Temple sights in Asia
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Wat Pho Chai
Luang Po Phra Sai, a large Lan Xang–era Buddha image awash with gold, bronze and precious stones, sits at the hub of Nong Khai's holiest temple. The head of the image is pure gold, the body is bronze and the ùt·sà·nít (flame-shaped head ornament) is set with rubies. Due to a great number of dubious miracles people attribute to it, this royal temple is a mandatory stop for most visiting Thais.
Luang Po Phra Sai was one of three similar statues made for each of the daughters of Lao King Setthathirat, and they were taken as bounty after King Rama I sacked Vientiane in 1778. The murals in the bòht depict their travels from the interior of Laos to the banks of the…
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Druk Choeding
Also known as Tshongdoe Naktshang, the quiet and peaceful Druk Choeding is the town temple. It was built in 1525 by Ngawang Chhogyel (1465–1540), one of the prince-abbots of Ralung in Tibet and an ancestor of the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The main statue is of a seated Jampa (future Buddha). Also present are the local protectors Gyenyen, Jichu Drakey and Hong Gyelri, surrounded by a fearsome collection of old Bhutanese shields and weapons.
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Wat Salaloi
The city's most interesting temple was supposedly founded by Thao Suranari and her husband in 1827. Half of her ashes are interred in a small stupa here (the other half is at her monument) and so there are also singing troupes on hire to perform for her spirit here. A small statue of the heroine sits praying in the pond in front of the temple's award-winning bòht (chapel). Built in 1967, it resembles a Chinese junk and holds several unusual Buddha images, including one with nine faces and a large gleaming white one in a 'calming the ocean' posture. It, along with several other buildings, is decorated with Dan Kwian pottery.
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Wat Phra That Phanom
This temple is a potent and beautiful place; even if you're feeling templed-out, you'll likely be impressed. At its hub is a tâht, more impressive than any in present-day Laos and highly revered by Buddhists from both countries. Many people believe that visiting seven times will bring them prosperity and happiness so it's something of a pilgrimage site.
The tâht is 53.6m high, and a five-tiered, 16kg gold umbrella laden with precious gems adds 4m more to the top. Many Thais believe that the Lord Buddha travelled to Thailand and directed that one of his breast-bone relics be enshrined in a chedi to be built on this very site: and so it was in 535 BC, eight years after his…
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Lin Fung Temple
Once Taoist but now dedicated to Kun Iam, this temple (c 1592) was where people from Guǎngdōng province stayed when they visited Macau, including Lin Zexu, the commissioner charged with stamping out the opium trade. There’s a Lin Zexu Memorial Hall.
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Nánpǔtuó Temple
On the southern side of Xiàmén, this Buddhist temple was originally built over a millennium ago but has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Its latest incarnation dates to the early 20th century, and today it's an active and busy temple with chanting monks and worshippers lighting incense.
The temple is fronted by a lovely lotus-flower-filled lake. In front of the courtyard is the twin-eaved Big Treasure Hall (Dàxióng Bǎodiàn), presided over by a trinity of Buddhas representing his past, present and future forms. Behind rises the eight-sided Hall of Great Compassion (Dàbēi Diàn), in which stands a golden 1000-armed statue of Guanyin, facing the four directions.
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Wat Pa Sutthawat
The grounds of Wat Pa Sutthawat, on the southwestern outskirts of town, are essentially a shrine to two of Thailand's best-known monks. Most famous of all is Luang Pu (Ajahn) Man Bhuridatto, who helped found the temple but didn't live here until just before his death in 1949. The final resting place of Ajahn Man's personal effects, the Ajahn Man Museum, looks a bit like a modern Christian church, with arches and etched-glass windows. A bronze image of Ajahn Man sits on a pedestal at the back and relics that remained after his cremation are in a glass box in front.
Luang Pu (Ajahn) Lui Chanthasaro, who died in 1989, was one of Ajahn Man's most famous students, and King Rama…
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Wat Phra That Nong Bua
The richly adorned 55m chedi at this temple loosely resembles the Mahabodhi stupa in Bodhgaya, India. It's the only square stupa in Ubon Province unless you count the older one it was built over (you can enter to see the original between 8am and 6pm) or the four similar but smaller ones at the corners. Some of the jataka reliefs covering its exterior are quite expressive and two groups of four niches on each side of the chedi contain Buddhas standing in stylised Gupta or Dvaravati closed-robe poses. The temple is on the outskirts of town; to get there, take sŏrng·tăa·ou 10.
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Tōkei-ji
Across the railway tracks from Engaku-ji, Tōkei-ji is famed as having served as a women's refuge. A woman could be officially recognised as divorced after three years as a nun in the temple precincts. Today, there are no nuns; the grave of the last abbess can be found in the cemetery, shrouded by cypress trees.
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Wat Supatanaram
Called Wat Supat for short, the unique bòht at this riverside temple, built between 1920 and 1936, features a Thai roof, European arches and a Khmer base. And, in contrast to other temple structures of the region, it's made entirely of stone. In front is a wooden bell, reputed to be the largest in the world.
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Wat Phuak Hong
This neighbourhood wát, located behind Suan Buak Hat (Buak Hat Park), contains the locally revered Chedi Si Pheuak. The chedi is more than 100 years old and features the 'stacked spheres' style seen only here and at Wat Ku Tao, and most likely influenced by Thai Lü chedi in China's Xishuangbanna (also spelled Sipsongpanna) district, Yunnan.
