A Happy Monk

By MAJORIE CHIEW, The Star, February 23, 2009

A Sri Lankan Buddhist monk is tickled as he recalls his early days in the United States

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- BHANTE Walpola Piyananda, a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, arrived in the West Coast of America on July 4, 1976. He was 33 then. During his early days in the United States, people had never heard of a Buddhist monk. He was ridiculed, humiliated and ignored; at times, he was a victim of mistaken identity.

However, all the nasty incidents did not deter Piyananda from settling down in the United States where he has been residing for 33 years.

“I wanted to go to America for new experiences and to explore a way of life that’s different from conservative Asia,” said Piyananda, 66, during a short stopover in Malaysia en route to Sri Lanka. Opportunity came knocking when he was offered a scholarship to study Christianity at Northwestern University in Chicago.

“It’s rare for a Buddhist monk to study Christianity. My (late) uncle Dr Walpola Rahula, a Buddhist scholar, suggested that I study Christianity to find out the differences and similarities,” said Piyananda.

Today Piyananda is the author of two books, Saffron Days in LA (Shambala, 2001) and The Bodhi Tree Grows in LA (Shambala, 2008) which feature funny and poignant tales of his life as a Buddhist monk in the United States. His third book is in the works.

Piyananda is the founder-president and abbot of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest Theravada Buddhist temples in North America. He is also president of the Sangha Council of Southern California, Chief High Priest in the United States, and advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on international religious affairs.

Ordained at the age of 12, he took the name of his village, Walpola, and the Buddhist name, Piyananda, which means “pleasant joy”.

It was written in the stars that Piyananda was destined to be a monk. When his parents brought him to register his birth at the temple, the high priest worked out his astrological chart. “It showed Saturn in Ninth House which meant that I was destined to be a famous Buddhist monk. So the priest convinced my parents that I had to be a monk,” said Piyananda.

Piyananda has a BA (Hons) in Buddhist studies from Kaleniya University, Sri Lanka, and a Masters in Pali from Calcutta University. India.

After his post-graduate studies in India, he returned to Sri Lanka to serve as a monk but felt the urge to go to the United States which he saw as a “great land of freedom, equality and opportunity”.

Eventually, he realised his dream to go to the United States to further his studies and graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago in 1980, and the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1985.

Harrowing tales

Piyananda recalled his early days in the United States which were fraught with challenges. There was the shocking incident at a bus stop in which a gentleman in a Mercedes Benz pulled up next to a curb, ran up to him and spat in his face. He was told to “go away cos he did not belong in the country”.

The following year, in1977, five youths mistook him for a Hare Krishna devotee and accused him of being involved in the kidnapping of a girl. Piyananda showed them his Northwestern ID card, explained his monk’s robe and convinced the group that he was not a Hare Krishna devotee as he did not have a ponytail but a clean-shaven head.

Perhaps the most amusing tale was when someone thought he was suicidal. A year after his arrival in Los Angeles, a Thai family had invited him to their apartment for dana (requisite offering). While waiting in the lobby for the driver to park the car, he decided to adjust his robe and wear it differently. Within minutes, the siren blared. He found policemen and paramedics rushing towards him.

Apparently a woman had called the emergency line and reported that “an Indian guru was trying to suffocate himself with his long robe!”

En route from Los Angeles to Berkeley, Piyananda was stopped from entering the men’s toilet in a rest area. Wearing a knit cap and in traditional monk’s robe, he was mistaken for an Indian woman in a saree!

In another incident, while waiting to catch a flight to Minneapolis, Piyananda went up to a police officer and asked for directions to the departure gate after other people ignored him. He was threatened with arrest and had to produce his boarding pass.

There was another harrowing incident he encountered while strolling along a pier in Santa Monica. Piyananda encountered a group of punks who taunted him for being “an alien” and “a shaved pumpkin”.

Piyananda teased them and joked that he was the “new punk” with a clean-shaven head, while they only shaved the sides of their heads.

Extending his hand in friendship, he told them that his name Bhante meant “spiritual friend”, piya for “pleasant” and ananda for “happy one”. Soon they were happily chatting away and he invited them to his temple. They have since become his students and one, a Buddhist minister.

