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.
413 sacred places share this lineage. Use the country and site-type filters 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.
| Coverage | 413 Buddhism sacred places in the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Country clusters | |
| Common place types | |
| UNESCO heritage | 21 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 49-96 of 413 sites in this tradition guide
Daiji-ji (大慈寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Daiji-ji, the tenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Sōtō Zen temple founded in 1490 in the Yokoze hills....
Daikō-ji (大興寺)
Mitoyo, Mitoyo, Kagawa, Japan
Daikō-ji, also known as Komatsuoji, sits in farmland on a low hill in Mitoyo, Kagawa....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Itano, Itano, Tokushima, Japan
Dainichi-ji is Temple 4 of the Shikoku 88, in Itano, Tokushima. It enshrines Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha at the center of Shingon esotericism....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan
Dainichi-ji stands directly across the road from Awa Ichinomiya Shrine, the highest-ranked Shintō shrine of Awa Province....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Kōnan, Kōnan, Kōchi, Japan
Dainichi-ji enshrines Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha at the centre of Shingon doctrine, in a wooded precinct in rural Kōnan....
Daisen-ji
Daisen, Japan
Daisen-ji, the 29th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits high on Mt. Daisen — at 1,729 meters the highest peak in the Chūgoku region....
Daiun-in
Tottori, Japan
Daiun-in in Tottori, the 33rd and final station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, is the route's manzanji — the place where pilgrim journeys complete....
Daxian Temple, Baihe
Baihe, Tainan City, Baihe, Tainan City, Taiwan
Daxian Temple traces its founding to a Guanyin statue the monk Canche could not lift once he set it down at the foot of Pillow Mountain in 1701 — a monastery that has...
Dewa Shrine and Mt. Haguro
Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Mount Haguro rises in Yamagata as the gateway to the Three Mountains of Dewa - Japan's most powerful journey of spiritual death and rebirth....
Dōji-dō (童子堂)
Chichibu, Japan
Dōji-dō is the twenty-second station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — literally 'Children's Hall,' a Shingon Buzan-ha temple where Kannon has been invoked for...
Dōjō-ji
Japan
Dōjō-ji is the oldest documented temple in Wakayama Prefecture, founded in 701 CE by the monk Gien at Emperor Monmu's command....
Dōryū-ji (道隆寺)
Tadotsu, Tadotsu, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 77 Dōryū-ji in Tadotsu is known on the Shikoku route as the Eye-Healing Yakushi (me-naoshi Yakushi)....
Drak Yerpa
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Drak Yerpa is a limestone cliff amphitheater northeast of Lhasa containing 108 meditation caves sanctified by twelve centuries of contemplative practice....
Drukyal Dzong
Nyechhu_Shar-ri, Paro District, Bhutan
Drukgyel Dzong stands at the head of the Paro Valley, built in 1649 to commemorate the Drukpa victory over a Tibetan-Mongol invasion....
Eifuku-ji
Japan
Eifuku-ji at Taishi-chō, Osaka, guards the tomb of Prince Shōtoku — Japan's foundational royal patron of Buddhism — alongside his mother and consort in a single circular...
Eifuku-ji (栄福寺)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, Japan
Eifuku-ji sits in a quiet bamboo and cedar grove on a low hill above Imabari, the 57th stop on the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage....
En'yū-ji (円融寺)
Chichibu, Japan
En'yū-ji is the twenty-sixth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Rinzai Zen temple of the Kenchō-ji branch with an unusual feature: the Iwai-dō, a stage-built...
Engyō-ji (圓教寺)
Himeji, Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan
Engyo-ji is station 27 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Hyogo dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....
Enkō-ji (Myō-ō-in)
Fukuyama, Japan
Enkō-ji, also known as Myō-ō-in, sits on Atago-yama above the Kusado Sengen archaeological site in Fukuyama, Hiroshima....
Enkōji (延光寺)
Sukumo, Sukumo, Kōchi, Japan
Enkō-ji is the thirty-ninth and final temple of the Tosa (Kōchi) section of the Shikoku 88, set in Sukumo....
Enmei-ji (延命寺)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, Japan
Temple 54 of the Shikoku henro is the first of six temples clustered around Imabari....
Enmyō-ji (圓明寺)
Matsuyama, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Temple 53 of the Shikoku henro is small, layered, and unusually plural. Its Shingon Hondō houses an Amida Nyorai principal image — uncommon for the school....
Enpuku-ji (圓福寺)
Chōshi, Japan
Enpuku-ji is the 27th Bandō station and the easternmost stop of the eastern Kannon circuit....
Enryaku-ji temple and Mt. Hiei
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Enryaku-ji stands as the root of Japanese Buddhism, the mountain monastery that trained the founders of virtually every major Buddhist school in Japan....
Entsū-ji
Kurashiki, Japan
Entsū-ji crowns a small mountain in Tamashima, Kurashiki, and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #7....
