Wednesday August 11th I finaly managed to get into the National Museum. I had tried on the Monday and the Tuesday but both days it was closed. Wednesday was success, but as I paid for my ticket I found out that photos are only allowed outside not inside the buildings so I left my camera in my backpack. Backpacks were required to be stored in lockers. I think that's probably to protect the exhibits from some unthinking tourist doing a sudden twirl and hitting something with a huge backpack. The people taking the tickets and backpacks were not as friendly as most Thai are, maybe they were having a bad day.
The group was small, only 5 of us, and the guide was from Canada so she spoke English with a slight french accent and had a little difficulty with getting the right words to explain certain things. But she was very enthusiastic about the Museum, and had lived in Thailand 3 times for a total of 10 years so she obviously knew a great deal about buddhism here.
I hadn't realized that the Museum was made up of a number of buildings, not just one, or I would have taken my camera. The guide started us at the Chapel where she explained about the Buddhas' life before becoming a buddha where he was a Royal prince used to leading a very luxurious life. At his birth, the King had taken him to get his fortune told. The fortune teller said he would either be lead a very wealthy privileged life, or become a holy man. The King wanted him to chose the former, not the latter, so he surrounded him with every imagineable luxury. Every desire or need he had was always met. He never saw sickness, disability, old age or death as anytime he left the Palace the King ordered all such unpleasantries hidden from his sight.
It wasn't until he escaped the Palace on his own one day that he came across the real world in the form of a sick person, a disabled person and a dead person. He realized that there was more to life than the wealthy existence he was leading, and a God spoke to him telling him that the people he saw were the phases of life. If he wanted to lead a worthwhile life he would need to find his way.
On his return to the Palace he left his wife and children and became an asetic, a holy man seeking enlightenment. It took him 8 years to achieve it. He fianlly realized that it wasn't choosing to lead a life of povery over a life of wealth that made him see englightenment, it was the fact that he had to manage somewhere in between. Some people have less to manage with in material terms, but still achieve inner wealth. Some people have more, but that doesn't preclude them from achieving the same thing if the intent is there in the first place. After he had achieve enlightenment, he passed on his teachings to his 5 disciples, who in turn passed it on to many many more.
The entire story of Buddhas life is depicted on murals on the Chapel walls. Sadly they are not in the best of repair but there is an ongoing effort right now to restore them. While we were there we watched the artists working on restoration. It seemed very time consuming and painstaking. Originally all the murals had been painted by different artists who donated their work to the Chapel. Each one had their own artistic interpreation of events and many added quirky little extras, such as European soliders in one scene. Because the story of Buddha is so long each panel of the mural contained more thanone scene from his life. And the scenes could be mixed and matched from any part of his enlightenment path. Though the order of the murals was in general in line with the progress of his life, the panels themselves could contain scenes from any part of it.
At the end of his life he succumed to poison. He knew it would happen, but he continued to teach to the very end. Proping himself up in the famous 'reclining' position until the poison finally took it's toll and he died. Thereafter the reclining position has been associated with death. He wished only his teachings to be continued after his death. He specifically requested that no images of him be made or adored. It was 600 years after his death before the first Buddha images began being made. The guide believed it was the influence of the European religions, who had statues and icons to adore, that the Thais eventually began making their own images of their Buddha. As a result of the images beginning to appear the Buddhist community came up with a set of rules by which any Buddha image must be made. I think there were 37 in all.
Of course as time went by each era interpreted the rules in slightly different ways and artists used artistic license to give their own interpretations of the rules too. So over time each era has a distinct look to their buddhas. For example, the arms must look like an elephants trunk, the curls on the head must go in a clockwise direction, it must have curls to be a Thai buddha, the eyes and eyebrows must have a distinct look etc.
Next we saw the Red House which had belonged to the Princess, the sister of the King Rama IV (I think). For a Royal abode it seemed extremely small to me. But it was most beautifully built and because her husband was a Chinese prince, there were Chinese influences throughout. It had 2 rooms, the main audience/living/ entertaining room, about 10' by 10' and the bedroom. Outside on the front porch was the washroom or bathroom and at the far end of the was an add-on that was the kitchen where all their food was prepared by servants. The bedroom was the most special as it contained a raised wooden bed platform, with four poster and canopy on which Thai custhions would be set. In front of the raised bed was a slightly lower platform where the attendants and Princess' assistants would sit and entertain or take care of her.
The Royal household had 3 palaces attached to each o ther by courtyards. They are the rainy season Palace, the Hot season palace and the cool season palace. I didn't find out why each palace was needed, but I expect it was something to do with the construction and way they were oriented that might have helped alleviate whatever the seasonal weather was at the time.
Each was filled with antiquities, gorgeous ceramics, rmour and arms of a by gone era. One room was entirely devoted to Buddhas. There were Royal palinquin, sedan chairs which carried them around the city on their royal duties, beautiful musical instruments and the most delicious collection of mother of pearl works I have ever seen. I'd love to have taken a photo of those, but alas it was not allowed.
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