Piyananda also had brushes with women that probably left him red-faced. In August 1979, an American woman in her 30s sought his advice at the Buddhist Meditation Centre in Los Angeles, his home base then. She was misguided by her guru’s advice to have sex more often to lose weight. She put up two posters in the centre, offering sexual favours; this angered the abbot who chased her out. Piyananda listened to her story, helped her understand her foolishness and persuaded the abbot to allow her to stay on.

While attending Vesak celebrations in Berkeley, a desperate woman outside the women’s toilet asked him to go into the cubicle to help her remove her pants!

Piyananda later saw her predicament: both her arms were in plaster cast and she was unable to remove her pants to use the bathroom. He ran up the stairs to get a woman to help her out.

On another occasion, a woman at a meditation centre where he taught gave him a generous donation of US$300. He thanked her and asked what she did for a living. She told him she was a hooker. Not understanding what “hooker” meant, he praised her for a “wonderful career” and added that she “must be very happy”.

When he realised his blunder, he went in search of the woman and convinced her to turn over a new leaf. Eventually she became a case worker for the protection of abused children.

The Buddhism of 'Benjamin Button'

by Shen Shi'an, The Buddhist Channel, Feb 6, 2009

Dharma-Inspired Movie Review: www.benjaminbutton.com

Singapore -- 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' is based on a 'simple' premise. How would one (Benjamin) who lives life backwards (born old and dies young) experience it? Ben is not a hero; and not even an anti-hero – he is really the everyman who lived life with an extraordinary condition.

Though fantastical, the story remarkably highlights realistic themes on the significance of life and death. Reflecting on life in reverse seems to spur more insightful hindsights (literally) on itself! Below are some to share.
Meeting in the Middle

Daisy, Ben's love interest remarks when they are both in their prime that they are finally 'meeting in the middle'. The truth is, we are always 'meeting in the middle', in the flowing river of time. Buddhism sees the present moment as the centre of time's passage, which is but a measurement of change. We are always smack in the centre, between the past and the future. In fact, now is the only moment we have. There is no need to pine for the transpired past or for the unshaped future, while every moment taken care of now creates happy memories and a better future.

Existential Crisis

Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be stumbled upon the grim realities of ageing, sickness and death, thereupon becoming bent on seeking the path to transcend the suffering they entail. Though Ben doesn't realise enlightenment, he does become more enlightened in his approach to life. However, his passing, being in the state of an infant, did not hint that he passed in a more awakened state. Then again, there's always the next life to resume the path to enlightenment, and the potential to recall past lessons learnt.

Life as Disease

It is perfectly natural for the audience to feel empathy for Ben's bizarre condition, but should we really feel sorry for him? The truth is, we too are in a similar condition. Ben advances towards death (and rebirth) just as we do, albeit in a physically reverse way. Forward and reverse are relative notions too. We could just as well see our collective condition to be much more bizarre – since it's the reverse of Ben's. Ben did not really see himself to have a disease but this is perhaps our problem too – to not see the unenlightened life as problematic, a 'fatal' existential disease that we die of continually via the cycles of rebirth. The cure for endless rebirths though, is to be found within the same rounds of rebirth.

Direction of Time

A clockmaker creates a monumental clock that runs backwards, in the hope that turning back the clock can bring back the past, to give the young lost at war a second chance to live full lives. In Buddhism, time travel is impossible, since it messes up the intricate network of cause and effect of everything that had happened. However, we can relive the past to reminisce or relearn missed lessons, letting the past transform us in the present, instead of trying to transform the past itself. Even though we die, we will be reborn time and again, till we master all we should learn to transcend life and death.

Unpredictability of Life

To tragicomedic effect, the old man Mr Daws repeatedly asks, 'Did I ever tell you I was struck by lightning seven times? Once when I was… just in the field, just tending to my cows/ just sittin' in my truck just minding my own business/ repairing a leak on the roof/ just crossing the road to get the mail/ walking my dog down the road…' Though the chances of being struck by lightning are infinitesimally small, Mr Daws does remind us that life is not just unpredictable once, but often! As Queenie, Ben's foster mother said, 'You never know what's comin' for ya.' Mr Daws later remarks, 'God keeps reminding me I'm lucky to be alive.' It's unfortunate that he 'needed' to be reminded so many times! But what about others? Ironically, despite Mr Daw's naggy reminders of unpredictability above, most of us are going to forget them soon!

