Please Note: You are not allowed to take photos inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand is also known as The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha and is one of the most important and venerated sites in Thailand and is where people go to pay their respects to Lord Buddha and his teachings.

The Emerald Buddha is carved from a large block of green jade and was discovered in 1434 in a stupa in Chiang Rai. It was covered in plaster ( much like that of the Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit ) and was believed to be just another ordinary Buddha image but it was the abbott who noticed the plaster peeling from the nose of the Buddha image which then revealed the green jade image beneath.

Wat Pra Gaew	Temple of the Emerald Buddha
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The reason it is called the Emerald Buddha and not the Jade Buddha is because the founding abbott thought that it was emerald and thus the name stuck.

The Emerald Buddha was initially taken to Lampang until King Tilok of Lannathai moved it to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand which was his capital at that time, but in 1552 when there was a break in that Lannathai line of succession, Laotian king, King Chaichettha took the role of king but after a short reign, decided not to continue and returned to Laos to succeed his father and become King of Laos. In doing so, he took the Emerald Buddha with him where it stayed for 226 years until 1778 when Chao Phraya Chakri ( later King Rama I ) lead the army of Thailand ( then called Siam ) in capturing Vientiane and took back the Emerald Buddha.

Looking from the Royal Pantheon	Looking into Wat Pra Gaew.
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It was when Rama I built the new capital ( Bangkok ) that the Emerald Buddha was placed where it is today.

The Emerald Buddha is set inside a Busabok which is a gilded, wood carved throne. The Emerald Buddha is dressed according to the season whether it is Summer, Rainy or Winter, and it is the king who presides over this ceremony three times a year.

The Royal Monastry is exactly that; a private place of worship for the monarch and therefore has no monks living around it.

Looking at the Royal Pantheon	Paying respect to the Emerald Buddha.
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Outside the monastery are two large Buddha Images named Phra Phuttha Yod Fa Chula Lok and Phra Phuttha Loetla Napalai.

The walls of the ordination hall are decorated with elaborate murals and in one section there are paintings depicting selected events of Lord Buddha's life.

There are also scenes depicting Buddhist cosmology as well as scenes from Jataka stories and Thai proverbs.

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