Sacred Places
85 places found
Multi-faithMount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar
Ngari Prefecture · China · sacred natural site
The unclimbed 6,638 m peak of western Tibet, held holy by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bonpos alike, circled by the 53 km kora beside the sacred freshwater of Lake Mansarovar.
BuddhismPagoda of Chengtian Temple
Yinchuan · People's Republic of China · pagoda
An eleven-storey octagonal brick pagoda in Yinchuan, Ningxia, the tallest pagoda in the region, first raised in 1050 CE under the Western Xia dynasty to enshrine relics of the Buddha and rebuilt in its present form in 1820.
BuddhismPagoda of Cishou Temple
Beijing · People's Republic of China · pagoda
A densely tiered Ming dynasty pagoda of 1576 in Beijing's Haidian district, its carved brick and stone Sumeru base among the most elaborate surviving on any pagoda of the period, now standing alone in a public park since the Temple that surrounded it was destroyed.
BuddhismParinirvana Temple
Kushinagar · India · stupa
The shrine at Kushinagar marking the ground where the Buddha died and entered parinirvana, sheltering a six-metre gilded reclining Buddha carved in the fifth century.
BuddhismPemayangtse Monastery
Pelling · India · monastery
Perched on a ridge in western Sikkim with views toward Khangchendzonga, Pemayangtse is among the oldest and most revered Nyingma monasteries in the Himalaya, its name meaning Perfect Sublime Lotus.
BuddhismPhensang Monastery
Phodong · India · monastery
A Nyingma Buddhist monastery on a forested ridge above Phodong in North Sikkim, founded in 1721 and home today to one of the largest gatherings of monks of any monastery in the state.
BuddhismRelic Stupa of Vaishali
Vaishali · India · stupa
The Relic Stupa of Vaishali is the oldest stupa yet identified through archaeological excavation, raised in brick and clay by the Licchavi people to enshrine a portion of the Buddha's own relics after his parinirvana. Today it rests within a simple domed shelter on the Bihar plain, its waterlogged core still bearing the outline of the shrine the Licchavis built.
BuddhismRinchenpong Monastery
Rinchenpong · India · monastery
Rinchenpong Monastery is an eighteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery set on a ridge above the villages of Rinchenpong and Kaluk in west Sikkim, the third oldest gompa in Sikkim and home to a rare image of the Adi-Buddha in Yab-Yum union. Prayer flags and spinning wheels line its approach, and novice monks still study within its halls.
BuddhismRumtek Monastery
Gangtok · India · monastery
Rumtek, the Dharma Chakra Centre, is the Karma Kagyu lineage's principal seat in exile, rebuilt in the Sikkim hills by the sixteenth Karmapa after his flight from Tibet, and today the largest monastery in Sikkim.
BuddhismSenso-ji
Tokyo · Japan · temple
Tokyo's oldest Temple, founded in 628 around a golden Kannon netted from the Sumida River and never shown since, entered through the great red lantern of the Kaminarimon.
BuddhismShanti Stupa
Leh · India · stupa
A white-domed peace pagoda crowning a hilltop above Leh, built in 1991 by a Japanese Buddhist monk to mark twenty-five centuries of the Buddha's teaching, enshrining relics of the Buddha at its base.
BuddhismShwedagon Pagoda
Yangon · Myanmar (Burma) · pagoda
Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist pagoda: a 99 m gilded zedi on Singuttara Hill above Yangon, believed to enshrine relics of four Buddhas, including eight hairs from the head of Gautama Buddha.