Ep. 081: Temple of the Kudzu Well (5:59 min)

Fujii-dera, named for the arrowroot or kudzu vine, is found at the end of a shopping street in a suburb of Osaka. Learn more about it in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Audio version at Archive.org .

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Ep. 079: Sefuku-ji, the Kansai Pilgrimage's Most Remotest Temple (9:58 min)

Come along as I visit one of the most remotest temples on the Saigoku pilgrimage--these days, at least. Let's visit Sefuku-ji in Izumi City, Osaka Prefecture, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 074: The Last Residence of a Crazy Monk (9:28 min)

Let's continue reliving my day trip to Hangzhou and visit Jingci Temple, last home of a crazy monk named Ji Gong, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 073: Japan's Highest Falls--oh, and a Temple (8:09 min)

Let's visit Seiganto-ji, the first numbered temple of the 33 dedicated to Kannon (Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion) in the Kansai area of Japan, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 072: Hangzhou's "Temple of the Soul's Retreat" (7:50 min)

I had been on many a pilgrimage in Japan, but I had to endure for five years before I discovered a way to tread the pilgrim's path in China. Come along on my first "official" Chinese temple outing in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 070: China's Heaven Horse Mountain (9:15 min.)

Aside from the "Four Great Buddhist Mountains of China," there may be hundreds of smaller peaks covered in temples, and we'll visit one of them, Tianma Shan or "Heaven Horse Mountain," in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 068: Photo Essay Friday: The 500 Arhats at Home (7:22 min)

Photo Essay Friday again? Already? Let's whiz around to a number of temples in China to take a look at some of the denizens of various 500 Arhat Halls in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 065: Friday Photo Essay: The Bigfoot Grottoes (6:12 min)

It's Photo Essay Friday, and this will be a good one: a visit to not just one, but TWO sets of grottoes near Dazu in Chongqing in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 063: The BuddhaS (20:48 min)

I had to teach my spell-checker that "Buddha" can be plural. Come join me for a survey of the range of BuddhaS available in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 058: Meet the 18 Arhats, Part II (13:06 min)

Last time we learned the background of those wacky characters known as the 18 Arhats, and met the first eight of them. We'll meet the remaining ten in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 057: Meet the 18 Arhats, Part I (15:28 min)

As we enter a temple's main hall, we may see on either side of us 18 odd-looking characters, nine to a side. Let's learn who they are, and start meeting them one by one, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 056: Mount Potalaka, Realm of the South Sea Guanyin (14:29 min)

Let's visit the stunning South Sea Guanyin (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) and environs on the Chinese island paradise of Putuo Shan, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 055: A Tale of Two Temples: The Temple(s) of Unlimited Fortune (18:33 min)

When we visited the pagoda of Linji (called in Japanese Rinzai), I mentioned Rinzai and Soto and another sect of Buddhism in Japan: Obaku. Let's visit its mother temple in China, Huangbo Shan Wanfu Temple, and explore a "Tale of Two Temples" in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 053: The Stunning Pagodas of Zhengding (16:55 min)

On a sweltering late-summer day in 2011, my pilgrimage took me to the memorial pagoda of one of Zen's greatest Masters: Linji (called "Rinzai" in Japan). But nearby were three more pagodas to see--which I did, and you will too, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 052: In the Samurai's Garden (16:56 min)

Come with me as I visit Shisen-do, the retreat built by a retired samurai-turned-poet in Kyoto's northeast foothills--and now a Buddhist temple, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 051: The Big Buddha and the Little Temple at Leshan (15:12 min)

Let's visit what UNESCO calls the "largest" and "tallest" ancient Buddha statue in the world--and a pretty little nearby temple, in Leshan, China, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 048: The Great Kannon at Hasedera (14:22 min)

Come along as I revisit the temple I knew better than almost any other in Japan, the Hase Kannon at Kamakura, in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 047: Kukai: A Japanese Monk in China (15:48 min)

Like Buddhism itself, the teachings of one of Japan's greatest masters--Kukai, known as Kobo Daishi--has its roots in China. We'll visit some key sites of the Daishi's Chinese study tour in this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 040: Character Types and the Six Realms of Being (12:00 min)

It's Dharma Day! Let's talk about the "Six Realms of Existence" in Buddhist cosmology--and their implications in everyday psychology, on this episode of--

TEMPLE TALES!

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Ep. 039: The Sacred Pilgrimage of Shikoku (14:54 min)

Come along as I take the briefest of looks at one of the world's most significant pilgrimages, the 88 Temple Route on Japan's Shikoku Island, in this episode of

TEMPLE TALES!

FULL Show Notes at Substack