Art in the World

Wat Tri Thotsathep Worawihan

 

 

Today I walked over to Wat Tri Thotsathep.

I visited this temple compound four years ago. This time I wanted to see if the artists that were working there were still around. A few days ago the compound was completely shut down.

The door was opened today.

I walked in.

 

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The architecture and buildings of Thai temple compounds can be difficult to understand. Basically, there are three areas that make up the compound.

The Chedi (เจดีย์)

The chedi, or stupa, is the most sacred structure in a wat. The oldest chedi contained relics of the Buddha [so they claim] but are also used to enshrine kings and important monks. Most Thai chedi are bell shaped, a form extended from ancient burial mounds.

The Ubosot (พระอุโบสถ)

The Phra Ubosot is usually the most prominent structure within the temple compound. As the main prayer room, monks are ordained here. Other rituals are often performed. The main entrance faces east - the rising of the sun. Once you enter there is a golden statue of Buddha , often on a decorated pedestal, seated at the far wall. The walls can be richly painted but I have seen some totally whitewashed. Paintings often tell the story of the Indian Ramayana [in Thai the Ramakien] and epic tales of the Buddha.

Eight boundary stones called sema surround the Ubosot. They are set upright outside in a rectangularly shaped frame.

The Wiharn (วิหาร)


A wiharn will often look like the ubosot. Buddhist ceremonies take place with both monks and lay people in the wiharn. Sometimes it is set up for monks only. Buddha images are kept inside and people who live around the Wat come into the wiharn to listen the Pali chants or meditate with the monks. 

There are no sema stones around the wihan

 

Murals in the Ubosot

After entering through the wat compound door, the ubosot was opened. I took off my shoes at the base of the marble stairs, walked up then stepped over the threshold into the room. No one was there. As my eyes adjusted from the outer sunlight, I could see some scaffolding. It was set up against the north and south walls. High up on the southern scaffolding there were lights brightly lit. I saw the artists haired-head just above the scaffold floorboards.

He was still painting.

 

I knelt down and did the usual Triple Gem to the Buddha.

The more I looked the more I was taken aback by the painterly precision, the complexities, the human attributes – the faces that were painted about but never repeated. There are hundreds.

The human race in its entirety was here.

I was suddenly captivated by this audience of people and mythic images around me.

I had entered alone.

Now I was surrounded.

 

I walked around looking at everything that had been painted over the last four years. When last there they had barely started different sections. Now some were completed. The murals extended up the high walls to the ceiling above.

I was mesmerized.

I studied and stared for a long time.

 

Geniuses in the Human Race

Two men walked in the north door and yelled Sawat Dii! to the painter up on the scaffolding. They sat down together at a small desk and I kept up my entranced vision on the murals around me. Circling around the room, I finally caught their attention and I wai-ed and said hello. They said HI back. Then we switched to Thai.

One of the men had a long white beard. I asked him if the man up on the scaffolding was the main painter or if the three of them worked together. His name was Thawatchai Wisetkul and the other man sitting there was Anuitep Pojprasat.

Thawatchai is the painters brother. He suddenly yelled out to the elevated painter,

‘Yoi!!”

An Artist Rears His Head

The man reared his head from the upper scaffolding. His brother told him to come down and meet me. He soon made his way down the scaffold steps.

His name is Susakhorn Busabok or Yoi. I wai-ed him. It had been four years since I saw him.

He pulled up two chairs and the four of us sat around the desk chatting. I explained  that I had been there four years ago, that I loved what they were doing. Susakhorn apologized for having seen so many people. For not remembering me. I told him that before I left the states, I had sent a letter to the temple to see if he was still working there. I never heard anything back.

That’s why I stopped by – to see if he was, indeed, still around.

I asked the three of them how the entire painting process works for them.

Chakrabhand Posayakrit

The two sitting at the desk when I came in [Thawatchai & Anuitep] told me that they help design and draw out the basic areas to be painted. Susakhorn then takes the ideas and renders them on the walls with another painter. He told me that the main artist involved in the project is a famous Thai artist named Chakrabhand Posayakrit.

For over five decades Chakrabhand has been praised as one of the greatest Thai painters of the century. He harmonizes traditional Thai art with modern ideas and aesthetics.  Recently, at seventy-five, he had a stroke yet continues to draw left handed.

