“One day, Chakkrasiha Rajabutra went to see his father and told him that he also
wanted to build a temple and create a Buddha image of his own. When his father heard
this, he was very happy because suddenly his son, who had always disagreed with him
about building temples, came to tell him that he wanted to build one. So, he understood
that his son must have seen the goodness he had done and decided to follow in his
footsteps. He quickly told his son, ‘I will help you with the funds. However much you
need, I am happy to support you.’ Chakkrasiha Rajabutra took the opportunity to ask
for a hundred thousand gold coins for this purpose, while the usual cost of building a
temple with a Buddha image was at most thirty thousand gold coins. Chakkrasiha
Rajabutra told his father that he wanted to build the largest Buddha image, a Buddha
image that no human had ever built before. When his father heard his son’s strong
intention, he was even more excited and happy because it meant he would also have a
part in creating this great merit.”

“Then Chakkrasiha Rajabutra began to plan his project, dividing it into two projects,
and immediately looked for a suitable location. Both projects would proceed
simultaneously. The first project was building the temple. He chose a location on the
banks of the new Kothawari River because the old river was shallow and not very
popular anymore. The new Kothawari River, on the other hand, was like a
superhighway, a waterway with many passenger ferries and cargo ships traveling
between cities. He wanted as many people as possible to see this temple, so he chose a
spot where travelers, merchants, both by land and water, often stopped. He wanted this
temple to be an attraction, for people from other places to visit, not just an ordinary
temple for local religious services.”

“The overall design of this temple was a large square enclosure surrounded by a wall.
Inside, around the wall, were pavilions for resting and accommodating visitors. A large
sanctuary was located in the center. Compared to other sanctuaries at that time, this
one was three times larger. The exterior had a tiered gable roof, decorated with finials
and bargeboards, in accordance with tradition. Inside the sanctuary were elaborate
murals depicting the Buddha’s life story. There were large pillars, each with unique
‘Krajang’ patterns. But one thing about this temple was unlike any other temple: there
was no Buddha image inside. The innermost part of the sanctuary, where the Buddha
image should have been, was empty. There were only murals depicting the sky, stars,
and flowers scattered by angels. From the outside, everyone would expect to find a
large Buddha image inside, given the size of the sanctuary. This made the temple
famous as far as other nearby and distant regions. If anyone passed by, they had to stop
and see it because it was a temple without a Buddha image. When people asked why
the temple had no Buddha image, the local villagers would often jokingly answer, ‘The
Buddha isn’t here. If you want to see the Buddha image of this temple, go to the city
gate.'”

“This was Chakkrasiha Rajabutra’s intention, to make everyone question. So, he named
this temple ‘Sunyataram,’ meaning the empty monastery. He intended to convey that
people should not cling to idols but should focus on the Buddha’s teachings instead.

But the villagers misunderstood that he wanted to mock his father, who was so fixated
on building Buddha images to atone for his sin. Coupled with the fact that people from
other places asked where the main Buddha image was, most of them would answer
jokingly, ‘The Buddha isn’t here. The Buddha is lying down at the city gate.’ So, no one
ever called the temple by its real name. They only called it ‘the mocking temple.’ Over
hundreds of years, because the temple’s location was near the confluence of two rivers,
it was often flooded. The large sanctuary was eventually destroyed by the flood. It was
rumored that it was because the temple’s name was inauspicious that this happened.
When it was rebuilt, the temple’s name was changed to Wat Prochotikaram.”

“Chakkrasiha Rajabutra’s second project was to build the largest Buddha image. But
instead of building a Buddha image in the traditional style, such as the meditation
posture or the teaching posture, to look sacred and attract worshipers, he built a
reclining Buddha image, which had never been built before at that time. The meaning
he intentionally conveyed was that the Buddha was an ordinary person like everyone
else, not a god who would grant blessings. He was a person who had birth, old age,
sickness, and ultimately, death. Most importantly, he didn’t build this Buddha image
inside a sanctuary like everyone else. Instead, he built it in the open air, on the ground
without any pedestal, right across the entrance to the city of Singhapura. People
entering and leaving the city had to walk around the Buddha image to the left or right.
The size of this Buddha image was enormous, 50 meters long from head to toe. The
interior was made of earth, and the exterior was made of bricks, about one foot thick,
plastered with cement. When the construction began, King Singhapahu, his father,
wanting to accumulate merit, donated further by ordering craftsmen to forge gold
strands as thick as a fist, running from the top of the Buddha’s head to the soles of his
feet, to be the core for attaching bronze wires, to bind the outer layer of bricks,
preventing it from collapsing easily before plastering.”

