Old trees and garden at the Temple of Dawn, ต้นไม้เก่าแก่และสวนที่วัดอรุณ
The tall Bodhi tree (or Bo tree) must be over a hundred years old. It was customary to plant a young sapling of a Bodhi tree which had some connection to the sacred Bodhi tree in India. This could be a sapling from seeds of the grandchildren of the original Bodhi tree under which the Lord Buddha sat in meditation. In the past several young saplings were gifted to temples in Thailand by high officials from India and Ceylon. It’s an aspiration among Thai Buddhists to go on a pilgrimage to sacred locations associated with the life of the Buddha including praying near the Bodhi trees in Lumpini (where the Prince was born).
This is the oldest and tallest Bodhi tree in Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn. This tree has yellow cloth wrapping around the stem to symbolise that this tree has been ordained so it is not ordinary tree but a tree who has entered monkhood. Thai people are very superstitious so they would be very afraid to cut down trees which have been ordained. So, in villages with forest trees, local monks and villagers would go to nearby forest to ordain trees by wrapping yellow cloth around them. Thieves would be quite reluctant to steal these trees for fear of bad karma and terrible consequences.
Several old and young Bonsai trees could be spotted in the garden around the temple. This reflected the popularity of Bonsai trees among the high society people; old Bonsai trees could be seen decorating all the places and important temples nowadays. These trees became popular at the same time when Chinese statues were imported into Siam during the reign of King RamaIII, almost two hundred years ago.
ในบริเวณสวนของวัดอรุณ เราพึ่งสังเกตเห็นต้นโพธิ์ขนาดใหญ่มากตั้งตรงเป็นตระหง่านอยู่ในฐานกว้างมาก นี่แสดงว่าต้นโพธิ์นี้มีอายุมากกว่าร้อยปีแล้ว ธรรมเนียมของวัดไทยคือต้องมีต้นโพธิ์และต้นไทรอยู่ในบริเวณวัด เราเชื่อถึงความศักดิ์สิทธิ์ของต้นโพธิ์ เพราะเป็นต้นไม้ที่พระพุทธเจ้าประทับนั่งสมาธิ ฉะนั้นเราก็คิดว่าน่าจะมีเทวดาดูแลรักษาต้นไม้ด้วย เพื่อปกปักรักษาผู้ที่มานั่งสมาธิปฎิบัติธรรมใต้ต้นไม้นั้น ชาวพุทธไทยจึงพยายามเดินทางไปกราบสังเวชนียสถานที่เป็น สถานที่เกี่ยวข้องกับพระพุทธเจ้าในอินเดีย ทุกคนที่ไปในการนี้ก็อยากไปสวดมนต์ และนั่งสมาธิใกล้ต้นโพธิ์ที่ลุมพินีซึ่งเป็นที่ประสูติของพระพุทธเจ้า เราเองยังไม่โอกาสเดินทางไปอินเดียเลย แต่เพื่อนไปที่ไปมาแล้วก็มาเล่าให้ฟังจนเราค่อนข้างตาเขียวเชียว นอกจากนี้ที่สวนในบริเวณวัดยังมีต้นบอนไซโบราณหลายสิบต้น เราสังเกตว่าบรรดาบ้านผู้ดีสมัยก่อนมักจะมีต้นบอนไซและรูปปั้นในสวน ทั้งนี้คงเป็นมาตั้งแต่สมัยรัชกาลที่3 ที่เริ่มมีการเอารูปปั้นจากจีนมาประดับตามพระราชวัง และมีกระถางแบบจีน เครื่องกระเบื้องจีนเข้ามาในเมืองสยามมากมาย ทำให้มีการนำมาตกแต่งในการสร้างโบสถ์และเจดีย์อย่างสวยงาม
Thai people believe that there should be many angels or high level spirits looking after sacred Bodhi trees. So, they would offer some sweets, fruits and water to these guardians and ask for their protection and blessings. In the old days, people would pay respect or ‘wai’ to these trees and guardian angels. Nowadays younger generation would find these people standing quietly paying respect to old Bodhi trees as rather funny and unscientific. Time changes and so will our tradition and custom. I am afraid we are sleeping walking into Brave New World. So, I have to pray for more help from these guardian angels so they would send more holy vibes to heal the world.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Cheers.
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Thank you very much for your kind support.
Have a wonderful day.
Lumbini is one of the many places I enjoy in Nepal. Below is the picture of Bodhi tree taken in Lumbini where Queen Maya held onto while giving birth to Buddha. I went there to celebrate Wesak Day.
Very nice tree! But the original tree died a long time ago. This was grown from seeds of the original tree. It’s in the record!
You're right! It's a trap 🤣 The real one is within the Maya Devi Temple.
A trap!? No! The original tree could not last for over 2000 years! So, they have to collect small saplings and seeds that could be found around that original tree.
Cheers.
Beautiful pictures!
Thank you very much. Glad you like these photos!
Have a nice day!
Thank you so much!
Good days to you too!
I have to say that the beautiful Bodhi trees in Thai temples always take my breath away. They are so lush, cool and stable. I think celebrating trees is a gorgeous thing to do!!
Have you thought to pin these location specific posts on @pinmapple - so others can find them and also for extra curation rewards??
Thank you for your comment. Yap, I was thinking of put it on the map. But I had been too busy to set up my laptop. Can’t do it on the mobile!
Oh I didn't realize you can't do the map on your cell phone.... sorry. I always use my laptop for Hive as it feels too cumbersome on my phone.
!ENGAGE 15
I work on mobile phone as I am often on the move. Wish it could expand to enable more functions. Life wound be much easier!
ENGAGE
tokens.Thank you very much for the tip.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know every user has their own profile map?
And so does every post as well!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Thank you very much for your cool map!
You're welcome @kaminchan