Cambodia 2020 - 14. Wat Preah Prom Rath Pagoda

14. Wat Preah Prom Rath Pagoda

Entrance to Pagoda (Place Where Monks Live, Work)

Around the year AD 1500 there was a man:  a Monk, Preah Ang Chang-Han Hoy they named him. I will just call him the Monk.  The story is told like this:

Monk with Freshly Cooked Rice and Seated Buddha

 In 1900 BE or in 1500 AD, a
 colossal statue of reclining Buddha was built and placed inside the main temple of Wat Preah Prohm Rath. What caused our then Buddhists to build the statue was told in a story that said in the year 1500 AD, there was a Buddhist monk who always traveled by boat to ask for food at Long Vek, the ancient capital of Cambodia, which is situated near the current capital city of Phnom Penh. It is a long way from Siem Reap to the ancient capital. But whenever he returned from Long Vek, the rice in his pot was still freshly cooked and so people nicknamed him Preah Ang Chong Han Hoy, which means “monk with freshly cooked rice in his pot.”

Ornate Replica of the Monk's Boat

One day, while he was traveling in his boat, some sharks attacked the boat and the boat broke into two pieces. Instead of sinking into the lake, one piece of the boat floated to Wat Boribo in Kompong Chang Province. The Buddhists there built a standing statue. The other piece, the prow part, brought him back here safely. It was going with such great speed that the water could not flow into it. Because of this wonderful event, our Buddhists decided to build a statue of a reclining Buddha made of the wooden piece of the boat which has been kept in the Preah Vihear Building for over half a millennium.

The Sleeping Buddha, Built From the Prow of the Monk's Boat

From the wood of the prow of this boat in above story, a sleeping Buddha was carved and this statue resides now in the Temple we are visiting here. This Wat, this Preah Prom Rath Pagoda contains this sleeping Buddha.

Entrance to the Temple

I walked around slowly, mostly in bare feet because this is a holy place and by local custom, shoes must be removed. 500+ years this Buddha has been sleeping here. The walls surrounding where he sleeps are decorated in 3 dimensional murals, telling stories of the Buddha’s life.

Shoeless to Visit a Holy Place

An abundance of Shrines or Spirit Houses are in the outer courtyard before the entrance to the main hall. Even a replica of the boat is shown. Small Spirit Houses had offerings of food, flowers and candles or smelling sticks. Statues and Idols are shown to make the above story understandable even for people who cannot read.

Spirit Houses

This Wat is an active place of worship, where monks and nuns still live and teach. A religious school, at a university level, is attached to the temple.

People around treat this Wat with deference and prayer.

The Story of the Life of Buddha Is Told Along the 4 Walls Around the Temple

It is because of this Sleeping Buddha Statue that this Wat is a special place to visit. A special place for Buddhists to revere and to see for themselves, that the story above is true.

You just have to believe, you just have to have faith.