Wat Yansangwararam

About

Wat Yansangwararam Woramahawihan — Wat Yan — lies in Huai Yai in Chonburi Province, set among gardens and reflecting lakes about twenty kilometres southeast of Pattaya. The monastery is held under the patronage of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and most of its buildings stand as devotional tributes to members of the Thai royal house. Among its principal landmarks is a faithful replica of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya.

The monastery was founded in 1976 by Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, the nineteenth Supreme Patriarch of the Thai Sangha, as a centre dedicated to dharma practice with particular emphasis on samatha and vipassana meditation. It remains an important institution of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya in Thailand. The original land was donated by Dr Kajorn and Khun Ying Nithiwadee Ontrakarn.

The complex is laid out in four functional zones: the Buddhavas at its devotional heart; the Sanghavas, where the monastic community resides; the Karavas, which welcomes lay practitioners undertaking vipassana practice; and a section devoted to agricultural education and wildlife care.

Within the precinct stand chedis, ordination halls, scripture libraries, and pavilions raised in honour of monarchs — among them Naresuan, Taksin, Queen Sirikit, the Princess Mother Srinagarindra, and Prince Mahidol. International pavilions arranged around the lakeside reservoir, in Lanna, Isan, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Western styles, were erected in 2021 in honour of King Bhumibol's fifth-cycle birthday.

History

The monastery was founded in 1976 by Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, the 19th Supreme Patriarch of the Thai Sangha, as a centre for samatha and vipassana practice within the Dhammayuttika Nikaya. The initial donation of land of around sixteen hectares came from Dr Kajorn and Khun Ying Nithiwadee Ontrakarn, with subsequent acquisitions extending the precinct to nearly fifty-nine hectares.

Most of the major buildings — the chedi of the Chakri dynasty, the scripture hall, the ordination hall raised in tribute to King Taksin the Great, the replica of the Bodh Gaya stupa, and the Phra Maha Mondop honouring King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit — were raised as devotional works dedicated to specific members of the royal house or in commemoration of significant royal occasions.