CHAPTER ONE. LANNA
The Mekong River stretches some three thousand miles, from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea, and in the Si Pan Don it seemed like we had found our little piece of paradise. Straddling the border between Laos and Cambodia, sitting atop a cataract that made upstream navigation impossible, the Si Pin Don seemed to exist in a simpler place and time. Towns are non-existent, roads are dirt and the preferred mode of transportation is the long tail skiff. There’s nothing whatsoever to do there.
We would spend our days eating pumpkin curry, riding ramshackle bikes through the island’s interior, and sampling the potent local liquor, lao-lao. At night we would sit on the veranda of our guest house drinking Beer Lao and watching the sun slowly sinking over Cambodia.
Really, the only problem was the heat. It was still early in the dry season and the heat was debilitating. People would be up at dawn, making offerings to the monks on their alms rounds, and we would be there too, kneeling in the dust beside the road. After that, most people retired to their hammocks to while away the day. In the end this wasn’t a life path we wanted to follow. Instead we decided to head upriver, to Thailand. Surely it would be cooler there!
We took buses, taxis, shared vans, and finally a riverboat, always following the course of the river. But once past The Great Bend the Mekong narrowed, running past rocky gorges and rapids. We passed wildcat goldmines and rafts of discarded energy drink bottles. Once a corpse swirled by, unknown and remote, twisting slowly in an eddy.
Finally, we abandoned the Mekong at Huay Xai and crossed the bridge into Thailand. It wasn’t long before we rented a van with a group of weary travelers and were racing through the night towards Chiang Rai. Before we knew it, we were deep in the heart of Lanna.
After enjoying the pleasures of electricity and AC we strolled to Wat Phra Kaew- The home of the Emerald Buddha. Or rather, it wasn’t. And here is where it gets tricky. I knew that this wasn’t the real Emerald Buddha. The real Emerald Buddha was some place else. Bangkok maybe. I hadn’t really thought about it. I also knew that there had been an Emerald Buddha in Laos, and that this Emerald Buddha was somehow shrouded in irrevocable grievance and loss. Whatever. We had just come to Wat Phra Kaew to see what we could see.
Originally called the “Golden Bamboo Forest Temple” , Wat Phra Kaew once stood in dense forests where elephants played in marshy water holes. Today, it’s surrounded by the bustle of Chaing Rai.
The Ubosot, or ‘consecrated chapel’, is small and jewel-like, with floral pattern panels decorating the wooden facade. The Eyebrow Pediment is elaborate and gilded. (The “eyebrow” is the panel above the doorway that signifies the eyes of the Buddha watching the sangha. Supposedly this is to ensure proper conduct inside the Ubosot).
Inside the Ubosot, is the “Phra Chao Lan Thong”, a fine 700 year old cast brass and bronze Lanna-style Buddha statue. But fine as it was, the Phra Chao Lan Thong wasn’t what we had come to see.
So we meandered through the world-class museum and eyeballed some of the odd shrines. Then, finally, we climbed the long flight of stairs to the Hot Phra Yok, the palace of the Emerald Buddha.
It’s hard to describe what was going on there. It was chaos! There were so many pilgrims that I barely had room to stand. They just kept coming and coming in an uninterrupted stream, making offerings, prostrating, lighting candles and fragrant incense. There were so many offerings that there was an attendant just to haul the stuff away! (He was the same man selling the offerings!)
‘Emerald’ in Thai merely means ‘green’. The original Emerald Buddha is in fact jasper, while the replica in Chiang Rai is Canadian jade carved in China. Plainly it didn’t matter to the pilgrims.
In the end I felt confused and frustrated. What is devotion? Where does it come from? How can you get it? I had no idea. But I knew I wanted it. I also knew that Yasha and I would have to go and find it for ourselves. So off we went, deeper into the heart of Lanna.
A brief note on Stupas: The original stupa or “Chedi” was undoubtedly a burial mound covering the cremated remains of the Buddha. The stupas you see in contemporary Thailand today are derived from the Shri Lankan stupa, with a tall bell and spire. Most stupas in Lanna, however, have a large hexagonal base surmounted by a very small bell. The ancient golden Chedi at Wat Phra That Doi Cham Thong, on a hill in Chiang Rai, is an excellent example of this style.
Two thousand years BCE groups of ethnic Mon migrated from the hills and jungles of Southern China and crossed the Great Bend of the Mekong. Eventually they would spread across all of SE Asia, founding the three cities of Bangkok, Rangoon, and Vientiane. Eventually the Mon living south of the Mekong called their land LANNA, “The land of a million rice paddies”. A mythical queen arose, Chamadevi, ruling from the moated city of Haripunchai.
