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Buddhist Temples & Buddha Shrine

Buddha temples and pagodas always give a real exotic and mysterious touch it wont matter where you are, they dominate the rural landscape in Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar or Burma, Tibet, India etc.

In Asia they are almost everywhere, in towns, on the banks of a river and sometimes right in rivers and on islands in the seas. This oriental structures always shows the deep dedication to Buddhism. In recent years people create garden temple and pagodas for

decorative purposes. Perched atop hills and mountains, gleaming golden or glinting white in the sunlight and symbolizing the firm faith in Theravada Buddhism. The buildings are almost always of golden, yellow or white color, they are constantly renovated to get away with the damages of the monsoon floods and to gain merit.

A Buddha temple

has a similar appearance in every country, there are different shapes in different countries such as China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, Myanmar or elsewhere, but they are always immediately recognized. There is also a difference how the Buddha is depicted plus the environ and decorations such as snakes and colors. The face of the sculpture is also different depending on the country.

They have their origins in the caves of the very early days in India, means this building has a hollow structure to allow to enter. Over time the structures grew more sophisticated expanding into rooms and passageways. Most sacral buildings in south east Asia are pagodas which are solid structures without the possibility to enter.

A Pagoda layout is usually square, five sided or octagonal. Enshrined in it are relics or a image or figure of the Buddha, scriptures and sometimes donated precious items. The structure is always terraced and has a bell shaped top, the terraces symbolize the slopes of the holy mountain Mt. Meru, the abode of Hindu gods. The stupa is a symbol of the Buddha and functions as a structure encasing relicts.

Another version is the zedi. This is a rudiment of the original four-square temples. The zedi consists of a pyramidal or polygonal base with niches for images and statues.

The first structures of communal devotion date from the second and first centuries BC when monks in western India began to create cave pagodas for this purpose. This type of architecture was so useful and simple that this was the best choice. In some cases, as at Dunhuang in China's Gansu province, a wooden facade was placed in front of the entrance to the caves or the rock was carved in imitation of a wooden construction.

In the religious architecture there were thus two types of building, the meditation hall, which was a development of the monk's cell, and the stupa or reliquary monument. At first these two types were distinct, but when the temples at Karli and Bhaja in western India were built some three or four centuries after the death of the Buddha, they merged into a single construction.

Two types of architecture developed, cave pagodas hewn out of the rock and precincts containing temples, a monastery and a stupa, developed in the oases on the Silk Road in China which became focal points of Buddha oriented culture.

Rock-cut Buddha shrines such as those at Yunkang in China's Shanxi province and Powintaung in Myanmar are often called "caves of a thousand Buddha's" (a term which distinguishes them from temples in the strict sense) owing to their rows of stone staues carved from the cliff face or just statues placed into the cave.

The first sacral buildings were the burial mound housing the relics of the spiritual master, Gautama Buddha, the "Enlightened One", who lived in the fifth century BC in northern India. As a cosmic symbol, this stupa was a hemispherical construction surmounted by a mast and surrounded by a circular balustrade with a gateway at each of the four cardinal points.

Crowning the structure were a number of discs corresponding to the celestial domains of other worlds. Later they were conical or shaped like a four-sided pyramid. Later still tower-like structures were built also in China.

The first communities had neither meditation halls nor fixed abode. The monks lived as wandering preachers of the who renounced possessions and begged for their food and the traditional holy men of India.

Buddha temples at Bagan Myanmar

Statues at the Ananda Temple Bagan

Dhammayangyi Temple in the Center

Shwezigon Pagoda

is a gigantic and majestic structure at Bagan. This massive structure with several small towers indicating a fortress. Visible already from far away, the real spectacular view is from the Irrawaddy river in the evening when the golden Shwezigon Pagoda is immersed in a golden aura. The sound of the gong comes from somewhere and someone bangs the bell after the prayer. Myanmar or Burma has several monuments of this gigantic size at different locations in the country. Notably Bagan, Yangon or Rangoon, Bago Mandalay, Mrauk U and other places.

The most typical is,

a tiered structure with a bell like top. Pictures are most typically shown of remote mountain sites which seem particularly appropriate to the silent inner quest, the meditation and renunciation which are characteristic.

