David Clay Photography
Buddhist hell realms (detail of mural panel left side) (Phra Malai)
Phra Malai visits the hells for Buddhists that break the precepts. Wat Tung Yu, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Many wat throughout Thailand have elaborate portrayal of Siamese cosmology on the back wall of the bot. It is usually an epic scheme of hells, earth and heavens, based upon the Traiphum text, alleged to have been written during the fourteenth century A.D.
King Rama I commissioned Phraya Thammapricha to rewrite this cosmological treatise in 1803. The monarch’s personal interest in the theme may have influenced his decision to have hell scenes included among the murals in the bot of Wat Phra Keo in Bangkok…as well at other monasteries…
(Source: Hell Scenes in Thai Murals, K.I. Matics*)
The legend of Phra Malai, a Buddhist monk of the Theravada tradition said to have attained supernatural powers through his accumulated merit and meditation, is the main text in a nineteenth-century Thai folding book (samut khoi) held in the Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections (Or. 16101). Phra Malai figures prominently in Thai art, religious treatises, and rituals associated with the afterlife, and the story is one of the most popular subjects of nineteenth-century illustrated Thai manuscripts.
During his visits to hell (naraka), Phra Malai is said to bestow mercy on the creatures suffering there. They implore him to warn their relatives on earth of the horrors of hell and how they can escape it through making merit on behalf of the deceased, meditation and by following Buddhist precepts.
Although the subject of hell is mentioned in the Pali canon (for example, in the Nimi Jataka, the Lohakumbhi Jataka, the Samkicca Jataka, the Devaduta Sutta, the Balapanditta Sutta, the Peta-vatthu etc.) the legend of Phra Malai is thought to have contributed significantly to the idea of hell in Thai society.
- See more at: britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2013/09/a-...
Further reading
There is an excellent translation from Thai into English of the entire legend of Phra Malai by Bonnie Pacala Brereton, which is included in her book Thai Tellings of Phra Malai – texts and rituals concerning a Buddhist Saint. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, 1995
Buddhist hell realms (detail of mural panel left side) (Phra Malai)
Phra Malai visits the hells for Buddhists that break the precepts. Wat Tung Yu, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Many wat throughout Thailand have elaborate portrayal of Siamese cosmology on the back wall of the bot. It is usually an epic scheme of hells, earth and heavens, based upon the Traiphum text, alleged to have been written during the fourteenth century A.D.
King Rama I commissioned Phraya Thammapricha to rewrite this cosmological treatise in 1803. The monarch’s personal interest in the theme may have influenced his decision to have hell scenes included among the murals in the bot of Wat Phra Keo in Bangkok…as well at other monasteries…
(Source: Hell Scenes in Thai Murals, K.I. Matics*)
The legend of Phra Malai, a Buddhist monk of the Theravada tradition said to have attained supernatural powers through his accumulated merit and meditation, is the main text in a nineteenth-century Thai folding book (samut khoi) held in the Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections (Or. 16101). Phra Malai figures prominently in Thai art, religious treatises, and rituals associated with the afterlife, and the story is one of the most popular subjects of nineteenth-century illustrated Thai manuscripts.
During his visits to hell (naraka), Phra Malai is said to bestow mercy on the creatures suffering there. They implore him to warn their relatives on earth of the horrors of hell and how they can escape it through making merit on behalf of the deceased, meditation and by following Buddhist precepts.
Although the subject of hell is mentioned in the Pali canon (for example, in the Nimi Jataka, the Lohakumbhi Jataka, the Samkicca Jataka, the Devaduta Sutta, the Balapanditta Sutta, the Peta-vatthu etc.) the legend of Phra Malai is thought to have contributed significantly to the idea of hell in Thai society.
- See more at: britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2013/09/a-...
Further reading
There is an excellent translation from Thai into English of the entire legend of Phra Malai by Bonnie Pacala Brereton, which is included in her book Thai Tellings of Phra Malai – texts and rituals concerning a Buddhist Saint. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, 1995