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Tradition guide

Buddhism

Buddhist sacred sites trace the movement of teachings, relics, monastic communities, cave practice, stupas, temples, and pilgrimage routes across Asia and beyond.

737 sacred places share this lineage. Use the country links to narrow in.

Atlas summary

Buddhism sacred sites overview

Buddhism sacred sites connect places through shared lineage, ritual use, memory, and pilgrimage practice across the Pilgrim Map atlas.

Use this page to compare country clusters, common place types, UNESCO-tagged landmarks, and the map distribution before exploring individual site pages.

Buddhism sacred sites overview
Coverage737 Buddhism sacred places in the current atlas.
Country clusters
UNESCO heritage75 UNESCO-tagged Buddhism sites appear in this browse view.

Dates connected to Buddhism

Upcoming festivals, feast days, and pilgrimages tied to Buddhism. Add any to your calendar, or see the full observance calendar.

Showing 481-528 of 737 sites in this tradition guide

Ryoan-ji
Buddhism

Ryoan-ji

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Ryoan-ji in Kyoto holds the world's most celebrated Zen rock garden. Fifteen stones rest on raked white gravel, arranged so that from any viewing point, one remains hidden....

Ryōzen-ji
Buddhism

Ryōzen-ji

Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan

Ryōzen-ji is Temple 1 of the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage in Naruto, Tokushima. Pilgrims begin their 1,200-kilometer circuit here, buying white robes, conical hats, and...

Ryūseki-ji
Buddhism

Ryūseki-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Ryūseki-ji is the nineteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple whose hall sits not on a foundation but on a single mass of conglomerate...

Ryusen-ji Temple (Meguro Fudoson)
Buddhism

Ryusen-ji Temple (Meguro Fudoson)

Meguro City, Tokyo, Japan

Ryusen-ji Temple (Meguro Fudoson) (目黒不動尊 瀧泉寺) is an active Japanese Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Ryūshō-in
Buddhism

Ryūshō-in

Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Ryūshō-in — known locally as Namegawa Kannon — is the 28th station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage, a Tendai temple set among rice fields outside Narita....

Ryuukou-ji
Buddhism

Ryuukou-ji

Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Ryūkō-ji is the forty-first temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and one of its most visible cases of shinbutsu-shūgō, the older Japanese practice of holding kami and Buddha...

Ryūzō-ji
Buddhism

Ryūzō-ji

Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

Ryūzō-ji — Takitōzan Ryūzō-ji — is regarded as the oldest temple in Yamaguchi City, traditionally founded in 698 by En no Gyōja and 741 by Gyōki....

Saidai-ji (Okayama)
Buddhism

Saidai-ji (Okayama)

Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Saidai-ji Kannon-in opens the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in eastern Okayama. Founded in the eighth century around a Senju Kannon image said to have chosen this spot by...

Saidouji Temple
Buddhism

Saidouji Temple

Niimi, Okayama, Japan

Saidouji is a Soto Buddhist temple in the mountains of Niimi, known for its Koyasu Kannon and prayers for childbirth....

Saigoku-ji (Sōji-in)
Buddhism

Saigoku-ji (Sōji-in)

Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Saigoku-ji — full name Maniyama Sōji-in Saigoku-ji — sits on Mt. Atago above Onomichi's old port, ascended by 108 stone steps....

Saihō-ji
UNESCORinzai Zen Buddhism

Saihō-ji

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Scripture before moss in a garden formed by Zen attention. Saihō-ji remains an active Rinzai Zen Buddhism temple....

Saihoin
Buddhism

Saihoin

Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Saihōin is a small Pure Land nunnery in Taishi-chō, founded in 622 CE by three of Prince Shōtoku's nurse-attendants who shaved their heads after his death and built the...

Saikō-ji
Buddhism

Saikō-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Saikō-ji, sixteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Shingon Buzan-ha temple whose Senju (Thousand-Armed) Kannon is traditionally attributed to the Nara...

Saimyō-ji
Buddhism

Saimyō-ji

Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Saimyō-ji, station 20 of the Bandō Kannon pilgrimage, sits on the wooded slopes of Mt. Tokkō east of Mashiko....

