Description
Khok Sa-at Priest's Camp Site (สำนักสงฆ์โคกสะอาด) is a "samnak song" or unofficial Buddhist temple located only a few hundred meters from Saint John Bosco Church in the Kusuman district of Sakon Nakhon. The temple's main Buddha image is situated on a large stone platform, surrounded by smaller Buddhas.
The seated Buddha has one hand on his lap and his other hand resting on his leg with elongated fingers that appear being pulled towards the earth. This gesture (with the elongated fingers) is one that you'll see often at Thai temples. It is the Buddha touching the earth pose, also known as the Bhumisparsha Mudra or the "earth witness" gesture.
The gesture is said to represent the moment when the Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. As the story goes, after spending six years in deep meditation, the Buddha was tempted by the demon Mara, who tried to distract him from his quest for enlightenment. In response, the Buddha touched the earth with his right hand and called upon the earth goddess, as his witness and support, to testify to his worthiness to attain enlightenment.
The earth goddess is named Prthivi or Prithvi. She is considered to be the personification of the earth and is one of the five elements in Buddhist cosmology, along with water, fire, air, and space. When called upon by the Buddha to bear witness and testify to his worthiness to become a Buddha, Prthivi trembles and shakes, causing Mara's armies to flee, and thereby affirming the Buddha's victory over the forces of delusion and ignorance.
