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.
664 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.
| Coverage | 664 Buddhism sacred places in the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Country clusters |
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Showing 385-432 of 664 sites in this tradition guide
Niutsuhime Shrine
Katsuragi, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Niutsuhime Shrine (丹生都比売神社) is a major shrine of the Kii sacred landscape connected with Koyasan and reached on a documented branch or detour from Choishi-michi.
Nofuku-ji
Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Nōfuku-ji, founded by Saichō in 805 CE on his return from Tang China, is one of the oldest Tendai temples in the Hyōgo region....
Nosaka-ji
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Nosaka-ji, twelfth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch formed by the 1741 merger of an older Kannon-dō with...
Oka-dera
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Oka-dera is station 7 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha temple in Nara dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....
Okadera Buddhist Temple, Asuka
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In the ancient village of Asuka, Okadera Temple shelters Japan's largest clay statue—an 8th-century Nyoirin Kannon standing 4.85 meters tall....
Ōkubo-ji
Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Ōkubo-ji is the eighty-eighth and final temple of the Shikoku circuit, set in a deep valley at 450 metres between Mt. Yahazu and Mt. Nyotai near the Tokushima border....
Okunoin
Koya, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Okunoin, stands in Koya. At Okunoin, Kōyasan Shingon Buddhism guides custody. Prayer at Okunoin addresses Kōbō Daishi Kūkai in eternal meditation....
Ōmi-dō
Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Ōmi-dō is the 25th Bandō station and the sole institutional Buddhist successor of Tsukuba Daigongen — the syncretic Shinto-Buddhist complex that fused Kannon devotion with...
Ongaku-ji
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Ongaku-ji is the twenty-third station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch whose name means 'music.' Founded by tradition...
Onzan-ji
Komatsushima, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan
Onzan-ji, Temple 18 of the Shikoku 88, is the 'Temple of Gratitude.' It stands at the place where Kūkai's mother, Tamayori Gozen, became one of the first women admitted to...
Osore-zan Boto-ji
Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Osorezan, the mountain of fear, rises as one of Japan's three most sacred mountains....
Ōya-ji
Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Ōya-ji, station 19 of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, sits inside a natural rock-shelter overhang of Ōya tuff in Utsunomiya....
Paro National Museum
Hoongrel Gewog, Paro, Bhutan
The Paro National Museum occupies a seventeenth-century watchtower shaped like a conch shell, perched above Rinpung Dzong....
Penghu Guanyin Temple
Magong, Penghu County, Penghu County, Taiwan
Penghu Guanyin Temple has watched over Magong Harbor since 1696, when a Qing naval officer expanded a small waterside pavilion into the archipelago's first Buddhist temple....
Pha That Luang
Vientiane Capital, Vientiane, Laos
Pha That Luang, the great gold-covered stupa of Vientiane, is the holiest Buddhist monument in Laos and its national symbol....
Pharping
Kathmandu, Bagmati Province, Nepal
Twenty-three kilometers south of Kathmandu, the village of Pharping preserves caves where Guru Padmasambhava—the 'Second Buddha'—attained supreme enlightenment in the 8th...
Phimai Sanctuary
Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Phimai Sanctuary is the monumental center of an ancient Khmer city in northeast Thailand....
Phnum Kulen
Svay Leu District, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Phnom Kulen is the most sacred mountain in Cambodia, the place where Jayavarman II declared the founding of the Khmer Empire in 802 CE....
Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon
Khon Kaen, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon is the nine-storey stupa of Wat Nong Waeng in Khon Kaen....
Phra Pathom Chedi
Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Phra Pathom Chedi is the enormous central stupa of Wat Phra Pathom Chedi Ratchaworamahawihan....
Phra That Phanom
That Phanom, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand
Phra That Phanom is one of northeastern Thailand's most revered Buddhist reliquaries....
Phu Phra Bat Sacred Landscape
Ban Phue, Udon Thani, Thailand
Phu Phrabat is a sacred landscape rather than a single monument. Eroded sandstone shelters, prehistoric paintings, Dvaravati Sīma stones, and continuing Buddhist use...
Potala Palace
Chengguan District, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
The Potala Palace rises 117 meters above the Lhasa Valley on the Red Hill, named for Avalokiteshvara's mythical abode, Mount Potalaka....
Prasat Phnom Chisor
Srok Samraong, Takéo, Cambodia
Prasat Phnom Chisor rises 133 meters above the flat Takeo Province plain, a Khmer hilltop temple built in the early eleventh century by King Suryavarman I and originally...
Prasat Preah Vihear
Choam Ksant, Preah Vihear, Cambodia
Prasat Preah Vihear stretches 800 meters along the Dangrek escarpment at 525 meters elevation, a Khmer temple built across three centuries by successive kings who placed...
Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai
Uthumphon Phisai, Si Sa Ket, Thailand
Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai is a Khmer-period sanctuary enclosed within the grounds of a present Buddhist temple in Si Sa Ket....
Preah Khan of Kompong Svay
Sangkum Thmei, Preah Vihear, Cambodia
Preah Khan of Kompong Svay is an immense, multi-period temple-city near Phnom Dek whose monumental, settlement, and industrial landscape covers roughly 22 square...
Punakha Dzong
Yebisa, Punakha, Bhutan
Punakha Dzong stands at the confluence of the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu rivers, where Guru Rinpoche once prophesied a fortress would rise....
Quan Âm Pagoda, Chợ Lớn
Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Quan Âm Pagoda in Chợ Lớn is a communal temple and assembly hall centered on Avalokiteśvara....
Quan Âm Phật Đài
Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau, Vietnam
Quan Âm Phật Đài is a coastal Mahayana sanctuary in Bạc Liêu focused on Avalokiteśvara as Nam Hải Quan Âm....
Quan Thế Âm Pagoda
Ngũ Hành Sơn, Da Nang, Vietnam
Quán Thế Âm Pagoda is a Marble Mountains Buddhist sanctuary dedicated to Avalokiteśvara and associated with an annual festival of prayer and cultural practice....
Rakuhō-ji
Sakuragawa, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Rakuhō-ji is the 24th Bandō station, popularly known as Amabiki Kannon — the Rain-Drawing Kannon....
Rendai-ji
Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Rendai-ji crowns Mt. Yuga (270 m) above Kurashiki and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #6....
Rengeō-in (Sanjūsangen-dō)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Compassion multiplied along a hall of one thousand Kannon forms. Rengeō-in (Sanjūsangen-dō) remains an active Tendai Buddhism temple....
Rinnō-ji
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Rinnoji Temple stands as the Buddhist heart of Nikko's sacred landscape, founded in 766 CE by Shodo Shonin....
Rinpung Dzong
Hoongrel Gewog, Paro, Bhutan
Rinpung Dzong commands the Paro valley from behind whitewashed walls that have stood since 1646, built entirely without nails or steel....
Rokuharamitsu-ji
Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Rokuharamitsu-ji is station 17 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kūya nembutsu temple in Kyoto dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....
Rokuon-ji (Kinkaku-ji)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
A Buddhist reliquary of gold, reflection, rebuilding, and Zen custodianship. Rokuon-ji (Kinkaku-ji) remains an active Rinzai Zen Buddhism temple....
Ruri-ji
Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Funakoshi-san Nankōbō Ruri-ji is the FINAL station of the New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage....
Ruwanwelisaya
Anuradhapura, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Rising from the plains of Anuradhapura, Ruwanwelisaya was raised by King Dutugemunu in the 2nd century BCE to hold what tradition describes as one of the largest...
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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)
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...
Showing 385-432 of 664 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, Vietnam, Bhutan.
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.