Sairin-ji
Buddhism

Sairin-ji

Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Sairin-ji is the forty-eighth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and the Sekisho of Iyo, the spiritual checkpoint of the Iyo (Ehime) leg of the four-province circuit....

Saizen-ji
Buddhism

Saizen-ji

Yokoze, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Saizen-ji is the eighth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama. The Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji school sits at the northern foot of Mt....

Sajasan Beopheungsa
Korean Seon Buddhism

Sajasan Beopheungsa

Yeongwol, Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Sajasan Beopheungsa is a living Korean Buddhist temple with historic monastery remains in Yeongwol, South Korea....

Sakami-ji
Buddhism

Sakami-ji

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Izumi-shōzan Sagami-ji in Kasai, Hyōgo, was founded by imperial command in 745 after the priest Gyōki received an oracle from Sagami Myōjin, a local kami in the Sumiyoshi...

Sakya
Buddhism

Sakya

Tashigang, Tibet Autonomous Region, China

Sakya Monastery is the seat of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the four major schools, founded in 1073 by the Khon family, who trace their ancestry to...

Samhwasa Temple
Korean Buddhism

Samhwasa Temple

Donghae-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Samhwasa is small enough to be missed by people pressing deeper into Mureung Valley, yet its sacred field is unusually broad....

Samye
Buddhism

Samye

Samye, Tibet Autonomous Region, China

Samye is where Buddhism became institutionally rooted in Tibet, the place where a religion became a civilization....

Sanbutsu-ji
Buddhism

Sanbutsu-ji

Misasa, Tottori Prefecture, Japan

Sanbutsu-ji, the 31st station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits on Mt. Mitoku in Misasa, Tottori....

Sankaku-ji
Buddhism

Sankaku-ji

Shikokuchūō, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Sankaku-ji sits at roughly 450 metres above the industrial coast of Shikokuchūō, the sixty-fifth temple of the Shikoku 88 and the last of twenty-six temples in Ehime....

Sanuki Kokubun-ji
Buddhism

Sanuki Kokubun-ji

Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Temple 80 Sanuki Kokubun-ji in Takamatsu is the working successor to one of the eighth-century kokubunji — the provincial protection-temples ordered by Emperor Shōmu in...

Sanzen-in
Tendai Buddhism

Sanzen-in

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Amida devotion held within the moss and streams of Ohara. Sanzen-in remains an active Tendai Buddhism temple....

Satake-ji
Buddhism

Satake-ji

Hitachiōta, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Satake-ji is the 22nd Bandō station and the spiritual ward of the medieval Satake clan....

Sefuku-ji
Buddhism

Sefuku-ji

Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Sefuku-ji is station 4 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Katsuragi Shugendō / Mountain ascetic tradition temple in Osaka dedicated to Senju Kannon....

Seigan-ji
Buddhism

Seigan-ji

Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Seigan-ji is the head temple (sōhonzan) of the Jōdo Seizan Fukakusa branch, founded in Nara in 667 CE and relocated in 1591 to Kyoto's Shinkyōgoku entertainment district....

Seiganto-ji
Buddhism

Seiganto-ji

Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

Seiganto-ji stands at the head of the Saigoku 33-temple pilgrimage and at the foot of Nachi Falls, Japan's tallest single-drop cascade....

Seigantoji (Seiganto Temple)
Buddhism

Seigantoji (Seiganto Temple)

Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

High on Mt. Nachi in Wakayama Prefecture, the three-story vermillion pagoda of Seigantoji frames one of the most iconic views in Japan: the 133-meter Nachi Falls cascading...

Sekkei-ji
Buddhism

Sekkei-ji

Kōchi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

Sekkei-ji is the thirty-third stop on the Shikoku 88, founded by Kūkai in the early ninth century and later converted to Rinzai Zen as the bodaiji of the Chōsokabe warlord...

Sengaku-ji
Buddhism

Sengaku-ji

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan

Sengaku-ji (泉岳寺) is an active Soto Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Senkō-ji
Buddhism

Senkō-ji

Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Senkō-ji — full name Daihōzan Gongen-in Senkō-ji — clings to the mid-slope of Mt. Senkō above Onomichi harbor....

