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Wat Bang Phra ((タイ語:วัดบางพระ)) is a Buddhist monastery (wat) in Nakhon Chaisi district, Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, about 50 km west of Bangkok. Wat Bang Phra translates into English as the "Monastery of the Riverbank Buddha Image," a reference to the temple's history as a spot where a revered Buddha image from Ayuthaya was recovered from a boat which sank in the Nakhon Chaisi River alongside where the monastery was founded. 〔Cummings, Joe, Sacred Tattoos of Thailand, Marshall Cavendish, 2015.〕 ==History== Wat Bang Phra dates to the late 18th century, just before the second fall of Ayutthaya. A small, elegant ordination chapel represents the only significant remains of the original monastery today. Inside sit two Buddha images, Luang Pho Sit Chaiyamongkon and Luang Pho Kai Sitmongkhon, which, according to legend, were being transported downriver from Ayutthaya to save them from plundering Burmese troops when the boat carrying them capsized. When the images were later pulled from the river, they were kept in the monastery that came to be known as Wat Bang Phra. The murals inside the original ordination hall demonstrate craftsmanship from the reigns of Kings Rama III and Rama IV. Former abbot Phra Udom Prachanart, more commonly known as Luang Pho Poen, was a famous meditation monk well known for his potent incantations and his knowledge of the body of Buddhist canons (Tripitaka) and most of all his mastery of protective sak yant (sacred Thai tattoos). Poen ordained as a monk at Wat Bang Phra at the age of 25 and studied with abbot Luang Pu Him Inthasoto, an accomplished sak yant master. Even though Poen had never been tattooed himself (and never would be), he took up the sacred art at Luang Pu Him’s feet and carried on the tradition after Luang Pu Him died four years later. In 1953, feeling he needed further withdrawal, renunciation and solitary meditation, wandered in the forests of a remote area of Kanchanaburi Province on the Myanmar-Thailand border. Villagers in the area were beleaguered by wild tigers that had mauled or killed several locals. After Luang Pho Poen learned of the villagers’ predicament, he offered katha (incantations) and sak yant to protect them. He taught them that tiger yantras, in particular, could fend off attacks. From that point forward, no one who received the monk’s protection was ever attacked by a tiger or other wild animal, earning Luang Pho Poen a powerful reputation as a master of incantations and tattoos. 〔Cummings, Joe, Sacred Tattoos of Thailand, Marshall Cavendish, 2015.〕 Returning to Wat Bang Phra many years later, he was made abbot used temple donations to build a bridge over the adjacent river so that farmers could more easily bring their crops to market in Nakhon Chaisi or beyond, and constructed the local public hospital that today bears his name. As his reputation for wisdom and loving kindness grew, thousands of Thais travelled to Wat Bang Phra to receive the blessings of the great monk and to become his lifelong disciples. Many received sak yant from the abbot and the monks he assiduously trained. By the time Luang Pho Poen passed away in 2002 at the age of 79, he had become one of Thailand’s most well-known and beloved monastics. Because of Luang Pho Poen’s association with the border tiger legend, devotional images of the late monk today often depict him meditating on the back of a tiger. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wat Bang Phra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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