Il blog di Angela e Giorgio
fotografi erranti, dalle Americhe all'Asia, alla ricerca di istanti di Bellezza da catturare e raccontare

Ideazione e progetto grafico: Monica eFFe

Traduzioni all'inglese: Sara Russell e Monica eFFe




“Il vero nucleo di base dello spirito vivente di un uomo è la sua passione per l'avventura. La gioia della vita proviene dai nostri incontri con nuove esperienze e, quindi, non c'è gioia più grande che avere un orizzonte che cambia incessantemente, per ogni giorno avere un nuovo e diverso sole. Se vogliamo ottenere di più dalla vita, dobbiamo perdere l’inclinazione per la nostra monotona sicurezza e adottare uno stile di vita più improvvisato, che in un primo momento ci sembrerà un poco folle. Ma, una volta che ci siamo abituati ad un tale stile di vita, comprenderemo il suo pieno significato e la sua incredibile bellezza. Non fermarsi, non stare seduti in un solo posto. Spostarsi, essere vagabondi, fare di ogni giorno un nuovo orizzonte”.

(Christopher McCandless)*

*Da ...”INTO THE WILD” di Jon Krakauer.











giovedì 15 settembre 2016

CHIANG RAI - WAT RONG KHUN







Venerdì 18/XII/2015










































































































































































































































































WAT RONG KHUN (A nightmare)
“The White Temple” of Chiang Rai




















Wat  Rong Khun, better known as “the White Temple” is one of the most recognizable temples in Thailand. The temple outside the town of Chiang Rai attracts a large number of visitors, both Thai and foreign, making it one of Chiang Rai’s most visited attractions.


















Unique temple

Wat Rong Khun is a unique temple that stands out through the white color and the use of pieces of glass in the plaster, sparkling in the sun. The white color signifies the purity of the Buddha,while the glass symbolizes the Buddha’s wisdom and the Dhamma, the Buddhist teachings.
The Wat Rong Khun was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a famous Thai visual artist. To date the temple is not finished. Eventually there will be nine buildings including an ubosot, a hall to enshrine Buddhist relics, a meditation hall, the monks living quarters and an art gallery.
On May 5th 2014 a strong earthquake hit Chiang Rai. Although the white temple was badly damaged, Chalermchai Kositpipat decided to restore and further expand the Wat Rong Khun.
History of the Wat Rong Khun

Towards the end of the 20th century, the original Wat Rong Khun was in a very poor state of preservation. Restoration works on the temple started, but had to be halted due to a lack of funds.
Chalermchai Kositpipat, a artist born in Chiang Rai, decided to completely rebuild the temple and fund the project with his own money. The artist built the temple to be a center of learning and meditation and for people to gain benefit from the Buddhist teachings. (Today the works are ongoing.)

Structures of the white temple and their symbolism
Every detail of the white temple carries meaning and encourages the visitor to reflect on the Buddhist teachings that show the way to escape from the worldly temptations, desires and greed and focus on the mind instead.    
The bridge of “the cycle of rebirth”
The ubosot, the main building of the white temple, is reached by crossing a bridge over a small lake. In front of the bridge is a circular area with hundreds of reaching hands that symbolize desire. This area represents human suffering and hell. The bridge towards the ubosot, called the bridge of “the cycle of rebirth” signifies the crossing over from the cycle of death and rebirth into a state free of suffering. It symbolizes the way to happiness by overcoming worldly thing as temptations, greed and desire.    
Next to the lake stand two very elegant Kinnaree, a creature from Buddhist mythology, half human, half bird.

The “Gate of Heaven”
After crossing the bridge the visitor arrives at the “Gate of Heaven” guarded by two huge creatures that represent Death and Rahu, who decides over men’s fate. At the end of the bridge in front of the ubosot are several Buddha images in meditation.


















The ubosot

The most important building of the Wat Rong Khun, the ubosot or ordination hall is an all white building with fragments of reflective glass in the plaster. The very ornate ubosot shows some design elements of classic Northern Thai temples like the three tiered roof and stylized Naga serpents on the bargeboards.    





















Whereas the murals of many old temples depict scenes from Buddhist stories, the walls of the white temple contain colorful murals that depict modern representations of good and evil, contemporary figures like Batman, Spiderman and Elvis, villains and superheroes from movies and comics and even spaceships.
On the back wall of the ubosot is a golden mural of the Buddha, a few images of the Buddha in front of it.
The golden building

A structure that stands out because of its color is the rest rooms building. Another very ornately decorated structure, this golden building represents the body, whereas the white ubosot represents the mind. The gold symbolizes how people focus on worldly desires and money. The golden building represents the idea to make merit and to focus on the mind, instead of material things and possession.



















The crematorium

Another elaborately ornamented structure is the crematorium. This is where the deceased are cremated.

In Buddhism death is the transition from this life to the next, a cycle of death and rebirth that can only be ended by reaching enlightenment. After death a person is reborn into one of several states including human, animal, Heaven and Hell. The state he or she is reborn into is determined by the deceased’s good and bad actions in life and accumulated merit.
The people attending the cremation are reminded of the temporary character of everything on earth, as opposed to the mind that lives for ever. 



















Other structures
Around the temple grounds are several concrete “trees” with thousands of medallions hanging down from them. For 30 Baht you can add yours with your name written on it.


Visitors of the temple make a wish throwing a few coins into the wishing well.
 (To get an impression of the tremendous amount of work done to build the white temple take a look in the large building behind the temple. In the hall staff apply hand made pieces of mosaic mirror to various parts before they get assembled onto a building.)


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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