Sennyū-ji
Shingon Buddhism, Sennyū-ji school

Sennyū-ji

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Buddhist worship and imperial memorial care at the Mitera. Sennyū-ji remains an active Shingon Buddhism, Sennyū-ji school temple....

Sensō-ji
Buddhism

Sensō-ji

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

Sensō-ji, the Asakusa Kannon, is the thirteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Tokyo's oldest temple....

Senyū-ji
Buddhism

Senyū-ji

Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Senyū-ji crowns Mt. Sakurei south of Imabari, the 58th temple of the Shikoku 88....

Seokguram Grotto
UNESCOKorean Buddhism

Seokguram Grotto

Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea

Seokguram Grotto is an eighth-century Silla Buddhist sanctuary on Tohamsan, centered on a monumental seated Sakyamuni surrounded by stone reliefs....

Seonamsa Temple
UNESCOKorean Buddhism

Seonamsa Temple

Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, South Korea

Seonamsa begins well before its first hall. A roughly one-kilometre path passes through old forest to Seungseongyo, the arched stone bridge carried by natural bedrock....

Seongjusa Temple Site, Boryeong
Korean Seon Buddhist heritage

Seongjusa Temple Site, Boryeong

Boryeong, Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea

Seongjusa Temple Site, Boryeong is a protected archaeological temple site in Boryeong, South Korea....

Seosan Rock-carved Buddha Triad
Korean Buddhism

Seosan Rock-carved Buddha Triad

Sosan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea

The Seosan Rock-carved Buddha Triad is a protected Baekje-period Buddhist monument near the Bowonsa landscape....

Seruvila Mangala Raja Maha Vihara
Buddhism

Seruvila Mangala Raja Maha Vihara

Seruvila, Seruvila, Trincomalee District, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka

Seruvila Mangala Raja Maha Vihara is a documented temple in Seruvila, Trincomalee District, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, connected with Buddhism....

Shambhala Energy Centre at Khamar Monastery
Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia

Shambhala Energy Centre at Khamar Monastery

Sainshand, Dornogovi, Mongolia

Within Dornogovi, Shambhala Energy Centre at Khamar Monastery is recorded as a sacred site connected to Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia....

Shankh Monastery
Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia

Shankh Monastery

Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai, Mongolia

Shankh Monastery, also recorded as Baruun Khüree, is a monastery in Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai....

Shanti Stupa, Pokhara
Buddhism

Shanti Stupa, Pokhara

Pokhara, Gandaki Province, Nepal

On a ridge above Phewa Lake, the brilliant white World Peace Pagoda commands views that span from Pokhara's lakeside to the Annapurna massif....

Shasui Falls
Esoteric Buddhism and mountain asceticism

Shasui Falls

Yamakita, Kanagawa, Japan

Shasui Falls in Yamakita is remembered as a place of Buddhist water austerities....

Shey Gompa (Shey Palace)
Buddhism

Shey Gompa (Shey Palace)

Shey, Karnali Province, Nepal

At 4,200 meters in Nepal's Upper Dolpo, Shey Gompa sits beneath Crystal Mountain—known as the Kailash of Dolpo....

Shibamata Taishakuten
Buddhism

Shibamata Taishakuten

Katsushika City, Tokyo, Japan

Shibamata Taishakuten (柴又帝釈天) is an active Nichiren Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Shido-ji
Buddhism

Shido-ji

Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Shido-ji stands beside Shido Bay on the Sanuki coast as the eighty-sixth temple of the Shikoku circuit....

Showing 481-528 of 737 sites

Key questions

Buddhism sacred-site questions

What are Buddhism sacred sites?

Buddhism sacred sites are places connected by shared lineage, practice, memory, ritual use, or pilgrimage tradition.

Where can I find Buddhism sacred sites?

The strongest country clusters in this guide include Japan, Thailand, South Korea, China, Bhutan, Vietnam.

What kinds of places are included?

The guide includes sacred landscapes, pilgrimage places, and ritual or historical sites where available.

Can I map Buddhism sacred sites?

Yes. Compare country clusters and physical forms first, then open individual pages for coordinates, historical context, and visitor guidance.