Other towns and temples sprang up. Wat Phra That Lampang Luang is a famous fortified temple that Queen Chamadevi is said to have visited.
This was a Thailand far different from the Thailand of today. The mighty Khmer Empire occupied the lower Mekong in the east. Suhhothai and Ayutthaya vied for regional supremacy in central Thailand to the south. Tigers and must-crazed elephants roamed freely through the jungles. Most travel, especially royal travel, was by river. Supposedly it took Queen Chamadevi seven months to reach Haipunchai by river for her wedding.
It was into this fertile ground that the Emerald Buddha manifested late in the 15th century. According to legend, the Emerald Buddha was created 43BCE in Patna, India, during the decline of the Mauryan Empire. Before long the Emerald Buddha was carted off to numerous undocumented places. Once He was rescued from a shipwreck. Another time He escaped a deadly plague in Angkor Wat Finally, He was lost somewhere in Thailand for over a hundred years.
But then in 1476 lightening struck the Chedi of the original Golden Bamboo Forest Temple. Inside the Abbot discovered a small buddha statue, covered in stucco. When the stucco flaked off, the green interior was revealed. The Emerald Buddha itself is a small, Lanna-style Buddha figure, which seemingly would belie its Indian origin. But as you will see, faith and devotion writes its own story…
Within thirty years the Emerald Buddha was moving again; the king of Chaing Mai demanded the Emerald Buddha for a new temple. En route, the elephant carrying the Emerald Buddha’s shrine refused to go to Chaing Mai- he went to Lampang instead! In Lampang they have a different story. Apparently the Abbot in Lamgang was cutting open a watermelon and guess what he found inside? The Emerald Buddha!
Wat Phra Kaeo was purpose built to house the Emerald. Today it’s a large pilgrimage center. Unfortunately, when we were there, it was undergoing reconstruction. The interior of the temple is in shambles. The Butsabok throne, which symbolizes Mt. Meru and upon which the Emerald Buddha typically sits, was being actively restored.
Nevertheless it’s a charming assemblage of buildings. Facing the large Chedi is a beautiful Burmese- style mondop. The open interior of the mondop glitters with thousands of mirrors, beguiling the eye with ever changing colors and shadow.
Lampang today still remains a wonderful town. During the teak craze of the 1890’s Burmese laborers came to Lambang to harvest the high value trees. Their money built temples throughout the area, as well as airy elevated teak houses along the Wong River. Following the Burmese were the wealthy Chinese merchants, who built their own business district on the other side of the river. Today it’s the historical district. When we visited Lampang we stayed at the Riverside Guest House (theriverside-lampang.com) , a delightful Lanna style home on the Wong River in the historical district. All around was great food, a street market, and friendly people. I love Lampang! I would return there in an instant.
We followed a walking tour through the leafy north side of the Wong River, passing scores of old teak Lanna-style houses. These were the golden days of the Lampang!
Unlike Chaing Mai, where most of the temples are clustered within the old city walls, the temples of Lampang are more spread out. Some are five hundred years old, others date from the 1890’s. Some, like the temple arch on Wang Neau St. are ruins. Others, like Wat Prato Pong, across the street, are simply locked up.
Still others, such as Wat Pong Sanuk Tai, exist in their own glorious weirdness.
But the best Wat of all turned out to be an abandoned one. We were wandering around town when we came to Wat Chai Monkol, a Burmese Wat from the 1890’s. Sitting by itself in an un-manicured lawn, it lurched drunkenly to one side. We climbed the unsteady steps and there was a single aged monk, sitting on a stool, blessing two lay people. It looked like a tableau from a dying age. When the two Thai had left we asked to see the shrine room, which was dark and locked behind a sliding metal grate. When he pulled the grate back and turned on the lights we were shocked! We knelt and pressed our foreheads against the base of the throne in wonder!
Just as the Haripunchai flourished and faded so did Lampang. By the early 15th century Chiang Mai had become the dominant military and political power in northern Thailand. Even today, within the city walls, Chiang Mai possess a most stunning collection of Wats.
Almost directly in the heart of the old city lies Wat Phra Sing. Every day hordes of tour buses, mostly full of pilgrims, throng outside the gate of Wat Phra Singh. It’s not hard to see why. The assemblage of buildings, the grounds, everything is perfect. When we arrived recently a puja was taking place in the main building, the Vihar Luang. A group of pilgrims had queued up to receive blessings from a monk, so we got in line, and when it was our turn he prayed, flicked holy water on us and tied a protection cord around each of our wrists. I felt pretty good about that.
