Visit to Vat Phou: The Beautiful Side of Evil

Determined to see as much of the country and experience as much of the culture as possible during my limited time here, set off on a tour to Vat Phou Temple--alone. With the assistance of my team leader, I booked the day trip for between $25-30. And off I went on! I departed from Pakse on a tour bus around 8:00am and traveled through the countryside for about an hour. Then two British backpackers, two French guys, and I were dropped off at a small village along the Mekong, where we hopped into a sliver of a boat and glided precipitously across the river surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of majestic mountains in myriad hues of verdant green. After arriving safely on shore, we traveled by tuk tuk to the base of the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site, Vat Phou.  

More than 1,000 years old, the temple, sanctuary, and the "library"/fountain is associated with the Khmer Empire, which dominated the region throughout the 10th-14th centuries, and is one of the oldest archeological sites in Laos. The view displays an axis from mountaintop to river bank to lay out a geometric pattern of temples, shrines and waterworks extending over some 10 km. It features outstanding architecture, many containing great works of art, expressing intense religious conviction and commitment. Vat Phou exemplifies the integration of symbolic landscape of great spiritual significance to its natural surroundings. It was constructed and is preserved to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity.  One of the symbols central to the site reverences the Linga (male reproductive organ) and its fount of eternal springs.

The site was visually spectacular and historically and culturally impressive, but I felt conflicted and somewhat disconcert by its spiritual significance. Daily tourists and Buddhists visit, annually monks pilgrimage to Vat Phuo to commemorate the third lunar month (usually in February), and it has been elevated by its status as a World Heritage preservation site. However, only ruins and a wellspring remain. To me this demonstrated the universal desire for Living Water and the ruins of religion to satisfy this need. I was reminded of Deuteronomy 4:28-29, "There you will serve gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul." Regardless of age, architecture, or aesthetic appeal, manmade constructs are powerless to save. Salvation is found in Christ alone.

For me this begged the question: by visiting and paying tribute to this site, was I honoring and ascribing value to its roots? When I considered the ongoing spiritual war being waged all around us, was I undermining the significance of the darkness, deception, and demonic influence of such a place by relaying only its beauty? After wrestling with the contradictions in my mind, I determined that as a steward of my experience, I was compelled to tread with trepidation on holy/unholy ground. When I return to my memories of Vat Phuo, my purpose is to retrace my steps in prayer and spiritual warfare for the souls of those visitors blinded by the darkness of the beautiful side of evil. I will pray instead that, like the Samaritan woman at the well, they would encounter the true source of Living Water at Vat Phou and that they would slake their thirst with the spiritual Rock, the Rock of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).