The Emerald Buddha of Indo-China!

Do you know this story?

There is a very famous statue of Buddha that has long been a bone of contention in these parts.

It is supposedly carved from a single giant emerald and was initially given to Laos, many centuries ago, as part of the dowry when a Cambodian prince married a Laos princess. A very special wat was even built to house it:

Wat Sisket.

But then, several generations later, Cambodia wanted it returned. Laos wouldn't comply, saying righteously "Sod off, Indian-givers", or words to that effect, so Cambodia invaded.

So, after lots of thundering elephants and major river and mountain-crossing, and the subsequent rampaging death, destruction and razing of cities and wats, Cambodia won and the Emerald Buddha returned to Cambodia ...

... until, again centuries later, Thailand decided it too wanted in on the Emerald Buddha action and so elephants again thundered across mountains and rivers and cities were again razed - in the hideous plague of destruction that gave Cambodia's beautiful city of Angkor Thom the new name of Siem Reap, meaning "Siam destroyed us!" as indeed it did.

So, all over the Indo-China region resentment over the lost Emerald Buddha still seethes and there's a thriving business in making replica 'emerald' statues to remind folks of what was taken from them.

Only no one is really sure of what it looks like, so there are many variations:


Today it resides in Bangkok in its own special wat and I've seen it ... and although you aren't permitted to take photographs of the sacred Buddha statues so I didn't, I have just found someone else who took one:

What the Emerald Buddha
really looks like.

Although in myth it is something great and grand, in truth it isn't emerald at all. It's just greenstone.

Hard to believe in these day of easy air travel, when elephants don't have to thunder anywhere, and anyone can just go visit that special Thai wat to see the statue for oneself, that this myth is still so widely perpetuated. Guess there's something in it for someone someplace. Or maybe all these Indo-China nations really just enjoy resenting each other but, as good Buddhists, feel they need a good Buddhist pretext for doing so.