Purpose of Life

Ben's favourite childhood story is one of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So Stories' called 'The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo', about an animal that wanted to be different from all others. Ben exclaims that "This is just how I am", while Captain Mike later says "You gotta do what you're meant to do." But the question is how should we be different, and what are we really meant to be? In the story, the Kangaroo got more than he bargained for in the negative sense, though what he went through had positive transformative effects too. In Buddhism, the goal is not so much to be different from the crowd, but to be similar to the Buddhas, with perfect compassion and wisdom.

Gods and Monsters

Ben, who was born small but old, was ostracised from birth by his father, who assumed he was 'a creature not meant to last', while Queenie, Ben's foster mother believes that God has his reasons for creating him the way he is, that he is still a miraculous child of God. This prompts some questions. Who is the true monster? The creator of one or the one created? The one who assumes another is a monster or the one assumed to be a monster? Though fictitious, the author F. Scott Fritzgerald has his g(o)od reasons for creating Ben – for imparting many lessons! The inscrutability of a creator who is both a healer and destroyer is illustrated when Ben musters self-confidence (and/or faith?) to walk during a faith-healing session, while the healer drops dead right after.

Youth and Old Age

Perhaps gently touching on the subject of spring-autumn and 'underage' love relationships, Ben's case asks how do we decide if a one is too young or too old to be with someone else, granted that maturity sometimes has little to do with one's years? Some people are 'old souls', not unlike Ben, who despite getting younger physically, was becoming more seasoned with life. Never judge a person by his or her years or appearance! It is also possible to be reborn a child prodigy with ready skills well-honed from a past life. Youth is a state of mind more than the state of one's body. If we are able to live each moment anew, without clinging to self-limiting misperceptions gathered from the past, are we not always young? Though ageing is continual, the changes brought about can be gradual, hardly noticeable. Impermanence of youth does not sneak up on us; it already is happening!

Inevitability of Death

Ben realises that despite his unique condition, death is still inevitable. As his first encounter with death, he is surprised when he discovers a literally 'old' friend to had passed away. He later discovers the deaths of many when out at a war in which he almost dies. Death is seen as an equaliser of all mortals, that cannot be cheated (other than via attaining spiritual liberation). Not only is it eventual, it can come suddenly too. When Ben hears news that his foster-mother had passed on, he did not seem overly grievous or passive; just reflective. Perhaps he had learnt to have a more equanimous Middle Path attitude towards death?

Death Doing Apart

One of Ben's main sources of suffering was to see loved ones already conventionally older than him pass away before him. Then again, in real life, the young often witness the passing of elders too, just as elders sometimes witness the passing of the young. However, as Stonepeace put it, 'Though you might lose your lover (to departure or death), you need not lose your love.' Do we only learn to treasure the beloved when we know they will come to pass? Or rather, we should treasure the beloved now because they are already passing by, changing from moment to moment, even if subtly.

Symmetry of Time

The story of Ben's life illustrates an amazing symmetry of time in terms of the stages between birth and death. Just as we were small and helpless at birth, we get increasingly shrivelled and hapless when old. It's the other way round for Ben, yet the characteristics of ageing are similar. Ben develops dementia when he becomes a boy, not unlike how an old person might become senile. All children should reflect on the truth that their parents meticulously cared for them when they could not eat, walk, defecate or remember lessons properly. If so, what excuse do we have to be impatient towards our aged and sick parents when they can no longer eat, walk, defecate or remember well? The roles of guardianship in parent-child relationship switch in time. Though we began life in baby diapers, we could end up in adult diapers later!

Unconditional Love

Daisy wondered if Ben would still love her when she becomes old and saggy, while Ben asks if she will still love him when he has acne as a teenager. How conditional or unconditional is our love? There is really no way to be sure until the ravages of time transform the beloved to test our love. Paradoxically, love is to accept the beloved as they are, while also accepting that they will change in time to be who they are not now. An attribute of true love is that it must make peace with change, yet be unchanging in its devotion to be continually caring despite these changes.

Letting Go of Life

Into this life we come alone, with nothing, and we will leave it alone too… The cycle of samsaric rebirth is personal, yet common to us all. Captain Mike tells Ben, 'You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.' True, though the more you are habitually resentful of life while alive, the more likely will you be resentful of life and/or death while passing away. Habits shape us. How we live is going to shape a lot of how we going to leave. As the Zen saying goes, 'To learn to live, learn to die. To learn to die, learn to live.'

