Luang Pho Pin of Wat Ubon Wannaram: Teaching, Schools and Temple Life
Luang Pho Pin Inthasaro (หลวงพ่อพิณ อินทสาโร), who held the ecclesiastical title Phra Khru Prasit Sarakhun (พระครูประสิทธิ์สารคุณ), was the seventh abbot of Wat Ubon Wannaram (วัดอุบลวรรณาราม) in Damnoen Saduak, Ratchaburi. Collectors may know his name through amulets, but his life also tells a story of Buddhist teaching and education for local children.
A temple with a teaching tradition
The temple history dates its foundation to BE 2429 (1886). It records that a lay donor, Nai Bua, bought land with relatives and offered it to the temple. Its first abbot was Phra Nu. The temple grew near the district's canals, and by BE 2460 (1917) it had established a programme of Buddhist studies for monks. Pin would later lead a temple where learning already had a place.
From student to teacher
Born Pin Im Samran on 23 February BE 2444 (1901) in Sam Phran, Nakhon Pathom, he was the son of Nai Long and Nang Phring. His father sent him to live and study at Wat Bang Chang Nuea. He later attended Phra Pathom Witthayalai, but left during his second year of secondary school after his father's death to help support his mother.
He was ordained at Wat Bang Chang Nuea in BE 2465 (1922), receiving the monastic name Inthasaro. He continued his studies at Wat Thong Nopphakhun in Bangkok, passed the highest level of the monastic Dhamma examinations, and attained the fifth grade of Pali study. Those years shaped his later work as a preacher and teacher.
Learning beyond the monastery walls
Pin taught Buddhist studies at several temples. At Wat Prasat Sit in BE 2481 (1938), he opened the first Pali teaching programme in Damnoen Saduak and directed it himself. He also saw that local children needed classrooms. After discussing the need with the abbot, he helped bring about Si Phrom Min School.
When he moved to Wat Ubon Wannaram, he helped the then abbot, Phra Athikan Nim, raise funds for another school. The Thai biographical account also records his assistance to nearby schools. Monastic study and children's education were both part of his work in the district.
Seventh abbot and later memory
Pin became abbot of Wat Ubon Wannaram in BE 2490 (1947). The temple history identifies him as its seventh abbot and records the completion of a wooden sermon hall in BE 2491 (1948). His years there joined teaching and preaching with the everyday care of the temple.
A Thai biography also records that he studied with Luang Pho Khong of Wat Bang Kaphom. This connection remains part of collectors' interest in him. Yet his story extends beyond any one sacred object: it also belongs to the halls and schools where learning took place.
A connection to the present
Luang Pho Pin died on 14 December BE 2520 (1977). Looking back, we find a monk who brought his own learning into the classroom and worked with his community to create opportunities for a younger generation. That educational legacy remains an essential part of the story of Wat Ubon Wannaram.