Description
Wat Chai Sri (วัดชัยศรี) is a small Sakon Nakhon temple noted for its striking Naga sculptures on either side of the temple's gate. There is also a 5-headed and 9-headed Naga sculpture on the temple grounds. While a Naga sculpture can, at times, be half human and half serpent/snake, like you see at Ban Non Sung Priest's Camp Site, which is only about 5 minutes away, here the Nagas are in full dragon mode and particularly fierce looking.
While in Thailand, you often will see a gold Buddha being sheltered by a 9-headed Naga, at Wat Chai Sri a Buddha sculpture is seen sheltered by a 5-headed Naga, symbolizing (in Hindu tradition) the East, West, North, South, and Middle regions of India, which correspond to the Ganges river, Indus river, Yamuna river, Brahmaputra river, and Sarasvati river, respectively.
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the 5 dragon heads also can sometimes represent what is known as the Five Wisdom Tathagatas, Five Jinas, or the Five Great Buddhas: Akshobhya Buddha (the "Immovable One"), Amitabha Buddha (the "Infinite Light"), Amoghasiddhi Buddha (the "Almighty Conqueror"), Ratnasambhava Buddha (the "Jewel-Born One"), and Vairocana Buddha (the "Embodiment of Light"). These five Buddhas are aspects of the dharmakaya "dharma-body", which embodies the principle of Buddhist enlightenment.
Wat Chai Sri is located just a little off Route 22, about 15 minutes from downtown Sakon Nakhon, on the way to Udon Thani.
