Buddhist Temple sights in Asia
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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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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…
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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…
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Longshan Temple
Religious life in Taiwan is alive and kicking seven days a week at Longshan Temple. Though not the biggest temple in the city, there is something unique and beautiful about the vibe at Longshan that keeps people coming back.
The temple dates back to 1738. As the story goes, a passer-by left an amulet of Guanyin (goddess of mercy) hanging on a tree on the site of the present temple, and the amulet shone so brightly, even after dark, that all who passed by knew the site was blessed. Nearly three centuries later, the spot still exudes a certain warmth. The stones that line the courtyard of the temple were originally ballast on the ships that ferried immigrants from Fujian…
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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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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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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…
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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)…
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Wat Benchamabophit
Inside and out, this temple is one of the most unusual, and most extravagant, in the kingdom. Built at the turn of the century on the orders of Rama V, the bòht (chapel) is made of white Carrara marble (hence its alternative name, ‘Marble Temple’) imported from Italy especially for the job. This structure is a prime example of modern Thai temple architecture, as is the interior design, which melds Thai motifs with European influences: the red carpets, the gold-on-white motifs painted repetitively on the walls, the walls painted like stained-glass windows and the royal blue wall behind the central Buddha image are strongly reminiscent of a European palace. It's not all…
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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…
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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…
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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 (Wat Bowon) is the national headquarters for the Thammayut monastic sect, a reformed version of Thai Buddhism. Rama IV (King Mongkut; r 1851–68), who set out to be a scholar, not a king, founded the Thammayuts and began the royal tradition of ordination at this temple. In fact, Mongkut was the abbot of Wat Bowon for several years. Rama IX (King Bhumibol Adulyadej; r 1946–present) and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, as well as several other males in the royal family, have been ordained as monks here. Because of its royal status, visitors should be particularly careful to dress properly for admittance to this wát – shorts and sleeveless clothing…
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Wat Chedi Sao
Located about 6km north of town, via Th Pamaikhet, this temple is named for the sow (northern Thai for 20) whitewashed Lanna-style chedi on its grounds. But the wát's real treasure is a solid-gold, 15th-century seated Buddha on display in a glassed-in pavilion, built over a square pond. The image is said to contain a piece of the Buddha's skull in its head and an ancient Pali-inscribed golden palm leaf in its chest; precious stones decorate the image's hairline and robe. A farmer reportedly found the figure next to the ruins of nearby Wat Khu Kao in 1983. Monks stationed at Wat Chedi Sao make and sell herbal medicines; the popular yah mòrng is similar to tiger balm.
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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…
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Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao
From 1436 to 1468, this wát was among four in northern Thailand to previously house the Emerald Buddha (now in Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew). The main chedi shows Hariphunchai influence, while the adjacent mon·dòp (the small square, spired building in a wát) was built in 1909. The mon·dòp, decorated with glass mosaic in typical Burmese style, contains a Mandalay-style Buddha image. A display of Lanna artefacts (mostly religious paraphernalia and woodwork) can be viewed in the wát's Lanna Museum.
Adjacent to the temple complex, pretty Wat Suchadaram dates back to 1809 and is named after Mae Suchada, the central figure in a local legend.
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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…
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Wat Phra That Chang Kham
This is the second-most important temple in the city after Wat Phra That Chae Haeng. The founding date is unknown, but the main wí·hăhn, reconstructed in 1458, has a huge seated Buddha image and faint murals that have been partially recovered. (Sometime in the mid-20th century an abbot reportedly ordered the murals to be whitewashed because he thought they were distracting worshippers from concentrating on his sermons!)
Also in the wí·hăhn is a set of Lanna-period scrolls inscribed (in Lanna script) not only with the usual Buddhist scriptures but with the history, law and astrology of the time. A tam·mâht (a 'dhamma seat' used by monks when teaching) sits to one…
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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…
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Wat Saket
Wat Saket contains murals that are among both the most beautiful and the goriest in the country; proceed directly to the pillar behind the Buddha statue for explicit depictions of Buddhist hell. In November there’s a festival in the grounds that includes an enchanting candlelight procession up the Golden Mount.
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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…
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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…
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