King Tilokarat built the temple in 1455. The temple was probably copied from the design of the Mahabodhi temple in Pagan, which itself was a copy of the Indian temple at Bodhgaya.
It had been predicted that Buddhism would decline after 2000 years. King Tilokarat's religious works, as well as those of other Southeast Asian monarchs of the time, were an attempt to prevent this decline. Wat Jet Yod was the site of the Eighth World Buddhist council in 1477, which revised the Tripitaka (Buddhist canon and teachings)