Temples In Thailand: Merits Making - Wat Phra Yayang

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Merits Making - Wat Phra Yayang - My Journal

Date - Oct 2013

All along I have this idea of donating a Buddha statue to a temple, ever since I went to Wat Suthat and I saw rows of large Buddha statues - I thought it would be a blessing for me if I could do it too.

Four months passed, I suddenly have a very strong feelings and urge to donate a Buddha statue. My thai friend asked me to wait till my next trip and he will ask around the temples if they need any Buddha statue that I could donate. After two weeks, I became very impatient then and kept calling him, asking him about the progress. In the end he relented and helped me ask around his friends for leads.

Three days later he told me his colleague always go to this temple at Pathum Thani - Wat Phra Yayang for meditation. He was very sick then and couldn't eat, after having stayed there for six months; he has fully recovered and he still goes back regularly. He is now healthy and has a radiant look on his face.

His friend called up the abbot - Archan Lertsak and it so happens that Wat Phra Yayang is in need of a Buddha statue call the "Happy Buddha". I had then asked my friend to help me arrange from choosing the Buddha statue to ordering and had everything ready before I arrive in Bangkok.

Two weeks prior to my arrival to Bangkok, my friend mentioned having bad nightmares almost every night about "dirty things" and as for me; I was down in luck for almost everything and I wonder is it because of my intention in donating the Buddha statue that causes it. I had almost, if not nearly gave up the idea of doing so...but something inside my heart tells me to go on...

So here I am, in Bangkok now. This trip is for work, but mainly also to accomplish what I had always been wanting to do - Donating a Buddha Statue. I got a day off to get this done, with credits to my good friend that had helped me arranged everything. Without my friend nothing would be possible and I am so grateful for what he has done.

Phra Pra Tarn Pon - Happy Buddha, an image my friend showed me
that this is the Buddha statue the temple is looking for

We went to the streets across Wat Suthat where lots of shops are renting range of Buddha statue

We arrived at the Shop and the Statue is ready.
Address - Suwanneepanich Buddhist Supplies - 198/5-6,
Bumrungmaung Road, Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200
sue_bkk@hotmail.com
Tel: 0-2223-1595, 0-2221-0655

Finally I come face to face with Buddha statue that I will donate to Wat Phra Yayang

I was given the honor to insert the "Pin" on the Buddha's head as a ceremony
Here the lady demonstrates how's it done. A strange chill feeling from my head
to my heart was felt as I said my prayers while inserting the "Pin"

My friend's friend - Khun Pikai who was responsible for making the statue
Rent - 55, 000 baht

Next the Buddha statue was "invited" to the outside to have my name engraved on it

Yang Jun Wei and Family Singapore..yes spelling is correct :)

I head towards the provision at the back to get some other stuffs - rice
and daily needs for tamboon to the monks

80kgs of Premium Thai Jasmine rice for the monks (my friend said get it in weights
of = your own weight + additional 1kg or more and it will symbolize that you will
have plentiful in your current life).

Daily common items that the monks will need - Toothbrush, paste, soap etc...

I got some premium robes (3,000baht instead of the normal ones that are
700 baht-they come in set of 7 pcs) and the shop where I got the Buddha statue
from, they offered to help me gift wrapped it. Really nice people.

A breakdown of my cost for this donation -

Hamper x 4 sets (Consist of soap, shampoo, tissue,
toothpaste, toothbrush, shaver, washing powder and 3 in 1 coffee) (Thb1260)
Premium robes and towel x 4 sets (Thb3250 x 4)
Rice 80kgs (Thb2940)
Buddha statue (Thb55,000)
Cash donation (Thb10000)
Total - Thb82,200

We had arrived to Wat Phra Yayang and while waiting for the Buddha statue to arrive,
we looked around the temple

Some devotees here for meditation

This is the new plot of land that the temple has managed to raise funds to buy

Heard from Archan that the current temple building and land belongs to a kind
devotee who loans it to the temple on a few years basis. The temple have
managed to raise funds to buy the land, but lacks funds to build it

The inner hall of Wat Phra Yayang

Buddha Relics

Abbot of Wat Phra Yayang - Archan Lertsak

Archan showed me the new Site area where the new temple will sits

All empty and much has to be done. But I guess it's not easy to raise funds
as not much people knows about this temple.

