Travel & Tourism

  Nong Han 
Blue Mindfulness 

Nong Han, Sakon Nakhon Province, according to the legend of the Urangkhathat, is called Nong Han Luang. The city was ruled by a king named Phaya Suwannaphinkara Maharaja, who is considered an important leader and the founder of Phra That Phanom.
According to the legend, following Buddhist tradition, when the Buddha in this blessed Aeon was about to attain parinirvana, He came to the city of Nong Han Luang to imprint His footprint on a stone slab by the shore of Nong Han. A miracle occurred, and a luminous orb emerged from the footprint, floating into the sky, shining brightly, before disappearing in front of Phaya Suwannaphinkara.
Phaya Suwannaphinkara saw it as a miraculous event, so he asked the Omniscient One. The Tathagata replied that the first three orbs represented the Buddha's footprints left by the Buddhas of the past: Kakusandha, Konagamana, and Kassapa. The last orb represented Tathagata's own footprint. Then, a prophecy was made that after the Buddha's parinirvana, Buddhism in India would gradually decline and flourish in the city of Nong Han Luang. Therefore, Nong Han is significant as a center of Buddhism and Vipassana practice of the forest monk tradition from ancient times to the present. Sakon Nakhon Province is thus known as the land of noble monks.