Wat Yanviriya was the first Thai Buddhist temple in Canada (wat means temple-monastery). It is a Theravada Buddhist temple established in 1992 by Lord Abbot Luang Phor Viriyang Sirintharo in a converted Christian church in East Vancouver.
Luang Phor (a Thai popular term of respect for senior monks) directs his network of Thai wats from Wat Dhammamongkol in Bangkok. He first assigned several senior Thai monks to the new Canadian location, but over the next 10 years, the senior monks were sent back to Thailand and secular programs, such as Thai language classes, were discontinued. Luang Phor maintains contact with the Vancouver wat from his Canadian base in Edmonton, where he has established residence. The junior monks now assigned to the Vancouver wat rotate between there and Luang Phor’s other wats in Ontario and Alberta.
The Wat Yanviriya congregation includes many dedicated Buddhist faithful. The majority are Thai Buddhists, whose main activity is to make merit, a kind of cultural imperative for Thais. They make merit by donating money and food, and by making ritualized donations of robes and prepackaged baskets of daily needs such as toothpaste and towels. Wat Yanviriya is also the regional home of the Willpower Institute, Luang Phor’s international outreach foundation. The mandate of the Institute is to train meditation teachers, build general mindfulness and, ultimately, world peace. Several graduate classes of local Canadians have taken the program and stay in touch with the wat.
Over the years, the local Lao and Cambodian communities have established their own wats, and two other Thai wats have opened in the Vancouver area, so attendance at Wat Yanviriya has declined slightly. Nevertheless, it continues to function as a gathering place and social centre, especially for newly arrived Thais. Currently, it also offers regular Sunday practice in both sitting and walking meditation.