The Legend of That Phanom
That Phanom — the most sacred stupa in northeastern Laos and Isan (Thailand) — is the subject of a powerful legend connecting the Lao people to the Buddha's lifetime. According to tradition, five Buddhas of the past (including Gotama Buddha) visited the site on the banks of the Mekong and predicted that a great reliquary would be built there. Five hundred years after the Buddha's parinibbana, five enlightened monks (arahants) from the Himalayas flew through the air carrying a relic — the Buddha's breastbone — to the site. King Phraya Phanom, the local ruler, built a small stupa to enshrine the