Visited 3 Buddhist Temples in Kelantan, Malaysia!
The famous sleeping Buddha of Wat Photivihan.
Today, August 8, 2011 I visited three large Buddhist temples in Kelantan, East Malaysia. They are Wat Machimmaram, Wat Pikulthong and Wat Photivihan. Wat means Temple or place of worship. I saw these temples on the internet some time back and wanted to visit. And now I have.
Many tourists visit these temples and the taxis know how to get there also. Not a problem. I have filmed my visit for you to enjoy. If you can’t get there right now, then visit through my video here.
The temples are 45 minutes drive from the capital of Kelantan State which is Kota Bahru. It is a pleasant drive but very hot…take plenty of water, hat and umbrella if you can…. I went to visit these temples with my blog team which consists of Beng Kooi, Justin Ripley, Ethan, Bryan, Pastor Loh Seng Piow and Monlam.
Enjoy and hope you can visit also one day.
Tsem Rinpoche
H.E. Tsem Rinpoche Visits Buddha Temples in Kelantan, Malaysia!
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Malay02-KelantanTemple.mp4
Wat Machimmaram
The temple houses the largest sitting Buddha statue in Southeast Asia. The statue is about 30m in height and 47m wide, according to some research online, the lips of Buddha was made of gold.
The statue of the sitting Buddha was constructed after 10 years of hard work contributed by skilled various craftsmen from Thailand. The construction of the statue was completed in year 2000.
The huge complex around the statue houses several small temples of the Buddhas and Chinese deities. There are two temples in the same complex, one of the temples houses a statue of an elegant standing Buddha on the roof and the second temple is constructed on a decorated dragon boat. Also, located around Wat Machimmaram is Wat Kok Seraya, which is a temple that houses the statue of a female Buddha.
The location of Wat Machimmaram. Click on image to enlarge.
The huge outdoor Buddha statue at Wat Machimmaram.
Wat Pikulthong
Wat Pikulthong is a popular Buddhist temple in Kelantan as it houses 3 statues of the standing Buddha. This temple was built in year 1986 and was officially opened in 1996. One of their highest statues measures around 49ft.
Wat Pikulthong has a cemetery ground, an elephant shed on one side and a school which teaches the local Thai community. Wat Pikulthong is situated at Kampung Terbak, Tumpat, Kelantan, going towards Pengkalan Kubur / Pantai Seri Tujuh area.
The location of Wat Pikulthong. Click on image to enlarge.
The famous Buddha statue of Wat Pikulthong.
The majestic outdoor statue.
Wat Photivihan
Wat Photivihan is a Buddhist temple located in the district of Tumpat, Kelantan, in Malaysia. The temple is one of 25 temples found in Tumpat, and is one of the most popular in the country. The temple houses a 40m statue of a sleeping Buddha, which is the longest of its kind in Southeast Asia. The devotees of this temple are mainly ethnic Thais, and the temple itself is a typical Thai Buddhist temple.
There is a Chinese Pavilion and a Tibetan style hall featuring a statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with 18 arms.
The map of Wat Photivihan map.
The famous reclining Buddha or known as the sleeping Buddha.
One of the biggest Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia.
Surroundings of the temple.
Below are a few of the temples in Kelantan which I have not had the chance to visit, I hope that you will visit these beautiful places.
Wat Kok Seraya
Wat Kok Seraya is a Thai Buddhist temple in the Tumpat district, with a big golden stupa and the typical walled compound setup. The highlight is the white statue of a female Buddha, which is quite unusual in a Buddhist temple. This probably originates from the local Chinese Buddhist population and their reverence towards the Buddha Guan Yin.
The entrance of Wat Kok Seraya.
The Guan Yin statue of Wat Kok Seraya.
Wat MaiSuwanKiri (Dragon Boat Temple)
Wat MaiSuwanKiri is located in Kampung Bukit Tanah in Tumpat. The original temple is said to have been constructed 400 years ago by expert craftsmen from Thailand. The present day structure has been built up over the past 50 or more years.
There are two main buildings that are of great interest: The Dragon Boat Temple, which gives it its popular name; and the magnificent main shrine hall, which is 3 stories high and contains many fine artworks.
Wat MaiSuwanKiri or known as the Dragon Boat Temple.
The structure of the temple, very beautiful.
Wat Phothikyan Phutthaktham
The temple is situated in Bachok, another district of Kelantan. This white standing Buddha stands at 33m in height, the temple was opened for public visits in year 2009. Another attraction of this beautiful temple is the Twin Dragon arch which measures at 600m in length, surrounding the temple walls, giving a majestic touch to the temple.
