Senso-ji, dedicated to the bodhisattva of compassion, Kannon, is metropolitan Tokyo’s oldest temple. Most of the temple was destroyed during Allied bombing raids in 1945 and rebuilt after the war. Senso-ji’s history dates back nearly 1400 years to 628 AD when, according to legend, two brothers were fishing in the nearby Sumida river and dragged […]
Todaiji, “Great Eastern Temple”, is one of Japan’s most famous and historically significant temples. Construction started in 728 AD and was completed in 752 AD. It served as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan until it grew so powerful that the capital had to be relocated from Nara to Nagaoka in […]
Capped by snow in winter, set against the lush green of summer, or enveloped in autumn foliage – nothing is as symbolic of Kyoto as Kinkaku-ji. Perhaps even more so, its golden reflection shimmering across the rippled surface of the pond before it. This temple has been destroyed by fire numerous times, in the conflagrations […]
Ryōan-ji, a Zen temple located northwest of Kyoto, eponymous with its more famous rock garden, is truly one of the most serene places on earth. The temple garden is considered to be the finest example of a kare-sansui, or zen rock garden, in Japan. It’s my favorite garden in the world. The garden is best […]
The allies had originally planned to drop the first atomic bomb on Kyoto. Kyoto was spared by the personal intervention of Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of War. Stimson wished to save this cultural center in which he spent his honeymoon. There are over 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines in Kyoto. It […]
I spent all morning trying to get one photo of the reclining Buddha without any tourists in the frame. I also tried to get in a few prayers without terribly disappointing those same tourists when they figured out I had not crawled down from the hilltops, grains of uncooked rice taped to my knees, to […]
You really can’t visit every wat (temple) in Chiang Mai. There are so many of them. It would sort of be like petting every cat in Istanbul or buying a baguette at every boulangerie in Paris. Or, riding every cable car in San Francisco, popping into every church in Rome…you get the picture. There are […]
Thanks to everyone who has taken this trip with me, for all your good intentions, love, and healing energy. I have carried you with me every step of the way as I’ve hoisted prayer flags and spun wheels, bowed for blessings, and reclaimed childhood lessons that were abandoned along the path to adulthood. Feel free […]
Chimi Lhakhang was built in 1499 after the site was blessed by the maverick saint Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529), also known as the Divine Madman. It is said that Lama Kunley subdued a demon of Dochu La with his “magic thunderbolt of wisdom” and trapped it in a nearby rock. He was known as the “Mad […]
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