Tradition guide
Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian
10 sacred sites available through this shared spiritual lineage.
Countries with strong presence
Common site types
Adam's Peak (Sri Pada)
Dalhousie, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka
Adam's Peak is a mountain of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 6.80964, 80.49939. Attributes: natural, cultural, pilgrimage. Tradition: Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian; also recognized in Interfaith contexts. Associated figure: Buddha, Shiva, Adam, St. Thomas. Mythological context: Footprint of Buddha, Shiva, Adam, St. Thomas.
Ajanta caves, Maharashtra
Phardapur, Maharashtra, India
Ajanta caves, Maharashtra is a cave of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 20.55186, 75.70325. Attributes: natural, cultural, archaeological, pilgrimage, ceremonial. Tradition: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain; also recognized in Interfaith contexts. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in Maharashtra, India.
Chimi Lhakhang
Oomtekha, Punakha District, Bhutan
Chimi Lhakhang is a monastery of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 27.52715, 89.87806. Attributes: built, cultural, pilgrimage, ceremonial. Tradition: Buddhist. Associated figure: Drukpa Kunley. Mythological context: Buddhist. Chimi Lhakhang (Dzongkha: ཁྱི་མེད་ལྷ་ཁང), also known as Chime Lhakhang or Monastery or temple, is a Buddhist monastery in Punakha District, Bhutan. Located near Lobesa, it stands on a round hillock and was founded and built in 1499 by the Drukpa Kagyu lama Ngawang Chogyal, who was the 14th abbot of Ralung Monastery. Due to its construction in the location where the demoness who turned into dog was subdued, the temple was named Chimi Lhakhang or Khimey Lhakhang. According to Lam Drukpa Kuenley s biography, the original name of the temple was Khibur/Chibur Lhakhang. Although Khi/Chi is a dog, bur refers to a stack or mound that was created after the tamed dog has been buried. The site was blessed by Ngawang Chogyal s cousin, Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529), who also built a chorten on the site. In preparing and blessing the site it is said that Lama Kunley subdued a demon of Dochu La with his magic thunderbolt of wisdom and trapped it in a rock at the location close to where the chorten now stands. He was known as the Mad Saint or “Divine Madman” for his unorthodox ways of teaching Buddhism by singing, humour and outrageous behaviour, which amounted to being bizarre, shocking and with sexual overtones. He is also the saint who advocated the use of phallus symbols as paintings on walls and as flying carved wooden phalluses on house tops at four corners of the eaves. The monastery is the repository of the original wooden symbol of phallus that Kunley brought from Tibet. This wooden phallus is decorated with a silver handle and is used to bless people who visit the monastery on pilgrimage, particularly women seeking blessings to beget children. The tradition at the monastery is to strike pilgrims on the head with a 10-inch (25 cm) wooden phallus (erect penis). Traditionally symbols of an erect penis in Bhutan have been intended to drive away the evil eye and malicious gossip. Located in Sobsokha Yuwakha Zhika, སྤུ་ན་ཁ་རྫོང་ཁག་, འབྲུགཡུལ་.
Choeje Dra Monastery
Gyaltsa, Bumthang District, Bhutan
Choeje Dra Monastery is a monastery of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 27.53390, 90.68731. Attributes: built, cultural, pilgrimage. Tradition: Buddhist. Located in Gyaltsa, བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་, འབྲུགཡུལ་.
Drak Yerpa
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Drak Yerpa is a hermitage of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 29.74284, 91.28027. Attributes: natural, cultural, pilgrimage. Tradition: Buddhist. Associated figure: Milarepa. Mythological context: Buddhist mythology. Located in 拉萨市 ལྷ་ས་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།, 西藏自治区 བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས།, China.
Drukyal Dzong
Nyechhu_Shar-ri, Paro District, Bhutan
Drukyal Dzong is a dzong of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 27.50332, 89.32214. Attributes: built, cultural, archaeological. Tradition: Buddhist. Located in Nyamjey_Phangdo, སྤ་རོ་རྫོང་ཁག་, འབྲུགཡུལ་.
Ellora caves, Maharashtra
Khuldabad, Maharashtra, India
Ellora caves, Maharashtra is a cave temple of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 20.02582, 75.17800. Attributes: built, cultural, archaeological, pilgrimage. Tradition: Hindu, Buddhist, Jain; also recognized in Interfaith contexts. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in Maharashtra, India.
Ganden Monastery
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Ganden Monastery is a monastery of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 29.75866, 91.47620. Attributes: built, cultural, pilgrimage, ceremonial. Tradition: Buddhist. Associated figure: Je Tsongkhapa Lozang-dragpa. Ganden Monastery (also Gaden or Gandain) or Ganden Namgyeling or Monastery of Gahlden is one of the great three Gelug university monasteries located in Dagzê County, Lhasa, Tibet. The other two are Sera Monastery and Drepung Monastery. Ganden Monastery was founded in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa Lozang-dragpa, founder of the Gelug order. The monastery was destroyed after 1959, but has since been partially rebuilt. Another monastery with the same name and tradition was established in Southern India in 1966 by Tibetan exiles. Located in 拉萨市 ལྷ་ས་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།, 西藏自治区 བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས།, China.
Jampa Lhakhang
Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, Bumthang District, Bhutan
Jampa Lhakhang is a monastery of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 27.57536, 90.73353. Attributes: built, cultural. Tradition: Buddhist. Located in Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་, འབྲུགཡུལ་.
Kurje Monastery
Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, Bumthang District, Bhutan
Kurje Monastery is a monastery of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 27.58711, 90.73027. Attributes: built, cultural, pilgrimage. Tradition: Buddhist. Associated figure: Guru Rinpoche. Mythological context: Buddhist mythology. Located in Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་, འབྲུགཡུལ་.