My first picture with Archan Lertsak :)

Some banners showing the ground breaking and blessing ceremony for the new land

Drawings for the proposed new temple

Archan was very kind and humble, he offered me some food while we sit and chat

My experience on my first meditation class at Wat Phra Yayang
After meal, Phra Archan invited me to attend his meditation class; I must say it was really quite an experience for me.

I was instructed to sit and held my hands up on my crossed legs like the Buddha's posture - and start chanting "Bud"-breath in deep and "Dho" breath out hard thru the nose while swaying to and fro.

This lasted about half an hour, before long I started to feel nauseous and cough out hard, spitting some messy stuffs into the bowl placed in front of us. I had to continue doing this but as time passed I felt my hands feeling numb and the feeling went stronger and stronger, soon I felt my ear, face and head feeling it too. I could hardly feel my hands due to the numbess. After half hour, there was a 15 mins relaxation. Finally it was over and we all did the final prayers.

Phra Archan ask me how I felt after, I told him I am still feeling the strong energy even though the meditation ended. He explained that I was too tense and had to relax more, and it should go away and I should feel better by tomorrow. After about another 10 minutes, I felt that my mind is so much clearer and peaceful now and I am amazed that what an hour of meditation could do to my wellness. I believed it also helped expelled some of the bad things off my body. Great experience for anyone who likes to have a try at it.

The Buddha statue has arrived, I helped the monks and temple helper
moved into the inner hall. Takes about six strong man...

And the tamboon for four monks - the temple has eight but I have no further budget in offering more :(

Happy is all I could say...I had accomplished what I wanted with much difficulty

Archan blessing for me - a nylon strings attached to the Buddha statue with one end held by me

The meditation hall

Phra Archan gave me a picture of himself with some words of encouragement at the back :)

Phra Sivali amulets given by Phra Archan

And I offered the "hampers" to Phra Archan. It has been a great day for me.
Through fate, affinity, beliefs that has made it all possible in donating the
Buddha statue; as well as getting to know the existence of Wat Phra Yayang
and Phra Archan...I will made this temple my "Home" temple and every trip
that I come to Thailand; I will try my best to pay Phra Archan a visit

Date - Dec 2013

Been quite a while, I was hoping to contribute or help Wat Phra Yayang in building of their new temple on their very own land. I set aside some money after an "unexpected" windfall and I thought it would be good to put part of it to good use.

Before heading down, I went to MBK to get the latest Lumix camera for Archan Lertsak..somehow I felt he needed one.

I reached Wat Phra Yayang around noon time and having passed Phra Archan the funds for the donation; I presented to him the new camera that I bought for him. Phra Archan was surprised and happy as I could see the joy on his face. Archan said he always borrow camera from others when he travel, he's very happy that he have his own camera now. It will be very useful as he will be travelling to India soon for some charity work and the camera will come in handy. He insist to take some pictures with me using his new camera and I obliged humbly.

It was a pleasant meeting with Phra Archan and he was happy to see me and asked me if I'm better after the donation of the Buddha's statue; I told him that business was bad but at the very time when I needed help most I won an "unexpected" small fortune. Something inside of me told me to donate part of it to help Wat Phra Yayang if I won and since I did; I am here to honor it.

I asked Archan what I could do with my donations and he showed me the new site where the temple will be built... only this time with a new monument at the center of the land. Phra Archan mentioned that this area will be used for meditation and he will use part of my donation to complete the rest of the work as it was temporary stopped due to lack of funds.

