Buddhist Temple sights in Asia
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Língyǐn Temple
Hángzhōu's most famous Buddhist temple, Língyǐn Temple was built in AD 326. Due to episodes of war and calamity, it has been destroyed and restored no fewer than 16 times.
The main temple buildings are restorations of Qing-dynasty structures. Behind the Hall of the Four Heavenly Guardians stands the Great Hall and a magnificent 20m-high statue of Siddhartha Gautama (Sakyamuni), sculpted from 24 blocks of camphor wood in 1956 and based on a Tang-dynasty original. Behind the giant statue is a startling montage of 150 small figures, which charts the journey of 53 children on the road to Buddhahood. During the time of the Five Dynasties (907–60) about 3000 monks lived in t…
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Guāngxiào Temple
The 'Bright Filial Piety Temple', about 400m west of the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, is the oldest temple in Guǎngzhōu, dating back to the 4th century. By the Tang dynasty it was well established as a centre of Buddhist learning in southern China. Bodhidarma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, once taught here.
Most of the current buildings date from the 19th century. The most impressive is the main hall, with its double eaves. Inside is a 10m-high statue of the Buddha. At the back of the hall sits an equally impressive statue of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy. Take metro line 1 to Xīmén Kǒu station.
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Tángjiā Temple
On your way to the Tángjiā Public Garden, detour to visit this 300-year-old temple. A highlight is the grim-looking Buddha statue brought from India when the temple was founded. Board bus 10 on Yingbin Dadao and alight at Tángjiā Market (Tángjiāshìchǎng).
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Wat Pho
You'll find (slightly) fewer tourists here than at Wat Phra Kaew, but Wat Pho is our personal fave among Bangkok's biggest temples. In fact, the compound incorporates a host of superlatives: the largest reclining Buddha, the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand and the country's earliest centre for public education.
Almost too big for its shelter, the genuinely impressive Reclining Buddha, 46m long and 15m high, illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana (ie the Buddha's death). The figure is modelled out of plaster around a brick core and finished in gold leaf. Mother-of-pearl inlay ornaments the feet, displaying 108 different auspicious lák·sà·nà …
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Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
This Buddhist temple was built in AD 537 to enshrine Buddhist relics brought over from India. The relics were placed in the octagonal Decorated Pagoda (Huā Tǎ). The temple was given its current name by the exiled poet Su Dongpo in 1099, who commemorated the banyan trees in the courtyard with a poem. The banyan trees are long gone but you can see the characters (liùróng) he wrote hanging above the temple's gateway. To get here, take bus 56.
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Jade Buddha Temple
One of Shànghǎi's few active Buddhist monasteries, this temple was built between 1911 and 1918. The centrepiece is the 1.9m-high pale green Jade Buddha (Yùfó), seated upstairs in his own hall. It is said that Hui Gen (Wei Ken), a Pǔtuóshān monk, travelled to Myanmar (Burma) via Tibet, lugged five jade Buddhas back to China and then sought alms to build a temple for them. The beautiful effigy of Sakyamuni, clearly Southeast Asian in style, gazes ethereally from a cabinet. Visitors are not able to approach the statue, but can admire it from a distance. An additional charge of Y10 is levied to see the statue (no photographs).
An equally elegant reclining Buddha is down…
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Bādàchù
Named after the eight nunneries and monasteries scattered through its attractive wooded valleys, Bādàchù is an invigoratingly hilly area in the west of Běijīng. Topped with a glittering golden spire, the 13-eaved green tiled brick Língguāng Temple Pagoda (Língguāng Sì Tǎ) is also known as the Buddha's Tooth Relic Pagoda; it was built to house a sacred tooth accidentally discovered when the allied powers demolished the place in 1900.
Follow the path up past the small and simple Sānshān Nunnery (Sānshān Ān) to the Dàbēi Temple (大悲寺; Dàbēi Sì), famed for its 18 arhats (Buddhists who have achieved enlightenment) in the Great Treasure Hall (Dàxióngbǎo Diàn) wh…
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Wat Benchamabophit
You might recognise this temple from the back of the 5B coin. Made of white Carrara marble, Wat Ben, as it's colloquially known, was built in the late 19th century under Rama V. The large cruciform bòht is a prime example of modern Thai wát architecture. The base of the central Buddha image, a copy of Phitsanulok's Phra Phuttha Chinnarat, contains the ashes of Rama V. The courtyard behind the bòht exhibits 53 Buddha images (33 originals and 20 copies) representing famous figures and styles from all over Thailand and other Buddhist countries.