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Wat Chai Wattanaram
Just 40 years ago this temple was immersed in thick jungle. Today it is one of Ayuthaya's most-photographed sites thanks to its impressive Khmer-style central prang, which stands 35m high. Built in 1630 by King Prasat Thong, the temple is a great place to watch sunsets. The site is west of the island and can be reached on bicycle via a nearby bridge.
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Wat Phra Si Sanphet
The three chedi (stupas) at Wat Phra Si Sanphet are perhaps the most iconic image in Ayuthaya. Built in the late 14th century, it was the city's largest temple and was used by several kings. It once contained a 16m-high standing Buddha (Phra Si Sanphet) covered with 250kg of gold, which was melted down by Burmese conquerors.
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Kun Iam Temple
Dating back four centuries, Kun Iam Temple is Macau’s oldest and most interesting temple. The likeness of Kun Iam, the Goddess of Mercy, is in the main hall; to the left of the altar and behind glass is a statue of a bearded arhat rumoured to represent Marco Polo. The first treaty of trade and friendship between the USA and China was signed at round stone table in the temple’s terraced gardens in 1844.
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Kenchō-ji
Established in 1253, Kencho-ji is Japan's oldest Zen monastery and is still active today. It once comprised seven buildings and 49 subtemples, most of which were destroyed in the fires of the 14th and 15th centuries. However, the 17th and 18th centuries saw its restoration, and you can still get a sense of its splendour. The central Butsuden (Buddha hall) was brought piece by piece from Tokyo in 1647. Its Jizō Bosatsu statue, unusual for a Zen temple, reflects the valley's ancient function as an execution ground – Jizō consoles lost souls. Other highlights include a bell cast in 1253 and the juniper grove, believed to have sprouted from seeds brought from China by…
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Wat Thammikarat
To the west of Wat Ratburana, this temple is a pleasant place to sit among the ruins. The most prominent feature is a central chedi surrounded by singha (guardian lion) sculptures. Local people believe that the temple predated the Ayuthaya period, a claim unsupported by architectural evidence.
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Wat Si Mongkhon Tai
According to one of the many legends associated with it, this temple's 2m-tall Phra Chao Ong Luang Buddha image is older than the city itself and was unearthed during Mukdahan's construction. The ceramic-encrusted northern gate was built as a gesture of friendship by the city's large Vietnamese community in 1954.
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Zangto Pelri Lhakhang
This private chapel, built in the 1990s by Dasho Aku Tongmi, a musician who composed Bhutan's national anthem, is southwest of the weekend market. It's beside the older Mani Dungkhar Lhakhang and is a replica of Guru Rinpoche's celestial abode. Inside is an array of large 4m-high statues, including several Guru Rinpoches. Look for the elephant skull in a box – reputedly unearthed while digging the foundations.
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Wat Burapha
The enormous standing Buddha towering above Roi Et's squat skyline is Phra Phuttha Ratana Mongkon Mahamuni (Luang Po Yai for short), the main attraction at this temple. Despite being of little artistic significance, it's hard to ignore. Head to toe he stands 59.2m, and from the ground to the tip of the ùt·sà·nít it's 67.8m.
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Hung Shing Temple
Nestled in a nook on the southern side of Queen’s Rd East, this narrow, dark and rather forbidding temple is built atop huge boulders. It was erected in honour of a deified Tang-dynasty official who was known for his virtue (important) and ability to make predictions of great value to traders (ultra-important).
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Ryōsen-Ji
About 700m south of Izukyū Shimoda Station is Ryōsen-ji, which is now famous as the site where Commodore Perry and representatives of the Tokugawa shōgunate signed a treaty whose conditions (favourable to the US, of course) supplemented those outlined in the Treaty of Kanagawa, which was signed, in 1854.
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Pou Tai Temple
This is the largest temple complex on the islands. The main hall, dedicated to the Three Precious Buddhas, contains an enormous bronze statue of Lord Gautama, and there are prayer pavilions and orchid greenhouses scattered around the complex. There’s also a popular vegetarian restaurant.
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Wat U Mong
If you've never visited a forest wát, you should make the trek to this temple. Not only does it offer a secluded sylvan setting, considered an important component for meditation in the forest wát tradition, it is also famous for its interconnecting tunnels built underneath the main chedi terrace.
The temple was first used during Phaya Mengrai's rule in the 14th century. The brick-lined tunnels were allegedly fashioned around 1380 for the clairvoyant monk Thera Jan. The monastery was abandoned at a later date and wasn't reactivated until a local Thai prince sponsored a restoration in the late 1940s. The since-deceased Ajan Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a well-known monk and teacher…
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Sensō-ji
This temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of the nearby Sumida-gawa by two fishermen in AD 628. The image has remained on the spot ever since; the present structure dates from 1950.
When approaching Sensō-ji from Asakusa subway station, the entrance is via Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate). The gate's protector gods are Fūjin, the god of wind, on the right; and Raijin, the god of thunder, on the left.
Straight ahead is Nakamise-dōri, the temple precinct's shopping street, where everything from tourist trinkets to genuine Edo-style crafts is sold. Need a formal wig to wear with your…
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Wat Khunaram
Several temples have the mummified remains of pious monks, including Wak Khunaram, which is south of Rte 4169 between Th Ban Thurian and Th Ban Hua. Its monk, Luang Phaw Daeng, has been dead for over two decades but his corpse is preserved sitting in a meditative pose and sporting a pair of sunglasses.
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