Buddhist temples

A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves, common across Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but sometimes Taoist or Hindu, and were often in or near viharas. The pagoda traces its origins to the stupa, while its design was developed in ancient India. Chinese pagodas () are a traditional part of Chinese architecture. In addition to religious use, since ancient times Chinese pagodas have been valued for the spectacular views they offer, and many classical poems attest to the joy of scaling pagodas.

In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and śarīra—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and meditation.

freshwater lake in Purang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, China

place of worship for Buddhists

thumb|An early chaitya at Bhaja Caves; wooden architecture imitated in stone, with decorative roof timbers in wood. 2nd century BCE. thumb|Outside the chaitya at Cave 19, Ajanta Caves, also with four zones using small repeated "chaitya arch" motifs. thumb|Development of the chaitya arch from the Lomas Rishi Cave on, from a book by Percy Brown. A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, (Sanskrit:Caitya; Pāli: Cetiya) refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded apse at the end o

construction produced by the Khmers during the Angkor period

thumb|Gompa Thubten Shedrup Dhargyeling, Mustang in 2015 A Gompa or Gönpa or Gumba ( "remote place", Sanskrit araṇya), also known as ling (, "island"), is a sacred Buddhist spiritual compound where teachings may be given and lineage sādhanās may be stored. They may be compared to viharas (bihars) and to a university campus with adjacent living quarters. Those gompas associated with Tibetan Buddhism are common in Tibet, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. Bhutanese dzong architecture is a subset of traditional gompa design.

Sangharama (Sanskrit: संघाराम Saṃghārāma) refers to a "temple" or "monastery." It is the place, including its garden or grove, where the Sangha, the Buddhist monastic community dwells. A famous sanghārāma was that of Kukkuṭārāma in Pāṭaliputra. The Kukkutura sanghārāma was later destroyed and its monks killed by Puṣyamitra of Mauryan lineage, according to the second century Aśokāvadāna. "Then King Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went to the Kukkutarama. (...) Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the sanghārāma, killed the monks there, and dep

list of Buddhist temples, monasteries, stupas, and pagodas

thumb|250x250px|Lodging in Mount Haguro|Hagurosan thumb|250x250px|The former lodging house at Yakuo-ji (Minami, Tokushima)|Yakuoji, the 23rd sacred site of The 88 sacred sites of Shikoku. A shukubo is a temple lodging in Japan that allows visitors to stay overnight within a Buddhist temple. Originally these facilities were designed to accommodate only monks and worshippers, but nowadays, in response to declining numbers of monk visitors, most facilities accept general tourists. Some temples, such as the ones in Mount Kōya, have open-air baths with onsen. Shukubo are now considered semi-secular