Landmarks › Buddhist Temples
Sacred Buddhist temples carry centuries of pilgrimage history, and their exact locations matter. This catalog gathers verified GPS coordinates for the world's most important Buddhist sites: Borobudur in Indonesia (the largest Buddhist temple on Earth), Bodh Gaya in India (where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment), Lumbini in Nepal (the birthplace of the Buddha), Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, the Todai-ji Daibutsu in Nara, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, and the iconic Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. Each entry lists DD, DMS, and DDM formats so you can navigate from any device.
Angkor Wat (អង្គរវត្ត) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is the largest religious monument in the world by land area. Built in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple to Vishnu and later transformed into a Buddhist site, its silhouette appears on the Cambodian flag.
Bodh Gaya (बोधगया) in the Indian state of Bihar is where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree around 500 BCE, becoming the Buddha. The Mahabodhi Temple complex marking the site is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the holiest place in Buddhism.
Borobudur in Magelang, Central Java, was built between 778 and 850 CE under the Shailendra dynasty and is recognized by both UNESCO (1991) and the Guinness World Records (2012) as the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The monument rises through nine stacked platforms (six square, three circular) crowned by a central stupa, and is decorated with 2,672 carved relief panels and originally 504 Buddha statues. Pilgrims walk clockwise through the levels in a symbolic ascent toward enlightenment.
Boudhanath Stupa (बौद्धनाथ), about 11 km northeast of central Kathmandu, is one of the largest spherical stupas in the world (36 meters high, 100 meters in diameter) and the spiritual center of Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal. The current structure was rebuilt in the 14th century, though Newar chronicles mention a stupa here from the 5th century. After the 1959 Tibetan uprising, thousands of refugees settled in the surrounding Boudha quarter; the site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and was carefully restored after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.
The Jokhang Temple (ཇོ་ཁང་) on Barkhor Square in old Lhasa is the spiritual heart of Tibet and the holiest shrine in Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in 652 CE under King Songtsen Gampo, it houses the Jowo Rinpoche, a life-sized statue of the young Buddha said to have been blessed by the Buddha himself and brought to Tibet by the Tang princess Wencheng. Pilgrims walk and prostrate the kora circuit around the temple daily. Inscribed by UNESCO in 2000 as an extension of the Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace.
Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺), the Golden Pavilion, is a Rinzai Zen temple of the Shokoku-ji branch in northern Kyoto. Originally the retirement villa of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, it was converted into a Zen temple after his death in 1408 and renamed Rokuon-ji. The pavilion's top two floors are entirely covered in gold leaf and reflect onto the surrounding Kyōko-chi (Mirror Pond). The current structure was rebuilt in 1955 after a 1950 arson attack, and the temple is part of the UNESCO Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (1994).
Lumbini (लुम्बिनी) in the Rupandehi District of southern Nepal is the traditional birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, born to Queen Maya around 563 BCE under a sal tree. The Maya Devi Temple at the site preserves the marker stone identified by archaeologists in 1996, surrounded by the sacred pushkarani pool and the Ashoka Pillar erected in 249 BCE by Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire. Lumbini was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and is one of the four main Buddhist pilgrimage sites alongside Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar.
Senso-ji (浅草寺) in the Asakusa district is the oldest temple in Tokyo, founded in 645 CE around a tiny statue of Kannon (Avalokitesvara) said to have been pulled from the Sumida River by two fishermen brothers in 628. The vast outer Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) with its massive red lantern, the Nakamise-dori shopping street and the five-story pagoda welcome more than 30 million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited religious sites in the world. The current main hall was rebuilt in concrete in 1958 after the original was destroyed in WWII.
The Shwedagon Pagoda (ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်) on Singuttara Hill in Yangon is the most sacred Buddhist site in Myanmar and is believed to enshrine relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present kalpa, including eight strands of hair from Gautama Buddha. The 112-meter gilded stupa is plated with more than 21,000 solid gold bars and crowned by a hti finial encrusted with 4,531 diamonds, the largest a 72-carat stone. Burmese tradition dates the original stupa to 2,500 years ago, with documented history beginning at an inscription from 1485.
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (ශ්රී දළදා මාලිගාව) in Kandy, Sri Lanka, houses what is believed to be a tooth of the Buddha himself. As a result, it is one of the most venerated Buddhist sites in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Todai-ji (東大寺) in Nara was founded in 738 CE and consecrated in 752 CE as the head temple of the kokubunji provincial network and headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. It houses the Daibutsu, the world's largest bronze statue of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana, dedicated at the eye-opening ceremony of 752. The Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) that shelters it, rebuilt in 1709, is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world (57 metres long, 50 metres wide, 49 metres high), although 30% smaller than the original 8th-century structure. The temple is part of the UNESCO Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara (1998).
Wat Pho (วัดโพธิ์), officially Wat Phra Chetuphon, is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple complex in Bangkok, just south of the Grand Palace. It is famous worldwide for its Reclining Buddha, Phra Phuttha Saiyat: a gold-leaf-covered figure 46 meters long and 15 meters high, commissioned by King Rama III in 1832, with the soles of the feet inlaid with 108 mother-of-pearl scenes from Buddhist iconography. Wat Pho is also recognized as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage, still taught at its on-site school.
Wat Phra Kaew (วัดพระแก้ว), officially Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram and known in English as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, lies inside Bangkok's Grand Palace and is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. The Emerald Buddha enshrined here is a 66-cm meditating Gautama carved from a single block of green jadeite, venerated as the country's palladium and ritually re-robed three times a year (hot, rainy, cool seasons) by the King of Thailand. The temple was founded in 1782 when Bangkok was established as the new Thai capital.