“This reclining Buddha image was what the townspeople gossiped about as the main
Buddha image of the mocking temple, lying across the city gate. They called this
Buddha image by the name of its creator, ‘Phra Non Chakkrasi.’ The scene that greeted
people entering and leaving the city was that they could see this Buddha lying across
the road from afar. The creation of this Buddha image was not just about creating a
strange phenomenon to attract people to see the work. It was an intention to destroy
the beliefs and attachments people had towards the Buddha. He intentionally wanted
to make people, especially his father, think about what the true essence of Buddhism
was. But unfortunately, most people didn’t see this intention and still clung to the old
patterns that instilled the concept of relying on sacred things, relying on external
things. Later, the city of Singhapura was flooded many times, causing great damage to
property and houses. The ruler at that time decided to relocate the city and its people
to the east, near a new river. The original city was abandoned, but it remained a land
route used for travel.”

“400 years later, this Buddha image became a ruin, just a mound of earth and broken
bricks. Later, the villagers rebuilt it in the same location and used the same name, Phra
Non Chakkrasi. And this is a lifetime of yours, which happened about 1,000 years after
the Buddha passed away,” Lord Phoche finished narrating my heroic deeds.

“Wow… that’s a very interesting story. I feel like I actually experienced those events in
the past,” I said.

“You certainly feel that way because it is your own experience. I am merely the one
who retrieves it from your memory crystal,” Lord Phoche replied.

“Master, is that all of my heroism at that time?” I asked.

“There is much more, and everything you did was to make people focus on the essence
of the Dharma,” he replied.

“Why am I so interested in these things?” I continued to ask.

“If you go back to the memory, in the lifetime when you were Achita the ascetic, you
will know why,” Lord Phoche suggested.

“Okay,” I replied and returned to being Achita once again.

The caravan of Achita the ascetic, heading north along the river, started from the city of
Ujjeni, then Konandha, then Vetisa, then Navanakorn, then Kosambi, then Vesali, then
Saket Noi, then Dhanachai, and finally the city of Savatthi. Initially, the cities were not
far apart, such as Ujjeni, only about 20 kilometers from Konandha. Konandha was 30
kilometers from Vetisa. Vetisa was 29 kilometers from Navanakorn. But after this, the
cities were farther apart. Navanakorn was 140 kilometers from Kosambi. Kosambi was
73 kilometers from Tambon Chelieng, which later became Saket Noi. At that time, it
was just a small district, a rest stop for travelers. And from this point, they had to leave
the river route to shorten the distance because traveling along the river would take
twice as long. Saket Noi was 132 kilometers from Dhanachai. This section was through
forests and mountains, with scattered settlements. And finally, Dhanachai to Savatthi
was only 12 kilometers. The total distance was almost 500 kilometers. But traveling in
a large group was slow. Also, they had to rest in some cities for several days to prepare
provisions for traveling through the forests. The entire journey took about one and a
half months.

This journey caused an unprecedented phenomenon: the rumor of the Buddha’s
appearance spread rapidly. Whether it was kings, city rulers, soldiers, ministers,
Brahmins, monks, villagers, children, the elderly, or even the sick and disabled,
everyone knew the news. The event had both immediate and long-term effects.
Immediately, people decided to join Achita’s group. The more cities they passed, the
more people joined. Especially in the city of Kosambi, which was a large city and close
to the city of Takkasila, a center of scholars, the journey through there added over
3,000 new members. And the long-term effect after the group of ascetics passed
through was that more people traveled to the city of Savatthi. Later, this city became a
destination for pilgrims. There were those who wanted to admire the greatness of the
great man, those who wanted to worship, those who wanted to discuss the Dharma,
and finally, those who wanted to ordain with him.

“Lord Phoche, will the Buddha know that a group of ascetics is traveling to see him?” I
asked.

“Of course… because he is directly connected to me, like you and me,” he replied.

“How? Did you tell the Buddha?” I asked