Burmese Temple Penang

The Dhammikarama Burmese temple in Penang is one of the oldest temples in Penang. It was founded in 1803 and today it's the largest Theravada Buddhist Temple in Malaysia. Today it is one of the highlights in visiting Gurney Drive, some say: the heartbeat of Penang.

This place of worship was purchased from George Layton for 390 Spanish dollars. The complex contains a historical pagoda, a temple well and a Sima hall (prayer hall).

The temple is presently managed by the Seventh Chief Monk tp facilitate and complement the practice of Buddhism. The temple has a main shrine hall, Sima Hall, dining hall, monk quarters, preceptees lodge, Sunday school classrooms, a library and a lecture hall.
The temple has a beautiful garden around the temple well. Inside the temple you find some awesome woodcarving (priceless teak wood) on the ceilings and along the pillars and behind the 16 standing images of the Buddha.

The central standing Buddha is 8.2 meters high. At the moment the standing Buddha receives a new layer of paper gold leaves. The process is almost finished as one monk explained me.

The gold on the Buddha is a mix of copper and 30% gold.

Behind the standing Buddha are, as said, 16 standing Buddha's. These statues are donations from 16 different Buddhist countries including Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan.

Some of the 16 statues behind the main Standing Buddha


The hall which is dominated by the Standing Buddha is surprisingly cool and has almost all over gorgeous teak wood carving (this alone is worth a visit).

On the right right of the hall is a small Buddha statue, now taken to the front of its home. The Buddha statue is more then 200 years. Inside the shrine the original resting place is now so soaked that the statue may fall and break. The good thing is that visitors can have a much better view of the old statue.

burmese temple penang

Behind the temple is the temple well and a small beautiful park with a pond. In the middle of the pond you will find a small shrine with a Buddha statue.

The scenery radiates peace and tranquility and it is not for nothing this place is well visited.

The temple hall in the back is maybe less impressive in architecture, the main Buddha statue is strangely beautiful. I believe it's a female and if its not, then it's close enough. Again the peacefulness is only disturbed by a bell once in a while and the whispering of people.

burmese temple penang

burmese temple penang

The Burmese Temple in Penang is worth a visit, even if you have seen your share of temples in Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) or Malaysia. Although the name suggest different, the temple is a mixture of Burmese, Thai and Chinese elements. Not for nothing this old (though not the oldest) temple is one the Penang heritage list and although the temple is a major tourist attraction, it is also still in functional use. Highly recommended.

See the map of Penang for location details

Back to the top of Burmese temple Penang

Back to other islands

Back to Gurney Drive

Back to Gurney Drive Hotels

Comments

El Angel de cari said…
Increíbles y hermosa imágenes.
Saludos desde Argentina
August 28, 2009 at 12:03 PM
IvanBarboza said…
Graça e Paz do Senhor meu irmão Por favor coloque um tradutor em seu blog para podermos acompanhar suas postagens com mais comodidade.
estou te acompanhando Ivan Cesar S Barbosa Brasil Rio de Janeiro.
August 29, 2009 at 6:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian Music

Image
As in dance, music in modern Malaysia is divided into traditional and western types. Traditional music is usually associated with the traditional theatre forms such as Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit, Joget Gamelan, Hadrah, Dabus, Kuda Kepang, Gendang Kling, Mek Mulung, and a host of other minor entertainment activities. This type of music is based on either the pentatonic 5-tone or heptatonic 7-tone scales; and is performed mainly by percussion-dominated ensembles which include combinations of three types of instruments, namely the: Aerophone (wind instruments), such as the serunai, pinai, seruling and selumprit flutes. Membranophone (drum-sounds produced by membrane-covered musical instruments) such as the gendang, geduk, gedombak, rebana, kompang, tar and jidor drums. Idiophone (percussion instruments of fixed immovable surface), such as gong, kesi, canag, saron, kenong, gambang kayu, bonang, etc; and Chordophone (string instruments), such as the rebab. Traditional music
Read more

Budu and Cincalok

Image
Budu (Malay language) is a fish sauce and one of the best known fermented seafood products in Kelantan, Malaysia as well as Southern Thailand. History It is traditionally made by mixing anchovy and salt in the range of ratio of 2:1 to 6:1 and allow to ferment for 140 to 200 days. It is used as a flavoring and is normally taken with fish, rice and raw vegetables. It is similar to the patis in Philippines, ketjap-ikan in Indonesia, ngapi in Burma, nuoc mam in Vietnam, ishiru or shottsuru in Japan, colombo-cure in India and Pakistan, yeesu in China and aekjeot in Korea. The fish product is the result of hydrolysis of fish and microbial proteases. The flavor and aroma of Budu are produced by the action of proteolytic microorganisms surviving during the fermentation process. Palm sugar and tamarind are usually added to promote the browning reaction occur and resulting in dark brown color. The ratio of fish to salt plays an important key in the final desired product. The different concentrat
Read more

Gulai Batang Pisang (young banana trunk curry)

Image
This is a special food in Kedah especially when it is wedding ceremony or breaking the fast. Really miss this curry. Ingredients 500 g young banana trunk (the deepest content) - cut it in the size of 5cm 1 kg meat(cut small) 500 ml coconut milk 10 pieces curry leaf 2 cinnamons sticks 2 star anise 10ml tamarind paste cooking oil salt, sugar MSG (additional) Ingredients A 2 packets curry powder meat a glass of water 2 tablespoon chili paste Ingredients B 4 red onion (grind) 6 garlic (fine it grind) 1 inch of ginger(grind) Method Heat oil in the pan. Add the grind ingredients (Ingredients B) with curry leaf, cinnamon sticks, star anise. Stir Ingredients A beside and then put it into the pan. Cook until become greasy. Insert coconut milk, meat and young banana junk. Let all of it boil up. Add tamarind paste, salt, sugar and MSG(optional). Wait for a minute. Then serve.
Read more