WAT ALASKA YANNA VARARAM

[Raga Mala]

A few shots of my Temple, Wat Alaska Yanna Vararam, a Dhammayut Thai Temple in Anchorage, Alaska.

The main Meditation Hall.

The Buddha was "consecrated" from Thailand in the presence of our Abbott and various Dhammayut-order higher-ups and then shipped to Anchorage.

The Buddha statue with Ven. Ananda and Ven. Sariputta attending.

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa!

The big man

Buddha's face, close-up

This altar next to the statue is covered every inch by more buddha statues and status of some thai saints.

Buddha statues stuffed into every corner of the altar

Acariya relics.

Buddha statues

Multitudinous flowers at the foot of the big Buddha

More flowers

A texture-painting of the Tathagata

Buddha wall sculpture

The top row of paintings depicts the life of the Buddha. The bottom, the life of Acariya Malai^

Life of Buddha, cont'd
Life of Ven. Malai, cont'd^

Wheel of life tapestry^

The kitchen^

Gongs^

Monks' eating-place^

Where the monks sit during blessings^

The Thai edition of the Tipitaka

English Tipitaka cabinet

The almsbowls

Future design of the Temple

Calendar. The photo is from the year of the Temple's dedication, when the Dhammyut Order abroad held its meeting at Wat Alaska.

Parinibbana Mudra statuette hangs above the exit

The sign facing the street

Sign

Sign from teh other side, with shrubs.

South face of the building

South face

South face

Flowers (still holding on to life in mid-September)

The front entrance

South face

Ajaan Surachai

Phramaha Boonet Baukhai - The Abbott

Ajaan Niran

Me and Ajaan Niran

Ajaan Niran

Ajaan Niran w/ the Buddha

Ajaan Boonet, cleaning a coffeemaker

Ajaan Surachai, teaching Thai

Ajaan Surachai teaching

Ajaan Surachai

[retrofuturist]

Great set of photos Raga Mala!

Thanks for sharing and nice to see you here by the way.

Metta,
Retro.

[appicchato]

The Buddha statue with Ven. Ananda and Ven. Sariputta attending.

Minor point although it's more likely Moggallana (MN 108), not Ananda...

[jcsuperstar]

haha i was gonna post that it wasnt ananda too!

anyways, justin have you seen the old buddha from the temple? it's that huge buddha at mermaids, some thai woman gave it to the temple, but had a falling out with the monks, got mad and took her buddha back!! now it sits in the store over on dimond. haha

somewhere i have a picture of me chanting with my old roshi, and my giving a dharma talk at wat yan from way back when i was a zen guy

[Raga Mala]

Minor point although it's more likely Moggallana (MN 108), not Ananda...

Thank you for this correction!

JC...I never heard that story. Some of the women at the Temple can definitely get contentious, I've noticed. Especially when a pujja day is coming up, the women swarm the Temple and sturm-and-drang the place up. The monks never seem to lose their cool, though!

[Ben]

Hi Justin
Thanks for sharing. They're great photos and you are, indeed, fortunate to have easy access to members of the sangha.
I wonder, how do the Thai monks fare with the Alaskan winters?
kind regards

Ben

[jcsuperstar]

here ben ill show you, it's mostly just hats and long johns

[Raga Mala]

Nice shots, JC!
I never knew you actually made the acquaintance of Ajaan Dr. Lertsak when he was in town. Cool!

[jcsuperstar]

last year i was living at wat dhammabhavana for some time so i did a lot with the monks of all 3 temples. i was always surprized to never see you on holidays when we'd go to your wat.

[Raga Mala]

Yeah, last year my attendance was pretty shabby. Or probably last year and a half. My practice and general dhamma involvement were down, sadly (for additional evidence, note I completely disappeared from E-Sangha during that period).

Also, I'm not very good at going to Temple on Pujja days and such like. I go when I find time but I hardly ever plan to be there for specific events. I'm getting better about this, though!

[retrofuturist]

I still love that pic Xmas JC... thanks for sharing again.

Metta,
Retro.