Treasuring the Moment

Time seeps away, even as you try to cling to the moment. All we can do is to cherish the present moment best we can. If you love, you might regret (due to eventual loss). If you do not love, you might regret too (for not having cared). The question is 'How to love well without regrets?' As Stonepeace wrote, 'Because everything changes from moment to moment, we should treasure everything in this moment. Because everything changes from moment to moment, we should not be attached to anything in this moment.' Was Ben's wish to remember how Daisy and he were in their common middle-age attachment? Maybe. Compare this with Elizabeth, with whom he had an affair, who simply wrote him a goodbye note that read 'It was nice to have met you.' Ben remarked to Daisy, 'I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is.' To which she replies, 'Some things last.' She doesn't say what these things are though. Could it be love? Or memories? What are we doing to create that which endures timelessly? How about the cultivation of compassion and wisdom to benefit one and all, to become more enlightened from day to day, moment to moment?

Renunciation for Love

Ben leaves Daisy and their daughter before she becomes old enough to know him, to form attachment to him. It was also a bid to avoid giving Daisy suffering when she eventually has to take care of him when he becomes a young child. It was renunciation of family not due to lack of love, but out of love. However, as he was still attached, he returns abruptly for a visit, thereby disrupting Daisy's new family (with a new husband) a little, stirring up mixed emotions. True Love lets go in good time. Perhaps he shouldn't have returned - if Daisy was already happy with their past times together? Love can still be love at a distance.

Never Too Late

Ben writes this to his daughter, 'For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.' Indeed! In the course of countless rebirths from moment to moment and from life to life, it is truly never too late to try again, to change, but change must always take place in the now.

Cause and Effect

Ben says, 'Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.' Sounds a tad fatalistic, because our lives are defined by the opportunities we actively create too. Ben writes, 'Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.' He was reflecting on how Daisy could have missed a car accident if some event along the network of events that led up to it was otherwise. In the Mahayana Buddhist context, even accidents are never truly accidental, but are results of the natural karmic interplay of causes, conditions and effects. The good news is that with adequate spiritual cultivation, misfortunes can be minimised or averted.

Hummingbird of Time

Captain Mike talked about how hummingbirds' hearts might explode if you hold their wings still, that they beat in the shape of the sign for infinity. This seems symbolic of how it is impossible to pause the passing of time, which flows on ad infinitum. Hummingbirds however also symbolise stoppers of time due to their ability to hover in a one spot. Of course, this is an illusion, as their tiny wings need to flap furiously… in time! Their ability to fly forwards and backwards also remind us of how we can look back into our past to inspire our future. A hummingbird appears at unlikely places in the story, once at sea and once during a storm. This perhaps represents how the moments were as if frozen in time, to be recalled vividly in time to come? Just as a hummingbird needs to fly mindfully to navigate its way, we too need to mindfully learn from what happens in time, and from the passing of time itself. (If you have more Dharma lessons to share on this movie, please send them to moonpointer@gmail.com for further compilation!)

Video from Skytrex Adventure

Third flying fox - from high above

Flying fox Max - the longest and fastest flying fox in Skytrex

kcbadyc goes Skytrex-ing

kcbadyc goes CNY house hopping and skytrex-ing. House-hopping take place on 31th January 2009 (Subang) and 1st February 2009 (Klang). Skytrex-ing after Subang house hopping...

At Rachel and Regina's place

Shin Dhee doing the initial trial (training)

Swing to the net

Climbing the Big Ladder

Regina is abit afraid of going up...

Walking on the net...

harness... the equipment to keep you safe

Zig-zag...

Doing a flying fox...

The pipeline (one of the hardest here)

The long bridge

again...

Swinging to the big net

Group photo before going off...

Those participated:
Standing (Left to Right): Justin, Rachel, Kuan Wei, Niro, Wai Yee, Shin Ling, Wee Kiat, Mandy, Chia Wei, Jessy, Tuck Long, Zen Wei

Sitting (Left to Right): Jason, Yuan Ping, Shin Dhee, Leonie, Wei Han, Regina

Photos courtesy from leonie and Shin Dhee

p.s.: Will upload photo of the house hopping (Saturday only) soon...

House Hopping and Skytrex-ing

kcbadyc goes skytrex-ing...

