Introduction
Wat Saket, also known as the Golden Mount Temple, is a historic Buddhist site located in the old quarter of Bangkok. The temple is best known for its gleaming golden chedi, which stands atop an artificial hill. During the 19th century, under King Rama III, the area was used as a mass cremation site during a devastating plague. As a result, the temple became not only a spiritual center but also a symbol of collective memory, death, and renewal.
Today, Wat Saket is a major pilgrimage site. As visitors ascend the mountain, they strike bells, hang wind chimes, and offer incense—each act forming a sensory ritual that connects body, mind, and spirit. The climb is more than physical; it is a journey toward purification and spiritual clarity.
Ways of Making Wishes
Overview of Wish-Making Rituals at Wat Saket
At Wat Saket, making a wish is more than a spiritual gesture—it is a multisensory journey. From the base of the hill to the summit of the golden chedi, worshippers engage in various acts that embody hope, devotion, and merit-making. These include striking temple bells along the stairs to release burdens, hanging wind chimes inscribed with wishes to carry them through the air, applying gold leaf to Buddha images, offering incense and lotus flowers, tying wish flags, and circumambulating the chedi in mindful steps.
These rituals began simple and solemn, forming the core of daily practice at Jinshan Temple, connecting people to the sacred through sound, movement, and thought.
Bell Striking
Along the climb to Wat Saket’s summit, rows of bronze bells line the path. Pilgrims strike each bell as they ascend, with every chime symbolizing the release of burdens and desires. The echoing sound not only cleanses the mind but also carries wishes upward to the divine.
Hanging Wind Chimes
Near the golden chedi, visitors hang wind chimes inscribed with their names or prayers. As the breeze stirs them into gentle motion, the soft tinkling sounds like whispered hopes to the Buddha. These chimes are not only vessels for wishes—they embody the idea of intentions carried far and wide on the wind.
Gold Leaf Offering
Applying gold leaf to Buddha statues or sacred objects is a traditional way to accumulate merit. Devotees gently press thin sheets of gold onto the surface, symbolizing a personal offering to the sacred. This act reflects both devotion and the hope for continued blessings.
Incense and Lotus Offering
At the temple’s altar, followed by the offering of a lotus flower. The fragrance of incense and the sight of the sacred bloom together create a multisensory ritual, symbolizing purity, sincerity, and respectful intention.
Wish Flags and Ribbons
Ribbons or flags inscribed with prayers are tied to railings around the temple. As they flutter in the wind, these wishes are believed to rise to the heavens. Quiet and humble, this practice holds deep meaning for those seeking long-lasting blessings
Relief Art
Relief of the twelve zodiac animals
It is a group of decorations carved with the twelve Earthly Branches animals well-known in East Asian culture as the theme.This type of relief is often used to decorate the eaves or column bases of Buddhist temples. In addition to its decorative function, it also has religious significance and numerological symbols. Thai Buddhism combines Indian Vedas with traditional Chinese numerology. The twelve zodiac signs are related to the year of a person’s birth, symbolizing the individual’s destiny, character, and karma in reincarnation.
It is a typical Thai style of wood carving and gold decoration. It depicts Buddha in five different postures, which probably represent part of the Seven days of the Buddha’s week or Phra Prajam Wan. This is very common in Thai Buddhist art, where each day corresponds to a Buddha posture, and people worship Buddha in a specific posture according to the week they were born.
From left to right, these statues may correspond to:
Tuesday pink
Into nirvana, peace and wisdom
Wednesday Green (daytime)/gray (night)
Standing with your hands crossed in front of your chest, this is a typical Wednesday evening Buddha (Phra Pang Ram Pueng).
Thursday Orange
Meditation Buddha,
Sitting posture, with both hands on the legs, is a “meditation Buddha” posture, which symbolizes wisdom.
Friday Blue
Standing with your hands folded, symbolizing contemplation and gratitude.