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Wat Arun
Striking Wat Arun commands a martial pose as the third point in the holy trinity (along with Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho) of Bangkok's early history. After the fall of Ayuthaya, King Taksin ceremoniously clinched control here on the site of a local shrine (formerly known as Wat Jaeng) and established a royal palace and a temple to house the Emerald Buddha. The temple was renamed after the Indian god of dawn (Aruna) and in honour of the literal and symbolic founding of a new Ayuthaya.
It wasn't until the capital and the Emerald Buddha were moved to Bangkok that Wat Arun received its most prominent characteristic: the 82m-high prang (Khmer-style tower). The tower's constructio…
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Temple of the Chief Minister
First founded in AD 555, this frequently rebuilt temple was destroyed along with the city in the early 1640s when rebels breached the Yellow River's dykes. During the Northern Song, the temple covered a massive 34 hectares and housed over 10,000 monks.
Within the Hall of the Heavenly Kings (天王殿; Tiānwáng Diàn), the mission of chubby Milefo (the Laughing Buddha) is proclaimed in the attendant Chinese characters: 'Big belly can endure all that is hard to endure in the world'. But the temple showstopper is the mesmerising Four-Faced Thousand Hand Thousand Eye Guanyin (四面千手千眼观世音), towering within the octagonal Arhat Hall (罗汉殿; Luóhàn Diàn), beyond the …
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Pǔtuózōngchéng Temple
Chéngdé's largest temple is a minifacsimile of Lhasa's Potala Palace and houses the nebulous presence of Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin). A marvellous sight on a clear day, the temple's red walls stand out against its mountain backdrop. Enter to a huge stele pavilion, followed by a large triple archway topped with five small stupas in red, green, yellow, white and black. In between the two gates are two large stone elephants whose knees bend impossibly.
Fronted by a collection of prayer wheels and flags, the Red Palace (also called the Great Red Platform) contains most of the main shrines and halls. Continue up past an exhibition of thangka (sacred Tibetan paintings) in a rest…
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Great Bell Temple
Once a shrine where Qing emperors prayed for rain, the temple today is named after its gargantuan Ming-dynasty bell: 6.75m tall and weighing a hefty 46.5 tonnes, the colossal bell was cast in 1406 and is inscribed with Buddhist sutras, comprising more than 227,000 Chinese characters and decorated with Sanskrit incantations. If you're bell crazy you'll be spellbound by the exhibitions on bell casting, the collection of bells from France, Russia, Japan, Korea and other nations. Also on view are copies of the bells and chimes of the Marquis of Zeng and a collection of Buddhist and Taoist bells including vajra bells and the wind chimes (fēnglíng) that tinkle from temple roo…
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Yuántōng Temple
This temple is the largest Buddhist complex in Kūnmíng and a draw for pilgrims. It's over 1000 years old and has been refurbished many times; the latest renovations were going on at the time of writing. To the rear a hall has been added, with a statue of Sakyamuni, a gift from Thailand's king. The good vegetarian restaurant here is to the left of the temple entrance.
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Wat Bowonniwet
Founded in 1826, Wat Bowonniwet is the national headquarters for the Thammayut monastic sect. King Mongkut, founder of this minority sect, began a royal tradition by residing here as a monk – in fact, he was the abbot of Wat Bowonniwet for several years. King Bhumibol (Rama IX) and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, as well as several other males in the royal family, have been temporarily ordained as monks. The ubosot has some interesting wall murals. Because of the temple's royal status, visitors should be particularly careful to dress properly for admittance to this wát – no shorts or sleeveless shirts.
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Guīyuán Temple
Pass a large rectangular pond where turtles cling like shipwrecked survivors to two metal lotus flowers and examine the magnificently burnished cabinet housing Milefo in the first hall. Also seek out this 350-year-old Buddhist temple's collection of more than 500 statues of enlightened disciples in the Hall of Arhats (罗汉堂; Luóhàn Táng). Completed in 1890, after nine years in the making, they remain in pristine condition. In the Mahasattva Pavilion (大士阁; Dàshì Gé), the 2m-high Tang-dynasty tablet carved with an image of Guanyin holding a willow branch is impressive and a jade Buddha can be found in the Cángjīng Pavilion (藏经阁; Cángjīng Gé). Bus 401 (Y2) …
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Big Goose Pagoda
Xī'ān's most famous landmark, this pagoda dominates the surrounding modern buildings. One of China's best examples of a Tang-style pagoda (squarish rather than round), it was completed in AD 652 to house the Buddhist sutras brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang. Xuan spent the last 19 years of his life translating scriptures with a crack team of linguist monks; many of these translations are still used today. His travels also inspired one of the best-known works of Chinese literature, Journey to the West.
