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| Front side of the Museum and library of Wat Bowon |
The fourth room displays the belongings and works of His Royal Holiness the Supreme Patriarch Krom Luang Vashirayanawongse, the fourth abbot. His Royal Holiness was the preceptor of His Majesty King Bhumipol while His Majesty was ordinating. Same as other room, there is a bronze sculpture of His Royal Holiness inside the room. I saw some Thai elders prostrated themselves on the floor in front of the sculpture to pay respect to His Royal Holiness. The information kiosk in the room plays the short presentation of 'Royal Ordination Ceremony of King Bhumipol (Prabatsomdej Prachao Yu Hua)' and also a stand of digital photo frame showing the short documentary of His Holiness's duties as 'The monk, the developer'. In this room, there is a big wooden bookcase full with small Dharma books. What I like about this bookcase is the hidden wood lock at the bottom drawers. Due to restless habit of mine (again), I was trying to open the drawers just to see how they are like inside but at first I couldn't open them although I saw no lock, no hook anywhere. I pulled the drawer out a bit harder but it was still closed.
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| The wooden bookcase with hidden wood lock |
Then I realized that the drawer seemed to stuck with something thick and hard. On both side of bottom drawers, there are wooden bars on both side of the bookcase. And they are simply the lock of these drawers. Imagining how to use these drawers and their lock seems convenient. You don't need to keep a single key but still can lock not super secret things away.
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| Locked drawers |
On each side bar, it has a wooden square bolt which perfectly fit into a carved square hole on the fourth drawer of the row.
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| After almost a minute attempt, I finally pulled out the drawer |
In one of the showcases in this room, there is a set of royal items of Bhumipolo Bhiku, the alias of His Majesty King Bhumipol during his monkhood life. The set includes a tray with pedestal (holding betel envelope, clove and borneol case, raw betel case, lipwax case and tobacco case), an ewer with tray underneath, a spittoon for mouth rinse and a spittoon with trumpet-shape mouth.
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| The set of royal items |
Another interesting thing is a bed on the right of the room. Our ancestor used this style of bed for sleeping and use large wooden stool as a relaxation seat but nowadays we also use this kind of bed as a relax stool as well especially in a luxury spa. what else this kind of bed can be used for ?? - another model of smallest hotel ??? I don't know.
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| A simple structure bed |
What is shown inside the small showcase in front of the bed is a set of Thai traditional medicine such as cathartic and mortars pestles.
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| Tradition medicine and mortars pestles |
Next, the fifth room of the fifth abbot, Phra Phrom Muni (Pinh Suwajo Dharmaprateep), doesn't have personal belonging as many as other rooms. There are a set of altar tables, a simple working desk and a human skeleton - whole body!! The skeleton was donated by a lady long time ago and Phra Phrom Muni used her for meditation using one of the meditation techniques that concentrate and consider on dead body to understand the truth of life - Impermanent (Anatta), Suffering and Anatman (No-self, nothing) and entering Nirvana path.
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| The lady's skeleton is in the corner of the room. I didn't take her picture. |
Then the last room shows bibliography of the present His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch (Charoen Kashawatra) who will be 100 years old on the 3rd of October, 2013. Wat Bowon will have a celebration of 100th anniversary for His Holiness on that day. His Holiness was the trainer of His Majesty King Bhumipol when he was staying at Wat Bowon and learning Dharma there. Inside the room, there is a biography board showing on the wall as well as some meaningful Buddhist doctrines are written there.
The first one near the sculpture of His Holiness said 'All states of mind relates to our perception, how we think or which angle we see things, Buddhist teaches us to see and think of thing as it naturally is whether it is appropriate or inappropriate, good or bad'. Another one near working desk with a broadcasting radio said 'Thought, no matter is a good or bad thought, once it occurred, it is very difficult to be erased from our mind. Attempting to control the thought to right direction is what everyone should do'. The one at the corner of the room said 'A road of success that does not exploit anyone is the third step of virtue, a success that can also help other people is the second one but the first class and the greatest virtue is to win an evilness of our self'.
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| 'All states of mind relates to our perception, how we think or which angle we see things, Buddhist teaches us to see and think of thing as it naturally is whether it is appropriate or inappropriate, good or bad' |
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| 'Thought, no matter is a good or bad thought, once it occurred, it is very difficult to be erased from our mind. Attempting to control the thought to right direction is what everyone should do' |
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| 'A road of success that does not exploit anyone is the third step of virtue, a success that also help other people is the second level but the first class virtue is to win an evilness of our own' |
For me, the third philosophy is the least abstract and practical which suits me best because what I always want to do is to understand and beat the dark side of mine.
In short, The Museum and library of Wat Bowon Niwet Vihara Rajavaravihara indicates how Buddhist is important to Thais as part of culture, believe and the nation. Wat Bowon Niwet Vihara Rajavaravihara is the monastery where 5 kings of Chakri dynasty, gentlemen from royal family and gentlemen throughout the country ordinated and learned Dharma. The museum shows how the great abbots sacrificed their lives to develop Buddhism in the country and to develop good spirits for the nation. If you do not have any special plan for Sunday, this peaceful and spiritual value place is available and worth for your visit.
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