The famous Twin Dragon arch.
The majestic Buddha statue.
This Buddha statue measures at 33m in height.
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Great and beautiful place to visit. Hope i get to visit more places in Malaysia in the future. Hope more people takes more pilgrimage locally and abroad for purification and collect merits. Thank you very much Rinpoche for this beautiful sharing!🙏😍
Thank you for sharing this good article about three beautiful temples. The architecture of the temples is interesting as it is a combination of Thai and Chinese influence
I never expected to find such magnificent Buddha statues in Kelantan.The temple are so beautiful and we have to spend some time to visit this temples.
Not 3 ..but 16 wats in kelantan of which 12 are in Tumpat district..as kelantan was a state of Thailand before the 1826 Burney treaty..that gave the British this state.Thats why Luang Phor Tuads samadhi place is in Ayer Kala,Kg.Sawa,Grik..Perak.
In Kelantan, Malay Muslims constitute about 95% of Kelantan’s population. Nevertheless, this is wonderful to see Kelantan have these 3 Buddhist temples, Wat Machimmaram, Wat Pikulthong and Wat Photivihan, that having the largest Buddha statues in Southeast Asia.
Wat Machimmaram was the place that I have visited 15 years ago. There was only a huge outdoor Buddha built and the temple houses were still under construction at that time. Now, the building works are completed and become one of the tourist places.
May these largest Buddha statues bless all the sentient beings there and whoever can see these holy Buddha statues can leave positive imprint in their mind.
wow, i hope that Rinpoche had a great time and he always wears his famous cowboy hat. the temple statue looks amazing and beautiful. thank you for sharing Rinpoche.
It’s really nice that Kelantan had these 3 beautiful temples built, they are magnificent! Especially with the great combination of Thai architecture! Thank You for sharing the video Rinpoche, Rinpoche has explained very clearly about the places.
Hello Rinpoche,
I have just visited Kenchara outlet at Viva at Kuala Lumpur last week and I told Darren, one of your staffs there that I would love to meet you. I am very new to Tibetan Buddhism. Thank you so much for this video, I have heard you chant a mantra when the stray animals were fed. Was that the Medicine Buddha mantra that you mentioned when you feed the animals? There are also times that I feed the birds at the compound at my place but I don’t chant, don’t know anyway. There are so many strays, somehow seeing them makes me feel so helpless and sad too.
Thank you ,Rinpoche, for the video presentation of yourpilgrimage to 3 temples in Kelantan. Each of the Buddha statues are enormous in size. The grounds around the temples are huge and extensive. These extensive grounds enhance the sense of calm and serenity surrounding each statue.
The first statue of Lord Buddha,sitting on the roof of a temple, is a truly unique sight. The second is standing or in a walking posture. These two outdoor statues can be seen far and wide and bring tremendous blessings to the beings whose eyes fall on them , beings both seen and unseen. These beings can thus make a connection with the Buddha and have a seed of a Buddha’s imprint planted in them. In the future, this seed will open and the being will be able to listen to and study the Dharma and begin to find their way out of suffering, through the Dharma.
The reclining Buddha is the second largest reclining Buddha in the world.
Kelantan is blessed to have these three Buddha statues to bless the people and beings and environment.
Thank you Rinpoche sharing a nice video and show us the beautiful temples in Kelantan . May be this three temples is close to Thailand and the architecture is combined with Thai and chinese culture . I love this temples which located at the forest , far away from dusty city .
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the video of the three temples.I am suprised that have many huge Buddha statue and beautiful temples at Kelantan because i thought Kelantan is a very strong Muslim state.The temples are so beautiful and i will find one day to visit these temples !!
Thank you, Rinpoche, for showing us these three beautiful temples. The architecture of the temples is interesting as it is a combination of Thai and Chinese influence. Each of the temple is different as one has a sitting Buddha, another standing Buddha while the third is a reclining Buddha.
Surprisingly there are many beautiful temples to visit in Malaysia, I never these Temples existed in Kelantan, by being aware of it now it would be fun to go visit. The reclining Buddha has always been my favourite prostration of the Buddha statues, I grew up always visiting the temple in Penang with my grandmother to do some occasional offerings, donation and prayers. It was always fun going there. I would love to visit these temples in Kelantan. It was really nice watching this video where it was one of Rinpoche’s many visits and outings with Justin. I also really liked the part everyone feeding the temple dogs they really really happy and excited. Thanks for sharing Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche for bring us on a tour of the 3 temples, each with a large statue – Sitting Buddha at Wat Machimmaram, Standing Buddha at Wat Pikulthong, and Reclining Buddha at Wat Photivihan.