Yes... apart from the two days house-hopping on 31st January 2009 (Subang houses) and 1st February 2009 (Klang houses), kcbadyc also went for skytrex-ing in Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam, Shah Alam.

So, you wanna see us in action? Stay tune as we are gathering those photos before being post here....

10 Most beautiful sacred retreat in the World

When faith takes form

By KEE HUA CHEE

Temples are man’s manifestation of an earthly heaven — a sacred retreat. Here are 10 of the most beautiful in the world.

Temples have been built across cultures since there have been human settlements, from the massive Egyptian temples, to the ornate examples in the Indian sub-continent, to the palatial edifices in the Far East.

Temples are not just places of worship, but also an enduring testimony to humanity’s faith in the sublime and the infinite. Some temples are humble structures, but others are humbling.

Here are 10 spectacular temples that take the breath away and inspire in us a sense of wonder.

Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Bhutan)

Perched precariously on a 3,000m high cliff above Paro Valley, Tiger’s Nest Monastery is one of the holiest places in Bhutan and its most spectacular. It is not especially big but its beauty and dangerous-looking location never fail to take the visitor’s breath away.

Tiger’s Nest appears to float in midair, especially on a misty day. Its Shangrila-like setting makes it look like a surreal dream palace rather than a place of worship. Amazingly, it was completed in 1692 without the aid of modern technology. Even today the place is accessible only by foot.

Its official name is Taktshang, but it is more popularly know as Tiger’s Nest because it is said that the great sage and guru Padmasmabhava flew there, once upon a time, seated on a tiger.

Wat Rong Khun (Thailand)

Wat Rong Khun in Chiangmai is unlike any Buddhist temple in the world. It is pristine white, as opposed to the riot of colour that is the traditional Thai temple with its signature red, gold and green roofs, multi-coloured deities and guardians.

This relatively new temple was initiated by one of Thailand’s most famous artists, Chalermchai Kositpipat, in honour of the King of Thailand. Work is still ongoing, and it is expected that three generations of artists will take another 60 years to complete painting the artwork inside.

Chalermchai, 53, expects to devote another 20 years of his life to the project, which now attracts some 1.8 million visitors annually.

Prambanan (Indonesia)

Prambanan is the biggest Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva in central Java. Built in 850AD, it has eight main shrines and many smaller ones that reportedly make up a grand total of 1,000.

Many visitors are overwhelmed by its elegant spires and refined architecture, which seem both ancient and modern. Quite a few have compared it to the Petronas Twin Towers!

Legend has it that Princess Lara Jonggrang demanded that her suitor, Prince Bondowoso, build 1,000 temples within a single night if he wanted to win her hand in marriage. Evidently, she did not fancy him and thought the task an impossible one.

But her determined suitor summoned supernatural spirits to do his bidding and was just one temple short of reaching his goal when Princess Lara lit a bonfire and roused the cockerels, which began crowing even though it was not yet dawn. The spirits, thinking morning had arrived, fled back into the bowels of the earth.

Gleeful, the princess laughed at her suitor, and this so infuriated him that he turned her into stone. Her statue, apparently, can still be found in the vicinity of the temple.

Shwedagon Pagoda (Myanmar)

Shwedagon was first built in the 6th century when Yangon (or Rangoon) was still known as Dagon. Its name shwe dagon means “Golden Dagon”, and this is due to the fact that the temple is filled with thousands of statues of the Buddha in solid and plated gold.

Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar

One, in particular, is said to be so efficacious in granting wishes that crown princes were forbidden from entering its chapel lest their wish for the king’s speedy demise was granted!

Still in use, Shwedagon is the holiest temple in all of Myanmar and comparable in splendour to Angkor and Borobudur. The main stupa reached its present height of 98m in the 15th century. Its tip glitters gloriously from 5,448 diamonds (totaling 1,800 carats) and 2,317 Burmese rubies. The pinnacle is crowned by a flawless, 76-carat diamond and the entire edifice is plated with 24-carat gold.

Shwedagon is said to be the only temple to contain relics from all the four known Buddhas, including eight strands of hair from Gautama Buddha. The last and fifth enlightened being, the Buddha of the future, is called Maitreya and will appear to save humanity in its darkest hour.

Temple of Heaven (China)

The Temple of Heaven is a Taoist temple in Beijing. It was the most important temple for the emperors of yore because it was here that he came twice a year to commune with heaven.