We walked back to the inner hall after visiting the new site and Phra Archan mentioned that the other day an old monk whom he knew asked him if he has given away those items that he had passed to Phra Archan and Phra Archan replied him not yet. The old monk then tells Phra Archan that it's time to give it away. Phra Archan then told me that it seems those were meant for me and he wants to give it to me. :)

Four bags of rice - 200kgs

Phra Archan showing me the new area where they are constructing the Meditation Garden
but the work was on hold due to lack of funds

Picture taken with Phra Archan's new camera :)

Phra Archan blessing some amulets that I was wearing

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- Red beads from deep sea of India - given to him when he was in India monastery

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- Small size Buddha's foot

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- Phra Maha Boowa amulet

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- LP Thuad four inch bucha, base with some Buddha's Relics

Buddha Relics at the base of the bucha

Donation slip - Funds was enough to build the Meditation Garden and three "kutis"
Kutis are house where the monks lived in

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- A Chanting Book named Comprehensive English-Mandarin Pali Chanting book,
This book is for devotee when they are here for meditation class and Phra Achan only left 2 books

Few days later, I happens to passed by Wat Phra Yayang while I was at work
and I stopped over for a while. I was so surprised to see this - "Kutis" construction is in progress!

As well as the Meditation Garden...so much has been done over the past few days.
I'm impressed! I felt so happy that the funds was put to good use and so much
has been achieved. But there's so more that needs to be done.

Many locals around the area came to offer their help

Date - Jan 2014

Got half a day off today so I went back to Wat Phra YaYang after some temple visits in Ayuttaya. I'm here today to donate one more kuti (house) for the Wat Phra Yayang.

The last trip when I was at Wat Phra Yayang, Phra Archan gave me the Pali chanting book. I found a missing page and some of the pages were not clear and faded due to it beening duplicated numerous time. I had then decided to redo the "missing" page as well as "improve" the conditions of the prints and I printed a total of 100 books - each books is about 248 pages and it weighs approximately 600 grams per book. I only managed to bring 35 books this trip due to the weight.

I also brought along a new laptop and printer for Phra Archan from Bangkok's computer mall as I heard from my friend that the temple might need it for some administration work.

Halo Mali Rice - 100kgs

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- A Bodhi's Leaf framed up from India where Buddha was enlightened
(Mahabodhi Temple Bodhgava)

The highest leaf from the top of the Bodhi tree

An amulet from LP Kong's disciple - I dont know what amulet it is but
it is said to be held in the hand when you do meditation

Funds for building the kuti

Robes from LP Kong

Date - Feb 2014

This trip I brought the remaining chanting books for Wat Phra Yayang. It was really heavy! Thirty-five kilos excluding my luggage..

It's always nice to see progress. I felt I'm growing up together with Wat Phra Yayang.

Treat from Phra Archan as he just came back not long after I came

I was honored to have Phra Archan did a one to one meditation class for me :)

Phra Archan blessing one of the devotees that have been helping out around

Phra Archan did three rounds of blessing for me.
He placed Relics of LP Man, Arahant and LT Maha Boowa over my head

LT Maha Boowa's Relics

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- LP Man amulet

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me
- Buddha's relics. I think it belongs to LP Man. I never dream I would be able
to be so closed to Buddha Relics; not to mentioned that I could bring it back with me.

Buddha Relics could multiply and change it's color. The color is opaque
or translucent now, I will show you the colors of it in the next few post

A Relics holder

Date - May 2014

I needs to come for work during my birthday; not being able to celebrate with my family. I came back to Wat Phra Yayang. I hope the blessing from Phra Archan on my birthday will make it a memorable one :)

Toilets.. Haha...they finally have one now

Seems like a lot of works is going around here!

Hmm.. I wonder these Relics belongs to which Buddha

Today I am blessed by Phra Archan using Phra Sivali's Brain Relics

Phra Archan told me it's a gift for my birthday.
He mentioned these Buddha Relics are from the "Buddha before the Buddha",
that's why it's placed on the highest shelf.

Date - July 2014

Phra Archan is not in today, so I just walked around and resume back to my work shortly

New addition

Note the empty land with the piling works - Temple is raising funds to build
it's main Ubosot...

Date - November 2014

This trip I was able to meet a new friend from the forum - Ernest, a Malaysian who works in Cambodia. He complained to me about having difficulty to sleep so I asked him to come along with me to attend the meditation class. There are no pictures taken during the meditation class.

