in the sculptures of the ambulatory, enters the sanctuary to
find dramatically re-created the Buddha’s smile, the miracle
of the light rays, and, it is implied, a prediction.
WAT PHRA CHETTUPHON. The Holy Chettuphon Monas-
tery, which occupies an extensive compound adjacent to the
royal palace in Bangkok, does not aspire to present the sort
of ultimate experiences a pilgrim can find at both Borobudur
and the Nagayon. It is, on the other hand, an encyclopedic
monastery, constructed in such a way as to encompass all
Buddhist thought, as well as history and the learned sciences.
Chettuphon is the Thai pronunciation of Jetavana, a com-
pound presented to the Buddha by one of his patrons, where
the Buddha spent nineteen rainy seasons. The monastery is
commonly known as Wat Pho, a memory of its pre-1791
name, the Bodh-a ̄ra ̄ma, “Enlightenment Park.” The monas-
tery is divided into two main walled sections, one consisting
of dwelling places for the abbot and for hundreds of monks,
the other, which will be briefly described here, of dozens of
buildings, some commemorative in nature, some for public
worship, and some for instruction, all either aligned or hier-
archically arranged. Nearly all the structures in the monas-
tery were constructed in the course of building campaigns
by two monarchs, Rama I (r. 1782–1809) and Rama III
(r. 1824–1851).
The primary structure is the uposatha (sabbath) hall (in
Thai, the bo ̄t), a massive rectangular building (the exterior
measures 51 by 29 meters; the interior, 31 by 19 meters) en-
tered from the east, and housing a large image of the Buddha
at the western end. A bo ̄t is a structure necessarily surrounded
by a set of eight ritual boundary stones (s ̄ıma ̄) that perma-
nently set aside a sacred space. Only in the bo ̄t may the
monks recite the 227 rules of the discipline, which they must
do twice a month, and only in the bo ̄t may ordinations be
held.
Second in importance to the bo ̄t is a group of four stupas
to the west, uncharacteristically set slightly askew from the
bo ̄t axis but still positioned in such a way that the worshiper
in the bo ̄t who pays homage to the main image is also honor-
ing the stupas that lie beyond. The main stupa holds the re-
mains of a Buddha image dedicated in 1503 at the principal
royal monastery in the former capital of Ayutthaya (aban-
doned in 1767 following a war with Burma); the three other
stupas commemorate kings Rama II, III, and IV. Further
west stands the library.
Themes of royal commemoration and of the heritage of
the former capital of Ayutthaya (1351–1767) number
among the many layers of meaning at Wat Phra Chettuphon.
Rama I’s ashes were installed by Rama IV under the pedestal
of the main image in the bo ̄t. Encircling the outer wall of the
bo ̄t are 152 marble narrative relief panels depicting the Indi-
an epic the Ra ̄ma ̄yana, beginning with the abduction of
Prince Ra ̄ma’s beloved S ̄ıta ̄ by the demon king and ending
with some of the victory battles by Ra ̄ma’s forces in Lanka.
These reliefs spread the message that righteous kings make
Buddhist monasticism possible, and they may also have had
an esoteric content, alluding to stages of meditation. (They
also reinforced the monastery’s position as a center of learn-
ing and literary culture in the reign of Rama III.) The image
placed inside the main stupa is not the only old image at Wat
Phra Chettuphon; in fact, in the primary and secondary gal-
leries that surround the bo ̄t there are rows of hundreds of
bronze seated buddha images brought from Ayutthaya and
cities further north by Rama I.
Other layers of meaning involve specifically Buddhist
messages. Easily explicable systematic intent is found in at
least some of the four viha ̄ra (Thai, wiha ̄n; image hall) that
surround the bo ̄t and are connected by the primary and sec-
ondary galleries. The main image in the northern wiha ̄n, for
instance, shows the Buddha seated in a forest as an elephant
and a monkey bring him offerings, while the original murals
and inscriptions were devoted to the thirteen ascetic prac-
tices, solitary forest pursuits that contrast with the communal
activities of the urban monastery, which are apparently con-
noted in the southern wiha ̄n. The western wiha ̄n, lying be-
tween the bo ̄t and the stupas, originally held murals depicting
the stories of the Buddha’s hair relic and of his footprints—
that is, of the tangible legacies he bequeathed. The subject
matter of these murals is out of the ordinary; in the most
common schemes, as found in image halls, the Buddha’s de-
feat of the army of the devil is depicted on the eastern (or
entrance) wall, Buddhist cosmology on the western wall (be-
hind the principal image), and the life of the Buddha or the
stories of the last ten of his previous existences on the side
walls.
Wat Phra Chettuphon, unlike Borobudur or the Na-
gayon, provides no single climactic experience. It has been
argued, however (by Chot Kanlayanamit, a twentieth-
century traditional Thai architect), that the ornamental ele-
ments of Thai image halls and stupas are characterized by
quietude, lightness, and levitation, three qualities that them-
selves convey the character of Buddhist meditation and spiri-
tual ascent.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW. The history of Buddhist temples in
Southeast Asia can to some degree be reduced to the history
of elements mentioned so far: the stupa, the sanctuary, and
the image hall, which may or may not also be an uposatha
hall. Additional elements include the library and dwelling
places for monks. The history is greatly complicated, howev-
er, by variations and changes in the relative importance of
these elements and by the fact that for the earlier periods no
evidence survives of wooden structures, either free-standing
or erected upon brick platforms.
In Java, aside from the exceptional Borobudur, stone
sanctuaries dominate surviving temple sites. In Central Java,
sanctuaries, including single-chambered, triple-chambered,
and cruciform types, held various configurations of buddhas
and bodhisattvas. During the East Javanese period, stone
sanctuaries accommodated deities seen as participating in a
Buddhist-Hindu syncretism, and they frequently bore narra-
tive relief sculptures on the exterior, illustrating Javanese9054 TEMPLE: BUDDHIST TEMPLE COMPOUNDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA