On 16.7.2008, I was on the way to
Narathiwat and passed by Wat
Sampowchey in
Pattani, so I decided to go in to take a look. This is the temple of the famous LP Thong (not the same as LP Thong in
Songkhla), who is honored by even the royal family in Bangkok for his achievements in Buddhism. Above we see the
Ubosot. There was a whole platoon of soldiers stationed inside the temple as it is located in
Panare, more dangerous district of
Pattani. They gave me curious looks as I toured around the temple.
A shrine to
Phra Buddha Toh Hak, the principal Buddha image of this district.
The yet to be completed
Chedi. LP Thong has been gathering funds for the past 3 years to build the
Chedi, but progress has been slow due to the unrest.
The
Sala with the odd ox-headed deity painted on the roof.
Inside the
Sala.
In the
Vihara where they keep the good stuff, we can see many interesting pictures of LP Thong. On the right we see him receiving a ceremonial fan from
Somdej Kiaw, the acting
Sangharaj.
A LP
Tuad nickel
rian (medal) that I obtained from the temple. This piece is part of the batch to commemorate the 100
th anniversary of Wat
Sampowchey in 2537 (1994). Some readers ask me why I don't show a LP Tuad bucha from the temple, as I like to do. Well the reason is that there are no LP Tuad buchas available for chow in the temple!
As I was about to leave, I managed to catch LP Thong coming out of his
kuti to take his midday meal. There were many soldiers to keep him company as you can see. Now he no longer meets visitors to bless them as he is getting quite old and frail. So I was lucky to be able to see him and take a picture. After saluting LP Thong from a distance, I continued on my journey to
Narathiwat.
On 16.7.2008, I was on the way to Narathiwat and passed by Wat Sampowchey in Pattani, so I decided to go in to take a look. This is the temple of the famous LP Thong (not the same as LP Thong in Songkhla), who is honored by even the royal family in Bangkok for his achievements in Buddhism. Above we see the Ubosot. There was a whole platoon of soldiers stationed inside the temple as it is located in Panare, more dangerous district of Pattani. They gave me curious looks as I toured around the temple.
A shrine to Phra Buddha Toh Hak, the principal Buddha image of this district.
The yet to be completed Chedi. LP Thong has been gathering funds for the past 3 years to build the Chedi, but progress has been slow due to the unrest.
The Sala with the odd ox-headed deity painted on the roof.
Inside the Sala.
In the Vihara where they keep the good stuff, we can see many interesting pictures of LP Thong. On the right we see him receiving a ceremonial fan from Somdej Kiaw, the acting Sangharaj.
2 comments:
hi wayne,
may i know the address of wat sampowchey please? is it near to the pattani / naratriwat border or songkla / pattani border? far away from wat changhai?
thank you.
cheers,
peter
I don't have the address. It's near the Pattani/ Narathiwat border.
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