Wat Sisaket in Vientiane, Laos PDR

Views: 956

Wat Sisaket is a small temple in the capital Vientiane, the temple has 6.840 small and rare Buddha statues. Statues made here are mainly made of copper, some made from other materials such as precious wood, silver, or gilded.
The temple has a 5-storey roof structure and corridor surrounding the main temple. The walls in the corridor are home to more than 2.000 large statues made in the 16th and 19th centuries. Around the corridor, there are more than 300 statues of Lao sculpture made of wood, stone or tin made in Vientiane in the 16th and 19th centuries. The lower cases also display over 300 Buddha statues in the Lao style. The western corridor displays a series of broken statues – the result of an assault by the Siamese in 1828. Noteworthy, in the main hall and a few rooms around, there are many rare gold-plated ancient statues. Coming to Sisaket, anyone must visit the “Buddha statue” lying neatly on the left of the temple. The door is made with simple wood panels, revealing inside hundreds of large Buddha statues. These statues only have the body, hands, or legs. All statues have one thing in common, that is losing head.

(Source: the internet)

It is also a museum – where more than 8000 valuable books and 6840 Buddha statues are made of various materials such as bronze, stone, wood, silver or gypsum. Each niche places a Buddha statue, giving a sense of protection to the person praying. The outer courtyard system also houses hundreds of large and small Buddha statues. There is also a library of nearly 400 years old with many ancient Buddhist texts written on palm leaves.
For the Lao people, Buddhism is national religion. Sisaket is one of the symbols of Buddhism in this gentle country. You can meet temples influenced by other religions, but over time, these religions will be transformed gradually towards Buddhism so that close to the customs and lifestyle of the Lao people. Wat Sisaket is quite similar to other temples in “The land of A million Elephants”. Everyday, monks will still have to go begging. The begging is only in the morning and absolutely cannot limit the food that people give. The number of food besides serving two meals daily to visit the soul sent in the temple. The people who eat food for the temple every day also partly want to send food for their loved ones in in another world.