26 Jan 2011 - Papa wrote a short essay to help promote the Savannakhet Buddha image casting project. It's a brief summary for the purpose of communicating the event to the expat colleagues for their contributions to the project.

Papa wrote:
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Inspired by one of the ancient, most significant and sacred Buddha images in Laos, known to most Lao people as “Phra Ong Tu” of the Ong Tu temple in Vientiane, the Savannakhet people wish to cast a grand Buddha statue replicating the original one.

There are now numerous replicas of Phra Ong Tu in Laos and Thailand, but the original holy Phra Ong Tu is historic and has a particularly interesting story. It began in 1566 – out of his majesty’s unshakable faith and devotion to Buddhism, King Xaysetthathiraj of the Lane Xang Kingdom (Laos in the present) made an endeavour to build the largest Buddha image in Vientiane. The bronze Buddha statue would be almost six metres tall and weigh several tonnes, and hence the name “Tu” (a Lao ancient unit for heavy weight scale). Just as King Xaysetthathiraj was about to cast the Buddha image, a Burmese king led his troops to Vientiane intending to wage a war. Knowing about the threat, the Lao king felt deeply concern at first but was reminded by his queen about the merits in undertaking the creation of the Buddha image and in having strong faith in Dhamma (the Buddha’s teachings). The great king of Lane Xang Kingdom prayed for miracles to happen and showed his compassion towards the Burmese king and his generals. What would have been a bloody war did not take place, and many lives were spared. Later, the two kings met in the Vientiane palace and avowed a strong relationship between the two kingdoms.

Since then, Phra Ong Tu has survived the long years through the time of peace and war – even when Wat Ong Tu, the temple in which Phra Ong Tu resided, was burned down during foreign invasions, the Oug Tu Buddha statue remained intact and only temple was rebuilt. For many generations, Phra Ong Tu has been an invaluable source of inspiration for learning the Dhamma of the Buddhist’s communities, and the temple has been a place where people come to worship Phra Ong Tu, dedicate their merits, and conduct religious traditional ceremonies.

MMG LXML has donated 3 tonnes of Copper for this project in advance and will be supporting the event. As part of the fund rising to meet the target, the Savannakhet Province Buddha Casting Committee is also asking for voluntary contributions from both Lao and expat employees and contractors of MMG LXML. Like the Phra Ong Tu’s story, the work and donation towards the Buddha statue casting will be a long lasting good deed that will keep contributing to the communities for many generations to come.
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