It has been a long time since I last took a slow walk in Wat Boworn in the old part of Bangkok. The long lockdown and the fear of plandemics meant that the temple had become very quiet and empty of visitors and tourists. Things around the old temple have changed unexpectedly; a construction project has begun so parts of the old Buddhist school buildings are under major renovation. The parking area was looking quite lonely with less than ten cars. I took my usual walk from the car park towards the old library building so that I could walk along the narrow alley instead of going along the main road.
The old library building, built during the reign of King Rama VI, must have appeared out of place among traditional Thai architecture of Thai temples. But the King was educated at Eton and Oxford so he would try to modernise the old Siam and made the country being accepted by Western powers as being civilised and properly westernised as those European countries. This would probably help to discourage the colonisers from the swallowing Siam as they had done to neighbouring countries.
King RamaV was a genius in international relations and diplomacy. He was on very good term with the Tsar in Russia since his teenagers’ days. He even sent one of his Royal prince to study in Russia and he was adopted by the Tsar Nicholas. The Prince was the top student at the Russian military college and became a Russian officer who command Russian troops. This Prince never returned to Siam; he became more Russian than Siamese! The Tsar had photos of him taken with King RamaV during his visit to Russia; the Tsar called the Siamese King ‘his brother!’ That caused quite an uproar in Europe; all heads of states gave our King very warm welcome during his European tour. It was a timely and strategically planned tour of international and diplomatic significance.
This old temple has so many art objects and period Western architecture which always reminded me of our rich and complicated history. The freedom to be able to walk around without being a Western colony filled me with gratitude to those smart and hard working Kings of the past. That’s probably why our Monarchy institution and cultural context stood out as being quite different from other feudalistic systems in Asian history.
But the Kings of old would have heart attacks had they known what the modern politicians and tycoons had done to their beloved Siam. I often joked with my friends that these corrupted politicians and traitors were our former enemies whom we had killed in battles; they held their grudges from past lives and came back for their revenge on us. That’s why they tried to destroy our country in every which way they could. That’s the wheel of karma; so I reminded myself to follow the five precepts and avoided from doing bad karma.
The atmosphere in the temple was rather sad and subdue as if the spirit of the land was not feeling very well. The land had absorbed all the sorrows and pains of many people during the past three years. The land spirits witnessed all the negativity and bad karma committed by those in power and authority. The trees were not very talkative nor were the turtles very cheerful. But at least we still could count so many blessings. The weather was nice and warm, the supply chains are still working and food prices had been quite stable. The cost of living has not risen drastically and poor people could still find donated food around the city.
Wat Boworn has always been a very important temple as several princes and kings had taken residence here during their monkhood. It has become a tradition that a prince should be ordained as a monk at least once during his life. The deep understanding of Buddhism has made our Princes and Kings very religious with firm belief in karmic law. We all believe that we could never escape from our karma, so it’s advisable to do no harm to all sentient beings. There should have been a law to require all politicians and rich tycoons to be ordained as monks for at least three months! Perhaps we would have much less corruption in our society.
The garden and old trees made this temple very nice and became a refuge for so many birds and lizards. I hardly see any stray cats or dogs in this temple. There were many old Chinese statues dotted around the ground; these were brought back from China by merchants’ ship which needed heavy statues to stabilise the empty ships after they sold out all the goods. These statues were then donated to temple along the river.
The most prosperous period of trade with China took place during the Reign of King Rama III who turned out to be very talented at commerce and international trade. We had buckets of Spanish gold coins in the treasury from trading during that period. The foreign gold and silver coins were later used to pay a ransom to the French in order to keep the country in tact after a skirmish incident on the river. So, older generations of Siamese remembered very well the characteristic trait of French habit. King Rama III was probably psychic as he told his minister to hide these sags of gold coins as they would be used to pay a foreign power as a ransom for the country one day.
There are several buildings built with a mixture of Thai and European architecture in Wat Boworn. I could see the French style windows, the Italian and English wrought irons and lots of marble slaps from Italy. The old lamps were probably imported from France or Austria. The chandeliers inside the main hall were definitely imported from Italy. Rich Thai people used to travel to Italy just to buy chandeliers and crystal decorations. Nowadays, Provence style houses are quite popular as a second home for the rich. So, tiles and furniture have been imported from France. Several years ago, Versace style was in vogue so everywhere one could spot crazy imitations of grand design in odd places.
This temple becomes a reflection of what had happened in our society during the past two hundred years. Most people wouldn’t notice or interpret the odd juxtaposition of different decorations and architecture as I would during my leisurely walk. I always discover something new to my perception and it puzzled me how such design came about. So many Chinese art work and models on the roof of some buildings still raised my curiosity. I wonder who commissioned the Chinese builders and artists for the job; which part of China Chinese artists came from.
I knew from an old friend that her great grandfather built the whole golden teak palace for King Rama V. These Chinese immigrants could hardly speak Thai and yet they did manage to practice their crafts and establish their families in Siam. Apart from interesting architecture, Wat Boworn has excellent vibes and the deep stillness inside the main hall always affects all visitors. Whenever I needed to clear my mind and get some energy boosting, I would go there to sit quietly and to contemplate for a while. I could see a few people mediating at the back of the main hall every time I went there. We are so lucky to have access to wonderful and holy energy whenever we are in need of spiritual support. I would have to visit Wat Boworn more often to maintain my inner balance and harmony.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