The temple was constructed in the 14th century by Emperor Yongle during the Ming Dynasty. In keeping with the yin-yang concept, there is also a Temple of Earth — a clone of Temple of Heaven. In addition, the Temple of Sun and the Temple of Moonhelp to complete the four cardinal points.

The Ming and Ching emperors wore special robes and abstained from eating meat for a week before coming here to offer prayers to heaven for a good harvest. The famous Echo Wall in the temple vicinity spans 193m and is an acoustic marvel. A person listening at one end would be able to hear words whispered at the other end.

At 2.7 million sq m, the temple’s overall area is bigger than the Forbidden City’s, and this was because the Son of Heaven dared not live in premises larger than the heavenly realm.

Chion-in Temple(Japan)

Chion-in Temple was built in 1234 to honour the priest Honen, founder of Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhism, who fasted until death here in 1212. This famous temple in Kyoto is considered one of the most important in Japan.

Honen taught that everyone could be reborn into the Pure Land and escape the cycle of rebirth. His simple teachings and practical advice made the Jodo branch of Buddhism one of the most popular in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The temple’s two-storey main gate is a famous landmark that moviegoers may be able to recognise since it appeared in the 2002 blockbuster, The Last Samurai, standing in for Edo Castle. The bell in Chion-in is Japan’s heaviest at 74 tons, and requires 17 priests to ring it during the New Year ceremony.

Borobudur(Indonesia)

One of the wonders of the world, Borobudur was built with 55,000 cubic metres of stone and boasts 504 Buddha statues and 2,700 relief panels that tell a story as they are viewed in clockwise direction as you walk towards the top.

The main dome at the apex of this nine-tier monument has 72 life-sized Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa. However, the central stupa is empty, denoting the state of nirvana when everything is one and all is nothing.

Built in the 9th century when Mahayana Buddhism was at its peak, Borobudur fell into disrepair in the 14th century when Java embraced Islam. The temple was reclaimed from the jungles in 1814 when Sir Stamford Raffles was notified of its existence.

This Unesco World Heritage site is still used as the focal point of a pilgrimage route once a year during Wesak Day. Borobudur is Indonesia’s single biggest tourist attraction and requires at least four hours to explore.

The Golden Temple of Amritsar(India)

Shimmering like a golden dream on a lake, the Harmandir Sahib (Abode of God) or simply the Golden Temple of Amritsar in Punjab, India, is the most sacred shrine of Sikhism. The Adi Granth or Holy Book of the Sikhs is kept here and constantly recited within its walls.

devotee lights candles at the holy Sikh shrine of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India;

Also known as Temple of God or Divine Court, the Golden Temple, conceived by Guru Arjan Sahib, the 5th Guru Nanak, was completed in 1601.

The temple has four main doors that are always open. They represent the four compass directions and welcome everyone from everywhere regardless of caste, creed, religion or sex. The temple is open 24/7.

Sri Ranganathaswany Temple (India)

Sri Ranganathaswany Temple in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, encompasses 156 acres and is the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world. Dedicated to Lord Raganatha, a manifestation of Vishnu, the temple is considered the first and most important of the 108 holy abodes of Vishnu.

It is enclosed by seven concentric walls stretching over six miles and guarded by 21 towers. The celebrated Hall of 1,000 Pillars actually has only 953 and is considered a masterpiece of Hindu architecture. Non-Hindus can visit up to the sixth wall but may not enter the gold-topped inner sanctum. Devotees believe Lord Narayana actually resides here.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Last but not least is the largest and perhaps most breathtaking temple in history — Angkor Wat.

Its architecture is simply amazing. Unlike other Khmer temples, Angkor Wat faces west instead of east, giving rise to speculation that it was also meant as a tomb for its builder, King Suryavarman II, who ruled from 1113 to 1150.

The many faces of Buddha that adorn the towers of Bayon Temple in Cambodia.

Angkor was originally meant as a capital city, palace and state temple dedicated to Vishnu. It is meant to represent Mt Meru, the celestial abode of the gods in Buddhism and Hinduism. By the 15th century, it had become a Theravada Buddhist temple.

Angkor is the most spectacular of among more than 100 temples here but the famous, enigmatic smiling faces of Suryavarman II carved in stone are at the nearby Bayon Temple. Angkor’s fame lies in its graceful architecture and its elaborate stone friezes which detail scenes from Buddhism and Hinduism.