“Upon reaching the meeting point, his close attendant was waiting with his beloved
horse. They rode the horse at a gentle pace to avoid making noise while leaving the
palace, heading east. This route connected to another city in the Kamboja region, a
large region with advanced arts and sciences.”

“They rode on until stopping near dawn after crossing a small river. The morning sun
painted the clouds in the sky a pale orange. As the sky brightened, things became
clearer. He dismounted and prepared to change his attire. He removed his jewelry,
necklace, rings, bracelets, and gold belt, placing them in his hat. Then he gathered his
hair into a bun, tied with a simple hemp rope. He took off his shoes and the robes of a
prince, giving them all to his attendant to take back to the city.”

“Lord Phoche… at this point, the Buddha didn’t cut his hair as I learned, did he?
Because I don’t see any haircutting in the scene. Isn’t he here to cut his hair?” I asked.
“The word ‘plong’ here doesn’t mean cutting hair. ‘Plong’ here means renouncing,
abandoning possessions, abandoning assumed statuses. His status now is someone
without attachments, without bonds. What remains now is a large ochre-dyed cloth to
wrap his body and a metal container like a bowl, used for various purposes, from
drinking water to holding food, bathing, or even washing his bottom. This is the
meaning of the word ‘plong’ at that time,” Lord Phoche replied.

“So, the Buddha didn’t shave his head?” I asked.

“There was no shaving of the head yet. The shaving of monks’ heads in Buddhism
would happen about twenty days after the Buddha’s passing, when all the monks who
participated in the cremation ceremony unanimously shaved their heads to show
gratitude and mourn his passing on that day,” he replied.

“…Shaving only happened later?”

“Yes.”

“Lord… can you specify the location of the place where the Buddha renounced his
possessions?” I asked.

“Yes. In the early days, when the Buddha first became a monk, no one marked this
location. But when Phaya Asoka and the Buddha traveled to Kapilavastu, Phaya Asoka
built a small laterite *chedi*, about 3-4 meters high, near the river crossing, which was
the border between the Sakya and Kamboja regions. But the actual location is after
crossing that river. Phaya Asoka chose this spot because it was Sakya territory, so no
permission was needed. The villagers called that place ‘Chedi Phra Plong’ (Chedi of the
Renunciation), and the river was called Lam Nam Phra Plong (River of the
Renunciation) from then on. Over time, the *chedi* deteriorated, but the villagers still
came to worship it and built a spirit house instead, calling it ‘San Phra Plong’ (Spirit House of the Renunciation). Today, there are only stories passed down that a great man
of immense sacrifice once came here, but there are no stories related to the Buddha’s
renunciation.”

“From here, the Buddha walked to the large kingdom to the east. This kingdom covered
a vast area, from Nakhon Khorapura, Nakhon Sema, or the current location of Nakhon
Ratchasima province, extending to Buriram, Surin, Sisaket, Roi Et, and all of presentday Cambodia. This kingdom was considered large, with highly developed arts and
culture, and tens of thousands of temples, so they considered it the gateway to heaven
or the world of gods. The word ‘Dvara’ means gate. So, this place was also called
Dvaravati Kingdom, with its center in the upper area of the Phanom Dong Rak
mountain range, or the current Roi Et and Buriram provinces.”

“At the time the Buddha renounced his possessions to become a monk, this Dvaravati
Kingdom was prosperous and powerful over all regions in the area. The ruler of
Dvaravati inherited the greatness from generation to generation, starting from the
grandfather, who built a large temple to be the gateway between humans and gods,
located on a mountaintop. Today, you call this place ‘Phanom Rung.’ At that time, this
grandfather king displayed considerable power because the construction of a large
stone temple on a mountaintop required enormous budgets and labor.”

“But then came the father, who wanted to show the world that he was greater and
more powerful than his grandfather, so he built an even larger temple on the Phanom
Dong Rak mountain range. This event occurred before the Buddha was born. This
temple was like the center of the universe, or what is called Mount Meru, the abode of
the gods, so that everyone who had faith in the Brahminical religion could come to
worship, believing that once in their life they had to come to perform rituals to go to
heaven, or in simple terms, this was the gate that would lead people to the world of
gods, which was the destination of all pilgrims. This temple was eight hundred meters
long, located on a mountaintop with stairs from the foot to the top of the mountain
from north to south, divided into five levels. Each level had different rituals. The first
level symbolized passing through the realm of humans, like the edge of the universe
composed of the four elements, guarded by Nagas, lions, and guardians. The second
level was where humans entered the four gates of the universe. Here, everyone had to
purify themselves from sin by cleansing their bodies, changing into white clothes, and
donating worldly possessions before entering the presence of the gods. The third level
was the ritual chamber of the Brahmins, to declare their vow to observe the precepts
purely for auspiciousness. Then there was the sprinkling of sacred water. The fourth
level was entering Mount Meru, where various gods resided, including Indra, Vishnu,
Shiva, Ganesha, and myself, whom they call Narayana. And the fifth level was the abode
of the supreme god, Brahma, the creator or source of souls and all things in the
universe,” Lord Phoche showed me the image of the grand temple of the father king.

“The son of the Dvaravati Kingdom, who ascended the throne as a great king around
the same time the Buddha renounced his possessions to become a monk, was
extremely ambitious. He wanted to separate himself from the greatness that his
grandfather and father had created, so he decided to build a new city and wanted to
build a temple a hundred times greater than his father’s and grandfather’s. So, he conscripted many people to travel to the south, where Angkor Wat is located today.
That place was a fertile lowland with a large lake. And he had a great old Brahmin
priest who was skilled in astrology. This priest predicted that he would be the greatest
king in the world, and his power and fame would spread to the western lands. So, many
people were conscripted to build the new city. Therefore, some cities in the father
king’s former territory were abandoned. Some stone temples were dismantled to be
used as materials for building the new ones. So, the tens of thousands of temples that
once existed in the northern area of the Phanom Dong Rak mountain range were
dismantled, leaving only the foundations.”