A flower, wax monks in the Ubosot, the Vihar Lai Nam and the Ubosot, meditating before the Phra Singh image in the Virar Lai Nam
Unfortunately, the Burmese invaded Lanna and occupied Chiang Mai from 1578 until 1774. During that time Wat Phra Singh was looted and abandoned. Surprisingly, the oldest Wat in Chiang Mai, Wat Chiang Man, was protected from depradations by a tiny quartz statue.
The “Elephant Chedi” was the first stupa built within the city’s walls by King Mangrai in 1297. The life- size brick and stucco elephants supporting the lower tier of the Chedi at Wat Chiang Man were later adopted by other stupas throughout city. This Lanna-style Chedi has remarkable grace and power.
The library and Ubosot at Wat Chiang Man
King Mangrai is undoubtedly the most popular figure in northern Thailand, even now, 800 years after his death. He established Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai (“Chiang” means “new”). In 1291 he defeated the Mon kingdom of Haripunchai… which was only thirty miles away from the nascent Chiang Mai. There is no Wat in Chiang Rai or Chaing Mai that doesn’t have a portrait of King Mangrai.
Two hundred years after his death the Tai of Chiang Mai finally asserted their dominance over the Mon by subduing Lampang. In true conquerer form, after the raping and the pillaging ended the most important thing the Mon possessed was brought back to Chiang Mai. The Emerald Buddha. That was when the trouble began.
Wat Chedi Luang had originally been conceived as the burial stupa for the kings of Chiang Mai. Instead it was adapted to become the shrine of the Emerald Buddha. But the problem with buildings of this sort is that they are inherently unstable. Especially at size. And Wat Chedi Luang was the biggest building in all of Lanna. Midway through construction the brick and stucco stupa collapsed. Yet the builders perservered. By the time the Emerald Buddha was installed in Wat Chedi Luang in the late 15th century Chiang Mai had become the centerpiece of the Lanna Kingdom.
When we first came to Chiang Mai twenty years ago Wat Chedi Luang was a gigantic crumbling structure surrounded by a broad open plaza. We met earnest young monks who wanted to learn English and we asked them about Theravada. Today, you can’t even get in to see the Chedi without paying an entrance fee. Western tourists (and there are plenty) are given a shawl to cover bare legs or shoulders. There wasn’t a monk in sight for the monk chat, but that was probably because it was so ungodly hot.
We strolled over to the City Pillar, or “Lak Mueang”. This was the site where King Mangrai, King Ngham of Phayao, and King Ram Kham Haeng of Sukhothai shook hands and vowed friendship. In the illustrations they are sometimes shown being surrounded by a herd of wild elephants.
At the City Pillar Yasha was refused entrance. Why? Because she was a woman. Well that sure makes sense. I was going to raise a fuss when Yasha said ” Don’t worry about it. Just go on in”. Which I did. Inside the City Pilar was highly refurbished and gaudy.
The plaza is surrounded on all four sides by the Vihar, the City Pillar, and a smaller Wat, Wat Phan Tao.
Finally in 1545 Chiang Mai ran out of luck. An earthquake toppled the upper hundred feet of the Chedi. The Emerald Buddha was removed from the undamaged Eastern shrine, never to return. Pretty much at the same time the Crown Prince of Luang Prabang, Setthathirath, was occupying the vacant throne of Chiang Mai. Evidently his mother had been the daughter of the king of Chiang Mai who had died without an heir.
Once the spire fell Setthathirath decided it was probably a good time to go home. So in 1551 he decamped for Luang Prabang, taking the Emerald Buddha with him! In 1556 the Burmese conquered and looted Chiang Mai, leading to its eventual abandonment in 1776.
In the 1990’s a UNESCO project aimed to restore the Stupa. But after one gateway was rebuilt in a more contemporary Bangkok style (see above photograph) local opposition shelved the project. Nevertheless there’s a new Emerald Buddha up in the eastern gateway, made of black jade. Unfortunately it’s hard to see from the ground.
By this point, I had to admit that I still hadn’t found any devotion for the Emerald Buddha. We had seen a lot of beautiful temples and eaten some great food, yet somehow the heart was missing. I needed more.
So in the morning we were on a bus, heading for the Friendship Bridge and Laos.