Kelantan shares its border with Thailand and the Thai influence is evident in the temples’ architecture.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.My friend native to Kelantan did bring me to visit the Three Temples about 3 years ago.I was very fascinate to see those beautiful and huge statue of the Buddha.I never expected to find such magnificent Buddha statues in Kelantan.If you get a chance to go into the first mention temple,you will be able to see lots of beautiful picture carving of the buddha in a few floors just under the huge Buddha. Do make a point to visit those temple,you will be amaze.
Such a beautiful Buddhist temples in Kelantan. These places are wonderful and I hope to visit there to make offerings and circumambulate around the Buddha’s statue in the future. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this.
Nice! So sad to say that although I’ve been living in Malaysia my entire 20 odd years, I’ve never been to these beautiful temples in Kelantan! Think I gotta come out from under the rock sometimes. Hehe
It is like being on a private tour with Rinpoche. So nice! =)
Thank you for sharing, Rinpoche!
This place is so beautiful and interesting place 🙂 Will find one day to go visit this wonderful place.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this post and video to us.
For your information, Kelantan is in West Malaysia. I enjoy reading your postings and thanks for the information about Kelantan. Even though I am from Perak, I had not been to Kelantan for a long, long time. I hope to visit the temples in the near future. Once again, thank you, Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche once again for showing us these beautiful Buddhas which are in our home land. Last week I visited the Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong and followed a group of visitors there in circumabulating the statue. Now I understand the significance of circumabulating, and thank you for explaining. It’s nice to know that we have so many wonderful Buddha statues on our doorstep as well.
It is nice to see that the north eastern state of peninsula Malaysia, Kelantan, has so many beautiful Wats. With close proximity to southern Thailand, the influence of Buddhism and Thai architecture is evident. The state capital, Kota Baru, is accessible by airplane and by good roads.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for this video of the three temples.
Thank You Rinpoche for sharing the visit to these temple. the Buddha statue at these Wat is indeed wonderful, especially the architecture and the craftsmanship of each of the statue.
As a Malaysian who is born and breed in Malaysia, Kelantan is the least expected place that I could think of having beautiful and large buddha statues. It is amazing to see temples having large acres of land in Kelantan and I have not seen a huge Buddha statue sitting on top of a buildingin my life. At some point of my life I would definitely visit tyese temples, treating it as pilgrmage as inidicated by Rinpoche in the video clip. Dear Rinpoche, thank you for sharing with us your trip to the beautiful temples in Kelantan. Dear seng Piao, beng kooi, justin and others who have followed rinpoche on this trip who have worked hard to upload and blog about Rinpoche’s trip to the temples in Kelantan, THANK YOU!!
i like the cowboy hat very much. There is a very nice temple in the forests of northern thailand that I have been to, it has a golden reclining buddha in a cave. It’s so beautiful I used to love to sit in there.
Perusing through Rinpoche’s blog of his visits to 3 buddhist temples in Kelantan has obviously brought back vividly the first visit I had of Wat Photivihan 20 years ago. Build in 1980, Wat Photivihan, one of the most amazing and famous thai buddhist temple housing the longest reclining statue of Lord Buddha, 40 meters in length. It is still obviously a very popular temple, with a very large numbers of devotees and pilgrims of thai origin. This was the first reclining statue of Buddha I ever had the affinity to set my eyes on, and also the merit to circumbulate round Buddha’s statue in a recline state with so many others at that time. The experience I had of Wat Machimmaran was that of a quick passing through tour and could still recalled that many of the statues had a mixture of Thai/Chinese orientated designs and appearances, which took the skilled thai craftsmen about 10 years to complete and build up. Though I did not have the opportunity to visit Wat Pikulthong, I hope to have the chance to do so one fine day should my Karma permits! Om mani padme hum.
I have to remember to have pictures or cameras when I visit holy places… More merits to share right?
Dear Rinpoche,
Your Eminence have now visited many temples and seen for yourself the many a splendid temples that has been constructed all around us. It can be done and has been done many times over by many. KWPC will be up in no time as the next spiritual wonder spot in the world. It just takes some effort in getting it all together to build momentum. Just need to have the building blocks in place,and a realistic timeline – yeah?
Dear Rinpoche~
Thank you so much for putting this video here for me to see. I took a break from my finals study and I’m so glad that I did. These places are so beautiful and I’m so glad that you could travel and see them!