More information on Chakrabhand Poayakrit can be seen online:

http://www.chakrabhand.org/

https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/art/1520718/in-praise-of-a-master

I asked Susakhorn how long they have been working on this project – he told me eleven years. I asked how much longer they think this will take.

Ten more years. If they are lucky.

It boggles my mind to find this type of dedication to anything in the art world today. If you look at art in the 21st century, there is no one in the Western world who carries on with this kind of extended dedication and creativity.

I asked what they use for paint. They buy powders and mix their own oils. All the imagery is hand drawn. No computers are used. Many of the imagery is gold-foil that is applied and cut to design lines.

I’m in love.

Giotto & Hieronymus Bosch

Looking at the stories of the paintings on the walls, my thinking kept jumping back to Giotto and Hieronymus Bosch.

I’m astonished that no one – that I know of – has seen and written about this artwork being painted here in Bangkok. I have seen Giotto’s incredible work in Italy. Bosch has been a lifelong favorite of mine and looking at the Garden of Earthly Delights, at the Prado, can highlight ones life.

It did for me.

The painters here had never heard of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

 

Yet, the mural paintings being executed here are on par with that type of work.

Much like the Christian myths that backed the imagery from Giotto and Bosch, the mythology that backs Buddhism is much older and wider in scale. Indeed, much Christian theology was taken from Eastern philosophy. Before Christian theology took over the Roman and Greek belief in the gods, then downgraded it to one god, Buddhism had already played out in India for over half a millennium.

The boldest and most unassailable Buddhist attribute that opened up to me, is that there is no god.

You alone are the essence of what happens in the world.

Suffering Escaped

Susakhorn Busabok’s and his team show their way in the world. It is told dramatically and  plays out in the murals they are painting. Knowing that this has all been painted in our godless universe elevates its visual beauty. Their work proves that beauty comes from us. These concocted stories can visually resonate and deliver suffering escaped – the ultimate Buddhist goal.

There is still much to be seen in the sensational stories depicted on the ubosot walls at Wat Tri Thotsatep, for the Ramakian [a Thai adoption of the Indian Ramayana] is visually played out with its epic tales on every wall.

 

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Phra Mae Thorani

 

I have seen pictures and statues of this woman in Thailand for decades. I never understood this story until I asked the painters at Wat Tri Thotsathep.

Phra Mae Thorani is a young woman who wrings out the cool waters of detachment from  her hair to drown Mara, the demon sent to tempt Buddha as he meditated under the Bodhi Tree.

The Bodhisattva was sitting in meditation on his throne under the Bodhi Tree, Mara, the Evil One, was jealous and wanted to stop him from reaching enlightenment. Accompanied by his warriors, wild animals and his daughters, he tried to drive the Bodhisattva from his throne. All the gods were terrified and ran away, leaving the Bodhisattva alone to face Mara's challenge. The Bodhisattva stretched down his right hand and touched the earth, summoning her to be his witness. 

The earth deity in the form of a beautiful woman rose up from underneath the throne, and affirmed the Bodhisattva's right to occupy the earth. She twisted her long hair, and torrents of water collected there from the innumerable donative libations of the Buddha over the ages created a flood. The flood washed away Mara and his army, and the Bodhisattva was freed to reach enlightenment.

— A Study of the History and Cult of the Buddhist Earth Deity in Mainland Southeast Asia[5]

 

If you look at the murals around the temple entry door, Mother Earth [as she is also known] sits wringing her hair.

 

Right wall:

Demons war against the survival of the Buddha, their elephant also rising up.

 

Left wall:

Demons have been washed away by the torrents of water wrung from Mother Earth’s hair. In recognition of the outpouring of water, the elephant surrenders with joy in the new world. People play music and dance.

This is just one of many scenes painted here.

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One of the most significant attributes of Thai culture is that, through Buddhism, Thailand adopted the deeply intricate Hindu tales that played out over the centuries. The Ramakian was compiled in the Kingdom of Siam under the supervision of King Rama I (1726–1809), the founder of the Chakri dynasty. That dynasty still maintains the throne of Thailand. 
Rama X was just coronated this month.

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Pictures from the Murals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ If anyone knows any art journalists that would like to cover these murals, tell them to come meet me here. Would love to get this artwork out to a larger audience.]