from what I knew, because I use to be a super intendant working for an Architect about a year. I think the architect was designed the building to fit the budget at that time and made it easy to build and most importantly, the structure must design to meet the local City Standard Code. I think they considered the building as commercial, in this case only the Licensed contractor can pull permit and build it, if we hired American contractor ofcourse they will charge us a forturn to built. The more slope (pointy roof) the more cost they will add. In Houston, TX. my cousin told me that the Lao Temple roof over there cost about (two hundred thousand dollars )
In Florida where I lived, they remodel the roof to make it more pointy roof that looked similar to Laos or Thailand, they even ended spent as much as the cost of the building itself (it just too expendsive and hard to do).
Sirivanh, it’s a possibility that the cost did have something to do with the roofline. I believed that this Wat is created and designed by Laotian(s) because when my GI Joe sister went to help hang the main drape by the big Buddha, the drapes were made by Aui Dang (picture here,and here,) they couldn’t do it at first because it was steel beams and they had to call in the people that designed and built the place (it was not up July 4th of last year, but they finally got it up on 7/29/2007,) and she said that they are Lao people (please correct me if I’m wrong). What is amazing to me is that this place is huge, the Sala Houng Tum (worship hall) has one big room, and if you were to look at the roofline, there are 2 flaps that dropped off from the main roof, you would think that there are columns to support the roof, but inside, there is no visible column to support, just one big open space in the room, it’s very nice.
It part of the reason why I don’t think we should try to mimic the design of Lao temple as if we are back in Laos. It doesn’t have to be. I know I am in a (very) minority maybe I am the only one in this thinking. Do we go to the temple for the building or do we go there for the teaching of the Buddha and to play our respect. We should try to make a nice looking temple and at the same time spend the money wisely.
Hi Ginger,
I’m so happy that Lao people built the building, because Lao people are great builder. The Architect did a great job design that building to hold up the roof top pressure without support columns, it’s amazing!
I personally think the building is beautiful and it’s gonna get better because every year they keep adding structures. I think we all very proud of all people to put thair hands on to make it happen, it is one of the biggest temple in the U.S. and it’s for all Lao people and everybody else……. I want to go there again sometimes.
Dallas, I also share your way of thinking, sometimes it’s the vibration of the place that gives off the feeling of holiness, and there are many contributing factors to this, and sometimes it’s even weirder for me to be in a church and feel the holiness of the place, but you are right that it’s most important in the teaching and philosophy of the Buddha.
But I feel that it’s only human nature to want something grand, just like some pastor or preacher would want a bigger church and congregation. I realized that when monk takes the vows into monkshood, that one is to give up all greed, but that is not always true, I spoke to one Abbot of a Wat, and he admits in wanting lots of Boun, still has greed for Boun, so the Abbot of some temple also want a nice big Wat.
This temple is situated on a 58 acres lot, and I realized that I only hit on good notes on my posts, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, such as the walk way is graveled and very difficult to walk, and worse for those that wear high heels, the metal chairs for the concert are in bad shape, very dirty, old and some are rusted and I feel that the Wat committee should do a better job in caring for the chairs, (next year if I have a chance to go, I will bring my own sitting pad.) I think their Boun (merit making) festivals, especially their Annual Festival on July 4th are to help raise money to improve and maintain the temple, and it’s obvious by the new improving things that we’re seeing. I don’t get to see temple such as this in our area, so it’s a real treat for me and I don’t mind going at least once a year.
I forgot to mention this in my post, but the Nagas are Busa (donated money) from various families and temples, I believed it’s $999 per head, so with the help of the Buddhist community, this is possible, but the Wat also give back to the community as well, such as teaching Pasa Lao to children, giving traditional dance lesson, and traditional music lessons, etc.
Here is the link from Sim’s blog. virginialaostudents.mp3
or Link to his post.
Sirivanh, I didn’t get to see Cuba Nien this time, but my dad visited with him twice and he is busy making more Nagas and Buddha statues, I think the place looks great already, and I can’t image what it’d look like with more statues and Nagas, it’d really be a sight.