The monastery on Khlong Samrong that the whole province knows as Wat Luang Pho To, and the centre of the Rap Bua lotus-throwing procession each eleventh lunar month.
วัดบางพลีใหญ่ใน · Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai
| Official name | วัดบางพลีใหญ่ใน — Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai |
|---|---|
| Where | Bang Phli Yai, Bang Phli, Samut Prakan |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
Bang Phli Yai, Bang Phli, Samut Prakan
The exact location has not been confirmed yet.
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
No founding date for this monastery is established by any register, gazette announcement or inscription read for this page. The three state sources also differ on how long ago the image is supposed to have arrived — the Public Relations Department says about two hundred years, which does not sit with a foundation in the reign of King Naresuan.
Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai stands on the bank of Khlong Samrong in Bang Phli Yai subdistrict, about thirteen kilometres east of the Samrong watergate, on a site the provincial government gives as more than forty rai. It is the busiest monastery in Samut Prakan and almost nobody calls it by its own name: to the province it is Wat Luang Pho To, after the image in its hall. Three separate state bodies publish accounts of it, and this page is unusual in that all three agree with each other almost word for word — which, as this guide has had to say about tower registries and property portals, is one account repeated rather than three accounts agreeing.
That account runs as follows, and it is told here as tradition because none of the three attaches an instrument to it. The monastery is said to have begun as Wat Phlapphla Chai Chana Songkhram, the monastery of the pavilion of victory in war, raised after King Naresuan drove off an enemy force during an eastern campaign; the district name Bang Phli is connected to a ceremony he is said to have performed on the spot. The image itself is said to have come down the river: one of a group set adrift to escape war in the Ayutthaya period, which the community tried and failed to bring ashore until, after a ritual asking it to stop, it halted here and was landed. The Public Relations Department's version puts the arrival about two hundred years ago, which does not fit the Naresuan foundation, and this page does not reconcile the two.
The image is the one firm, physical thing. All three bodies describe Luang Pho To as a bronze Buddha in the Sukhothai manner, seated in the maravijaya posture, with a lap width of three sok one khuep — roughly 1.8 metres in the Public Relations Department's own conversion. The provincial government places it in the ordination hall; the tourism office's account describes it as the monastery's principal image. It is venerated across the whole eastern side of the province and well beyond it.
What makes the monastery matter beyond its own district is the Rap Bua. On the fourteenth waxing day of the eleventh lunar month, a replica of Luang Pho To is taken along Khlong Samrong by boat, and people standing on the banks throw lotus buds to it, making a wish as they throw; the Public Relations Department records the belief that a bud landing in the boat carries the wish with it. It is one of the very few water-borne processions in the central plain that is still a community practice rather than a staged event, and it is on the provincial motto. Beside the monastery runs an old canal-side market that the provincial tourism office describes as more than 140 years old.
Luang Pho To — a bronze Buddha in the Sukhothai manner, seated in maravijaya, three sok one khuep across the lap, about 1.8 metres in the Public Relations Department's conversion.
The ordination hall that houses it, which the provincial government names as the image's setting.
Khlong Samrong running past the monastery, which is the route of the Rap Bua procession and the reason the monastery is where it is.
The canal-side market beside the monastery, which the provincial tourism office describes as over 140 years old.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Daily, 08:00–17:00 |
|---|---|
| Admission | Thai nationals: free. Foreign visitors: 0 baht. |
| Dress | One of the busiest working monasteries in the province and a place of real devotion rather than an attraction. Covered shoulders and knees are the ordinary expectation; no dress rule specific to this monastery was published by any official source read for this page. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | On the bank of Khlong Samrong in Bang Phli Yai subdistrict, Bang Phli district, about thirteen kilometres from the Samrong watergate. No coordinate is published by any source read for this page, so no map or directions link is shown. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
It is a lotus-throwing procession. On the fourteenth waxing day of the eleventh lunar month a replica of Luang Pho To is taken along Khlong Samrong by boat, and people on the banks throw lotus buds to it while making a wish. The Samut Prakan office of the Public Relations Department records the belief that a bud landing in the boat carries the wish with it.
No state source establishes it. All three that publish an account repeat the same local tradition of a foundation in the reign of King Naresuan, and none attaches a register entry, a gazette announcement or an inscription to it. One of the three also dates the arrival of the image to about two hundred years ago, which does not fit the Naresuan account.
A bronze Buddha in the Sukhothai manner, seated in the maravijaya posture, with a lap width of three sok one khuep — about 1.8 metres by the Public Relations Department's conversion. It is the monastery's principal image and the reason the province calls the place Wat Luang Pho To.
No. The provincial office of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports records the monastery as open daily from 08:00 to 17:00 with free entry, and publishes no separate rate for foreign visitors.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Samut Prakan’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.