Surrounding the pagoda is Dà Cí'ēn Temple (大慈恩寺; Dàcí'ēn Sì), one of the largest temples in Tang Cháng'ān. The buildings today date from the Qing dynasty.…
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Kāiyuán Temple
South on Yanzhao Nandajie this temple originally dates from AD 540 but was destroyed in 1966, the first year of the Cultural Revolution. Little remains apart from some leftover good vibes (it's a popular spot for qì gōng and taichi practitioners), the Bell Tower and the drawcard dirt-brown Xumi Pagoda, a well-preserved and unfussy early-Tang-dynasty brickwork, nine-eaved structure, topped with a spire. Its round arched doors and carved stone doorway are particularly attractive, as are the carved figures on the base.
Also displayed is a colossal stone bìxì statue – China's largest – near the entrance, with a vast chunk of its left flank missing and its head propped up o…
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Línjì Temple
Normally Y5 to access but free at the time of writing (and attracting scads of beggars in various stages of disfiguration), this active monastery, around 700m southeast of Kāiyuán Temple, is notable for its tall, elegant, carved brick Chénglíng Pagoda (澄灵塔; also called the Green Pagoda), topped with an elaborate lotus plinth plus ball and spire. The main hall behind has a large gilt effigy of Sakyamuni and 18 golden luóhàn. At the rear of the hall is Puxian astride an elephant, Wenshu on a lion and a figure of Guanyin. In the Tang dynasty, the temple was home to one of Chan (Zen) Buddhism's most eccentric and important teachers, Linji Yixuan, who penned the no…
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Temple of Sumeru, Happiness & Longevity
East of the Pǔtuózōngchéng Temple, this huge temple was built in honour of the sixth Panchen Lama, who stayed here in 1781. Incorporating Tibetan and Chinese architectural elements, it's an imitation of a temple in Shigatse, Tibet. Note the eight huge, glinting dragons (each said to weigh over 1000kg) that adorn the roof of the main hall. Bus 118 (Y1) runs along Huancheng Beilu past the temple.
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Lama Temple
This exceptional temple is a glittering attraction in Běijīng's Buddhist firmament. If you only have time for one temple (the Temple of Heaven isn't really a temple) make it this one, where riveting roofs, fabulous frescoes, magnificent decorative arches, tapestries, eye-popping carpentry, Tibetan prayer wheels, tantric statues and a superb pair of Chinese lions mingle with dense clouds of incense.
The most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside the historic lands of Tibet, the Lama Temple was converted to a lamasery in 1744 after serving as the former residence of Emperor Yong Zheng. Today the temple is an active place of worship, attracting pilgrims from afar, some o…
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Tiānníng Temple
About five minutes west (right as you exit) of Dàfó Temple are the remains of this temple, whose 41m-high Tang-dynasty Lofty Pagoda (凌霄塔; Língxiāo Tǎ) – also called Mùtǎ or Wooden Pagoda – originally dates from AD 779; it was later restored in 1045. The octagonal, nine-eaved and spire-topped pagoda is in fine condition and typical of Tang brickwork pagodas. Shut at the time of writing, you can usually clamber up inside and torches are provided (deposit Y10), but mind your head and the steep stairs. The views from the top are not great, as the windows are small.
Further west on Zhongshan Xilu from Tiānníng Temple, past the intersection with Yanzhao Nandajie…
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Puyou Temple
East of Pǔníng Temple, this temple is dilapidated and missing its main hall, but it has a plentiful contingent of merry gilded luóhàn in the side wings, although a fire in 1964 incinerated many of their confrères.
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Wénshū Temple
This Tang-dynasty monastery is dedicated to Wenshu (Manjushri), the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, and is Chéngdū's largest and best-preserved Buddhist temple. The air is redolent with incense, there's a low murmur of chanting, and despite frequent crowds of worshippers, there's still a sense of serenity and solitude. The temple's excellent vegetarian restaurant has an English menu, some garden seating and an atmospheric teahouse next door.
Outside the temple is one of Chéngdū's three rebuilt 'old' neighbourhoods, where the narrow streets are lined with teahouses, snack stalls and shops. Touristy, yes, but still fun for a quick wander.
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Hóngfú Temple
Located inQiánlíng Parkin the north of the city, Hóngfú Temple is perched near the top of 1300m Qiánlíng Shān and dates back to the 17th century. It's an easy 40-minute walk to the temple, or there's a cable car. The monastery has a vegetarian restaurant in the rear courtyard. From the train station area, take bus 2.
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Chénxiānggé Nunnery
Sheltering a community of around 40 dark-brown-clothed nuns, this gorgeous yellow-walled temple is a tranquil portal to a devout existence far from the city's frantic temporal realm. Climb the Guanyin Tower at the rear hall to view an exquisite statue of Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion.
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