Buddhism

Giant Buddhas carved into sandstone walls line this Laotian motorbike route.

This compact temple is filled with garlands of colorful balls that represent restrained monkeys.

A giant statue of the Buddhist goddess of mercy watches over the town of Ōfuna.

Time and local lore colluded to turn this fear-defeating Buddha into a man-eating demon.

An old woman cured cholera in the 1820s and now her grave is said to be the city’s most cursed object.

In the former treasury of a popular temple, a rare sculptural depiction of Kannon’s diverse avatars.

For but one summer in 1975, this rural suburb became a busy tourist spot when a local girl claimed to have seen ghostly faces on an old stele.

A complex of ancient Buddhist rock-cut caves with a large, well preserved prayer hall.

Get to know the plant-based fare of Chinese Buddhist monks.

Feast your eyes on the centuries-old statues of the judges of hell.

This Theravada Buddhist temple is a peaceful oasis steeped in history.

A rare public effigy of “the Embracing Kangiten,” the erotic Japanese equivalent of Hindu god Ganesha.

The alleged site of the months-long imprisonment of a Japanese prince.

All that remains of Okinawa's royal temple are a restored gateway and a tall banyan tree.

At a museum dedicated to the millenia-old rites and art of Buddhism, the Buddha's reputed tooth is held as an object of worship.

An eclectic temple with Chinese architecture, Korean lion-dogs, an Indian god and a legendary 700-year-old tree.

Hidden in a cave on a small Taiwanese island, a stalagmite reported to look like the bodhisattva Guanyin.

A relatively young Buddhist temple on hilltop, dedicated to a statue relocated from Mount Atago.