In some inner cities such as the Shwedagon complex, upper picture right at Yangon, the Mahamuni at Mandalay, the Shwezigon at Bagan, upper picture right, plus hundreds others all over Asia. The beautiful buildings are real landmarks popping into the scenery in most part of Myanmar or Burma, Thailand and Cambodia. At Nepal, Japan, China they look a little bit different.

The buildings are usually shared by monks who live there permanently and members of the lay community. It is also common that people join a monastery for a limited period. Many monasteries function

Pagoda picture from Yangon Burma

Monastery at Sale Bagan Myanmar

as schools and also as orphanages, in particular in Myanmar or Burma where they have a broad social function.

This is different to Christianity where there always is a distinction between cathedrals and churches which are built in the center of a community and monasteries which are built elsewhere. A monastery complex is the product of a long period of development and usually nurtured by donations.

In early Buddhism, the religious ideal was exclusively by communities of monks. It was in India, the cradle, that monks and public first began to share monastic precincts. This structures were also raised in the Tang dynasty in China during the seventh and eighth centuries AD.

In central and south east Asia some

are just a quadrangular pillar, each face of which may be adorned with a statue of the Buddha, who is often flanked by attendants. Buildings of this kind express the ancient link, which originated in India, between the symbolic monument and the sacred image.

At the same time, the cave walls were gradually covered with art paintings and murals illustrating scenes from the lives.

Some of the most exotic shrines have been built in Myanmar or Burma. There are two particular marvelous, among plenty of other, one at Yangon, that's the Shwedagon and another at Bagan, that's the Shwezigon.

The interesting aura around is not only the sacral monument but also the whole precinct with dozens of smaller shrines having different legends and purposes.

There is a magical touch nobody can escape, its just great, I would say its one one the destinations everyone must see during his life, otherwise he or she missed something! A Burma

Temple Layout	Temple Cross Section
Pagoda or Stupa Layout	Pagoda or Stupa Cross Section
Because of the new policy from the major search engine that when text goes together with pictures they penalize the page we have separated both, for the Buddhist Temple Pictures check here.

This shrines have always an impressive structure. It is really necessary to point out that its not the fault of the Myanmar peoples and their sacred world that they hade a military regime.

Unfortunately, as usual, the politicians in the the so called "west" impose all kind of silly sanctions which were very contra productive and hurt the people since many took this sanctions serious and have been boycotting the country, what they don't know is what they missed, because there is more culture than in the whole UK & US.

A typical Thai shrine

is Wat Chalong in Phuket Thailand or Chai Tararam, is the most famous temple on the island.

The structure is rather modern styling with a lot of beautiful decoration elements but the basic structure and overall architecture is very similar to Wat Benchamabopit (19 century) in Bangkok, it also show some structure elements from originally Khmer architecture.

Northern Thai Lanna Style Shrine

Some other impressive buildings within the temple compound are a showcase of Thai workmanship. Thailand has also many other sacral buildings in Lanna style, mainly at Chiang Mai and other places in northern Thailand.

This are very decorative wooden structures which are a real optical pleasure, something different by any means but shine in real Buddhist art tradition of Thailand's northern region.

This are masterpieces of Thai workmanship including Buddhist symbols and in particular Thai white elephants which are a very positive symbol in Thailand and Myanmar or Burma the pictures of Buddhist temples are telling more.

Buddha temple precinct Chiang Mai Old Town

Buddhist shrine in Cambodia

Khmer temples

and monasteries are very similar to Thai architecture, they have the same origin. The pictures at the right and left side side are at Phnom Chisor about 2 hours drive south of Phnom Penh. A couple of km to the north is the ancient Khmer temple site of Tonle Bati. Phnom Chisor and Tonle Bati are a excellent daytrip destination out of Phnom Penh, they are from the same time as Angkor Wat.

Buddha shrine and monastery

Many Buddha temples are only a few decades old but also impressive buildings. The area south of Phnom Penh is dominated by huge paddy fields and monasteries.

Shite-thaung Temple Mrauk U

In Myanmar and Indonesia

this monuments are somehow different in architecture such as Borobudur in Indonesia, a ninth-century Mahayana temple. There are monuments at Mrauk U in north west Myanmar which is very similar in architecture as the one in Borobudur.

Another magnificent huge shrine cum monastery is the Thambuddhe temple at Monywa in central Myanmar or Burma. Beside of the above mentioned structures there is the Mahamuni in