Phra Archan blessing Ernest with Phra Sivali's Relics

Ernest had a short chat with Phra Archan, Phra Archan told him that
his body needs more "cleaning up" thru meditation. Details of it I shall
keep it to myself as a courtesy to Ernest

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me - Phra Somdej

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me - Two more Relics
I gave one away to my thai friend

Some gifts that Phra Archan gave me

Date - December 2014

It's past a year since I last came to Wat Phra Yayang, I brought a set of new monk robes along with some sweater for Phra Archan as the weather is starting to turn cold.

This time I took longer than usual after my meditation class as I had a long chat with Phra Archan, learning about the history of Wat Phra Yayang, and about him. Some pictures here on the updates of Wat Phra Yayang.

This is the plot of land where I will be raising money to build the Viharn

Phra Archan's kuti

Another view of the land where the Viharn will be build

These four kutis - each cost about 70,000 bahts to build. I have so far donated four.
The temple needs four more of this

Buddha Parami - Phra Chinnarat

Pictures of Phra Archan's teachers and masters

Devotees starting to gather for meditation class

This plot of land is to be used to erect a four storey high building, each having ten
rooms for devotees who are intending to stay in the temple for weeks or months
to practise meditation in the temple

While chatting with Phra Maha Lertsak, his luksit and a frequent lady approached and they chatted for a while. I heard "Phra Sivali" in their conversation and enquire from them what is it about.

PM Lertsak told me that the lady wanted to donate a statue of Phra Sivali for the temple for the celebration of New Year Day in 2015 but she is having difficulty raising the money and time is tight.

I offered to help source for the statue and was at the regular shop that I went to the next day. Having consulted the shop on the price, my friend who accompanied me called up the luksit who in turn discuss with the lady that had the intention to donate the statue but we were informed later that she was not able to go ahead with the plan. The temple will not be able to celebrate New Year Day as planned - I thought. So I asked them for the permission to allow me to donate instead; which they did.

The Phra Sivali statue - original color

Some construction for the base support for Phra Sivali statue in progress

PM Lertsak inspecting the Buddha Statue

Those who attended the meditation was invited to chant together in the presence
of the new Phra Sivali statue. The actual ceremony will be on 1st Jan 2015

My name engraved at the base of the statue

A picture taken with PM Lertsak and the new Phra Sivali statue

Another view on the works for the base support of Phra Sivali statue

Money were placed in the pot hole of the base support where Phra Sivali
will be standing as a blessing for those who had contributed

Date - Jan 2015

Donated some chanting books that newly ordinated monk will be using

Donation from sales of amuets on blog

Date - May 2015

The temple is looking good, and greenier than ever :)

This trip to discuss with chief monk on the raising of funds for the main temple

Gift from chief monk

Donation from sales of amulets on blog, as well as donation received for temple building fund

Gift from chief monk

Blessing from PM Lertsak - Phra Sivali brain relics

Blessing from PM Lertsak - LT Maha Boowa relics

Gift from PM Lertsak - Phra Sivali brain relics

Gift from PM Lertsak - Buddha's heart relics

Gift from PM Lertsak - Buddha's heart relics above light source

Gift from PM Lertsak - Buddha's blood relics

Gift from PM Lertsak - Buddha's blood relics under light source

Gift from PM Lertsak

Received construction plan from chief monk on the construction for the main hall
that houses the Buddha's statue - My new project
Top view

Side view

Perspective drawing

Date - July 2015

All funds have been handed to the temple for the kick start

of the temple building fund for the main temple hall.
Total amount of S$1096 have been passed to the temple

Official receipt from the temple

Gift from LP Lertsak - Relics of the Great Kassapa Buddha - The Buddha before the Buddha

Gift from LP - Bodhi tree leaves from the tree where Buddha was enlighten in India

LT Maha Boowa's blood relics from the temple

LP very carefully took half of the relics for me as they are very tiny

My other half portion of Blood relics from LT Maha Boowa

Close up

Date - Sep 2015

Phra Maha Lertsak's offering of soil, tree branch and leaves from the
tree where Buddha was enlighten in India as part of the materials for
making the Phra Somdej amulets