In January 2012, one of my former students (at a Buddhist college) was installed as abbot of Kaiyuan Temple in Wuxi. Another student took my wife and me to see this stunning statue of Amitabha at Lingshan, standing 88 meters (289 feet) including the 9m lotus pedestal. Note the people on the stairs!
Posted to Reddit et al, March 16, 2025
The famous Wheel of Rebirth at Baodingshan Grottoes, near Dazu, Chongqing. Mara holds the wheel; Buddha is at the center, emanating six rays; the next ring's six sections represent the six Realms of Beings. It's supported by greed (an official), evil (a soldier), foolishness (a monkey), and lust (a woman).
Posted to Reddit et al, March 15, 2025
Just inside this door of the main hall at Ganlu Temple, bees had built a hive unmolested by the monks--ironic, as the temple's name means "sweet nectar." The hall is across a tiny courtyard from the aptly-named "Old Wood Building." It's the first significant temple you encounter on Jiuhuashan, Anhui.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 14, 2025
This cave at "Old Buddha Cave Heaven" (Gufo Dongtian) near Lechang, Guangdong, is believed to have once been a place for meditation. In his online paper "The other Neng," CJ Kuiken suggests it may have been frequented by Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen).
Posted to Reddit et al, March 13, 2025
This small Medicine Buddha is one of numerous new (at the time) statues at Donglin Temple, Jiujiang, Jiangxi. I visited in 2012, before the completion of the "Pure Land Garden" with its colossal Amitabha Buddha statue--at 157 feet (48 meters) said to be one of the tallest "of its kind" in the world.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 12, 2025
The lovely, very small main hall ("Da Xiong Bao Dian") at Guangzong Temple, Wutai Shan, Shanxi. The entire temple is sometimes called the "Tongwadian" or "Copper Roofed Hall" after the appearance of this building.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 11, 2025
The main gate of Ji-le Temple in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. The temple was built in 1922 by Master Tanxu during the re-Sinification of Harbin; it was built on the route to a number of foreign cemeteries, and the monks would go out and chant at funeral processions as they went past this gate!
Posted to Reddit et al, March 10, 2025
A hall at Guangxiao Temple in Putian, Fujian, contains 33 statues representing some of the myriad forms in which Guanyin can appear, depending on the needs of those he/she comes to save.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 9, 2025
The Great Buddha of Kamakura. This colossal figure of Amitabha Buddha is 13.35 meters (43.8 ft) tall including the base. Completed around 1252, it resided in a series of destroyed and rebuilt wooden halls until a tsunami swept the last one away in 1498. It has sat in the open air ever since.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 8, 2025
Tibetan stupas outside the gate of tiny Guangren Temple inside the walls of Xi'an. Princess Wencheng is honored here; she married a Tibetan King and is credited (by some) with bringing Buddhism to Tibet (or at least contributing to its development), along with the King's other wife, from Nepal.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 7, 2025
