http://www.laopride.com/pictures3/that-luang-stupa-from-a-different-view-point-1.jpg






http://www.laopride.com/pictures3/that-luang-stupa-from-a-different-view-point-2.jpg

Beautiful pictures.

Does the stupa really made out of gold?

I highly doubt it.

It was painted in gold, poorly too if I may add.

If you look at That Luang from a distance, it looks beautiful, but once you're inside it for a closer inspection, you can really see how dirty it is with cracks and paint peeling off.



http://www.laopride.com/pictures3/that-luang-in-vientiane-laos.jpg

Beef Cake wrote on 14^th Feb, 2013 at 11:06pm:

Does the stupa really made out of gold?

A realist ;D

sakyant wrote on 15^th Feb, 2013 at 2:56am:

I highly doubt it.

A pessimist

The paint covering the That Luang stupa is made to look like gold, but if you look at it up close the paint on it is a flat yellow paint, not metallic at all. If you look at it up close in the compound you would see that the paint was not even applied well and there are patches that were not painted consistently. It is unlike the Shwedagon stupa in Burma which is gilded, covered in metallic gold.  The effect is really much more refined. 

The pointy section on top of the That Luang Stupa is actually real gold though. Nobody can steal it from up there.

The main body probably needs to be repainted. It's not helped by candles left burning on the structure during festivals, and visitors touching it so there will always be marks and inconsistent layers of paint.

Powerwashing and then repainting with 'metallic luster' paints should revitalize the stupa tremendously :)!

Is it true that the stupa is believed to contain a fragment of the Buddha's shoulder bone?

Laosnow wrote on 16^th Feb, 2013 at 12:25am:

Is it true that the stupa is believed to contain a fragment of the Buddha's shoulder bone?

Never heard that before.

Most likely a bone of a pre-historic creature.  How big is the bone?


sakyant wrote on 16^th Feb, 2013 at 3:06am:

Laosnow wrote on 16th Feb, 2013 at 12:25am: Is it true that the stupa is believed to contain a fragment of the Buddha's shoulder bone? Never heard that before.

Beef Cake wrote on 16^th Feb, 2013 at 7:56pm:

Most likely a bone of a pre-historic creature.  How big is the bone? sakyant wrote on 16th Feb, 2013 at 3:06am: Laosnow wrote on 16th Feb, 2013 at 12:25am: Is it true that the stupa is believed to contain a fragment of the Buddha's shoulder bone? Never heard that before.

Using Google, I've seen claims that the stupa contains the Buddha's pelvic bone, collar bone or breast bone.

"Pha That Luang according to the Lao people was originally built as a Hindu temple in the 3rd century. Buddhist missionaries from the Mauryan Empire are believed to have been sent by the Emperor Ashoka, including Bury Chan or Praya Chanthabury Pasithisak and five Arahata monks who brought a holy relic (believed to be the breast bone) of Lord Buddha to the stupa."

Or:

"The Cham period was the second wave of Buddhism in Laos. Under the patronage of Emperor Ashokka of India, the venerable monks Sona and Outala and five scholars brought a fragment of what was believed to be a piece of the pelvic bone of Lord Buddha to Vientiane in 218 BC, where it was kept in the obelisk at Phu Luang hill. "

How about diamond?

Let's go find the bone.  Where's Phu Luang Hill anyway?

Beef Cake wrote on 17^th Feb, 2013 at 10:59am:

Let's go find the bone.  Where's Phu Luang Hill anyway?

It is a myth, will become a mirth

I stand corrected, stupas do contain Buddhist relics. A few years ago there was a group of relics that was touring in California. They were all being grouped together for inclusion in a stupa in India.