Erdene Zuu Monastery
Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia
Rising from the ruins of Genghis Khan's capital on the endless Mongolian steppe, Erdene Zuu Monastery marks the place where an empire of conquest transformed into a...
Fanjingshan mountain and temple, Tongren
Tongren, Guizhou, China
Rising from the primordial forests of Guizhou, Fanjingshan is China's Fifth Sacred Buddhist Mountain and the earthly throne of Maitreya, the Buddha yet to come....
Fujii-dera (葛井寺)
Fujiidera, Fujiidera, Osaka, Japan
Fujii-dera is station 5 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Omuro-ha temple in Osaka dedicated to Senju Kannon. Founded in the early 8th century....
Fujii-dera (藤井寺)
Yoshinogawa, Yoshinogawa, Tokushima, Japan
Fujii-dera sits at the foot of a steep mountain ridge in Yoshinogawa, the threshold temple before the most demanding stretch of the Shikoku 88....
Gakuen-ji (Ichijō-in)
Izumo, Japan
Gakuen-ji (Ichijō-in), the 25th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, occupies a steep forested ridge north of Izumo Taisha....
Ganden Monastery
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Ganden Monastery, founded by Tsongkhapa in 1409 on a mountain ridge east of Lhasa, is the mother monastery of the Gelug school — the largest institution in Tibetan...
Ganden-ji (岩殿寺)
Zushi, Japan
Ganden-ji — locally known as Iwadono Kannon — is the second station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, set on a hilltop above Zushi....
Gangteng Monastery
Gangteng, Wangdue Phodrang District, Bhutan
Gangteng Monastery commands a spur above the Phobjikha Valley at 3,000 metres, fulfilling a prophecy made by the treasure revealer Pema Lingpa....
Gankei-ji (元慶寺)
Kyoto City, Kyoto City, Kyoto, Japan
Gankei-ji is station bangai-gankei-ji on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Kyoto dedicated to Kannon....
Gaya-in
Japan
Gaya-in, formally Ōtanizan Daikei-ji Gaya-in, is one of Hyōgo's most important Honzan Shugendō temples — a Tendai-affiliated branch of mountain ascetic Buddhism....
Gōdo-ji (神門寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Gōdo-ji, eighteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Sōtō Zen temple whose name 'Divine Gate' (神門) commemorates a stand of sakaki trees that once formed...
Goka-dō (語歌堂)
Yokoze, Japan
Goka-dō is the fifth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Gokuraku-ji (極楽寺)
Naruto, Naruto, Tokushima, Japan
Gokuraku-ji is Temple 2 of the Shikoku 88, sitting 1.4 km southwest of Temple 1 in Naruto....
Gōshō-ji (郷照寺)
Utazu, Utazu, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 78 Gōshō-ji rises above the old port of Utazu on a hill overlooking the Seto Inland Sea....
Gumyō-ji (弘明寺)
Yokohama, Japan
Gumyō-ji, the Gumyōji Kannon, is the fourteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Yokohama's oldest temple....
Gyeongju Historic Area
Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, South Korea
For nearly a millennium, Gyeongju served as the capital of the Silla kingdom and the center of Korean Buddhism's golden age....
Gyōgan-ji (Kōdō) (行願寺)
Nakagyo-ku, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Gyōgan-ji (Kōdō) is station 19 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Miyako Shichifukujin temple in Kyoto dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Haiyin Temple, Kinmen
Jinhu, Kinmen County, Jinhu, Kinmen County, Taiwan
Haiyin Temple sits near the summit of Mount Taiwu, Kinmen's highest point, where a Song-dynasty folk shrine gradually became one of the island's most significant Buddhist...
Hanta-ji (繁多寺)
Matsuyama, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Temple 50 of the Shikoku henro stands on a wooded hillside above southern Matsuyama, its Yakushi Nyorai principal image attributed by tradition to the wandering monk Gyōki....
Hase-dera (長谷寺)
Sakurai, Sakurai, Nara, Japan
Hase-dera is station 8 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha temple in Nara dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....
Hase-dera (長谷寺)
Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Hase-dera in Kamakura is the fourth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — a hillside temple above Yuigahama beach famous for its Eleven-Headed Kannon, a 9.18-metre gilded...
Hashidate-dō (橋立堂)
Chichibu, Japan
Hashidate-dō — Sekiryū-zan Hashidate-dō — is the 28th station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple set beneath an eighty-metre limestone cliff in the...
Henshō-ji (Hōkai-in)
Okayama, Japan
Henshō-ji, also known as Hōkai-in, sits at the base of wooded Kongōsan in northern Okayama City....
Showing 49-96 of 413 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, China, Bhutan, Taiwan, Laos, India.
- What kinds of places are included?
- Common place types include temple, buddhist temple, monastery, sacred mountain, stupa, cave.
- Can I map Buddhism sacred sites?
- Yes. Compare country clusters and site types first, then open individual pages for coordinates, historical context, and visitor guidance.