Saturday Purple
Sitting on the seven-headed Naga snake is the iconic image of Saturday Buddha, symbolizing the protection of natural forces during meditation.
History & Memory
In the early 19th century, during the reign of King Rama III, Bangkok suffered from a devastating plague. As the number of corpses surged, traditional burial grounds could no longer accommodate the dead. Due to its elevated terrain, open space, and distance from residential areas, the area around Wat Saket was designated as a mass cremation site. This history marked the Golden Mount with themes of death and transcendence, turning it into a sacred place of prayer and spiritual rebirth.
The chedi atop Wat Saket stands on an artificial hill, symbolizing the gradual path of spiritual ascent. Climbing the mount represents a devotee’s journey to overcome worldly suffering and reach Nirvana. The physical elevation mirrors the process of inner purification and enlightenment.
Sacred Symbols
At the summit of the Golden Mount stands a golden, cone-shaped stupa enshrining the relics of the Buddha. Towering above the city, it symbolizes enlightenment, transcendence, and a spiritual destination beyond the mundane world.
Soundscape & Ritual
Along the path up the Golden Mount, visitors encounter rows of bronze bells. Striking these bells is a traditional ritual believed to dispel misfortunes and summon positive energy. Each bell’s sound represents the letting go of worldly worries and the awakening of inner merit.
Further up the staircase, countless wind chimes hang from temple eaves, creating soft, flowing sounds as the breeze passes through. These wind chimes are believed to carry prayers and wishes into the air, symbolizing purification of the mind and release from earthly attachments.
Together, the sounds of bells and chimes transform the journey into a spiritual ritual. They guide visitors inward, making sound not just a sensory experience, but a sacred medium of mindfulness and transcendence.
The Cave Buddha Image and Symbolic Spatial Construction at Wat Saket
At the entrance of the mountaineering path of Jinshan Temple, there is a cave-like Buddhist temple. The overall structure is hidden in the mountain, the entrance is low, the inner wall imitates the limestone structure, and is supplemented by a soft low-light light source, so that the space as a whole presents a “closed and quiet” atmosphere.
A standing Buddha statue is enshrined in the cave, with a “touch mark” (Bhumisparsha Mudra), symbolizing that the Buddha, when the Bodhi tree descends to the devil’s path, is evidenced by the earth and adheres to the spiritual posture of uprighteousness. This mudrin is not only highly religiously symbolic, but also suitable as the spatial axis of “conscience and confidence”.
The whole cave space contrasts sharply with the open prayer space on the top of the tower. The former is an “introverted meditation structure”, and the latter is an “external pilgrimage structure”, which together constitute the “multi-level religious experience model” of Jinshan Temple.
The image of Bamiyan Buddha and the memory of global Buddhist heritage
Another important function of the space is to serve as a cultural response to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan in 2001. The temple named the Buddha statue “Bamiyan Memorial”, which not only formally imitates the cave background of the original Buddha statue, but also continues the collective memory of the Buddhist civilization heritage through the newly built Buddha statues and carvings.
This commemorative act reflects the “cultural resonance role” of Jinshan Temple in the global Buddhist network – it is not only a local pilgrimage site, but also a part of the transnational dissemination, reproduction and protection of Buddhist heritage. This process of “symbolic reinvention” presents the positive positioning of contemporary Buddhist space in global cultural conflicts and restoration.
Pilgrimage Experience
As I begin my ascent up the Golden Mount, the scent of burning incense greets me at the entrance, filling the air with a sense of sacredness. With each step, the distant tolling of bronze bells echoes softly, as if urging me onward. The stairway is warm under my palms, and the breeze grows stronger as I climb higher. Wind chimes whisper gentle tones around every corner, calming my thoughts. Sunlight filters through the trees, and finally, at the summit, the golden stupa gleams under the sky. I pause, breathless—not just from the climb, but from the overwhelming peace that washes over me as I gaze at the city below.
