The Sanctuary of Truth is an astounding wonder – a wooden colossus whose 35,000 square feet are completely covered from facade to rooftop, floor to ceiling in intricate wood carvings. A monument to a wide range of Eastern spiritual practices, I believe its goal is to unite the meaning of their teachings into a basic set of truths.
The belief systems represented in the iconography come from Thai, Chinese, Khmer and Indian origin. That’s like a zillion deities, and they all seemed to be on display. With only an hour to spend with us, our guide took us on a whirlwind tour, explaining along the way both the symbolism and the construction technique.
In addition to it’s multi-cultural purpose, the building is notable in that it’s 100% wood. No nails, no screws. It’s all tongue and groove, dowel and butterfly joint construction.
As the photos show, it is really just spilling over with gods. And I haven’t even posted the interior pictures yet. It was just as ornate. The whole thing is impossibly intricate – not 1 inch of it is lacking detail.
While all this imagery was there to tell stories, the main thrust of the entire building was to show the simple basics of living a good life.
- Take care of your body, keep your mind disciplined, keep your words positive
- Humans thrive in social groups – friends and family – don’t go through life alone
- Seek the balance in life… ie: be cooling water for fire, solid earth for wind.
- Just as we are the children of our parents, so is humankind the child of the earth. Take care of it.
- Don’t trade in these values for materialism or selfishness
Nothing very religious about that. Apple reinforced these concepts in many examples with such sincerity – the whole thing was a spiritual teaching.
Outside, we ate lunch (wonderfully fresh, spicy Thai food), took a soothing boat ride drinking coconut water and walked through the area where the many artisans worked away at wood blocks. There was a 1:10 scale replica of the buildings skeleton that they still use for maintenance. We even noticed a stack of timber on the way out that was waiting to go under the chisel.
Even though this project was started in 1989, it’s still being constructed to this day.
It was truly incredible and another visual overload. With the tour guide being so earnest in passing along the teachings we felt quite filled up when leaving, and then some.
The Itinerant Three TnTs 
Posted! T this is really incredible. Can’t believe it’s all tongue and groove! AND they’re still building it? Zany. Keep posting, this is gold.
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Well, yes alot of it is but it’s also butterfly joints and dovetails. It’s been under construction since it started in the mid 80’s. The interior is about 85% complete. They also go back over the finished areas alot and stain the wood or repair bits.
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