Wat Krok Krak
THAI NAME: วัดโกรกกราก
LOCATION: Amphoe Mueang District in Samut Sakhon
GPS: 13.531290, 100.275038
This temple was built in the early Rattanakosin period by the local Chinese who called themselves “Kok Kak”. The temple holds one of the biggest temple fairs in Samut Sakhon around January every year.The special attraction for this temple is the monk image and a Buddha image wearing sun glasses. The whole temple is also made from teak wood.
The Luang Por Pu Buddha image used to reside at the ancient temple of Wat Chong Sa Dao, located near Tha Chin River. According to legend, many buildings there were destroyed and the Mon people encouraged two Buddha images to escape by boat. One of the Buddha images was bronze and the other was laterite. While they were sailing along the Tha Chin River near Wat Krok Krak, their progress was halted by a big storm. Local people rescued the Buddha images, but after the storm abated, they couldn’t move the images. However, after they had prayed to the Buddha images for them to stay at their temple, they were able to move them inside.
The reason why the Luang Por Pu Buddha image wears dark glasses is because during this time, conjunctivitis was widespread in Krok Krak Village. Medication wasn’t then advanced enough and people had to cure themselves with home remedies. But the situation wasn’t getting better. So, everyone prayed to Luang Por Pu: “If conjunctivitis is cured, we will cover the Buddha Images’ eyes with golden sheets”. After that, conjunctivitis disappeared from the village. Many people came to put gold leaf paper on the Buddha’s eyes. So much so, a later abbot decided to put sunglasses on the the Buddha image instead.
Legend Source: watkrokkrak.com