Let's pay a visit to the ruins of the Sinagua people of northern Arizona, builders of what may be the northernmost Mesoamerican-style ball court yet discovered, in this episode of-- TEMPLE TALES! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

In high summer in 2001, as Tokyo suffered through yet another heatwave, I escaped to the mountains of Saitama Prefecture to soothe both body and spirit while hiking an ancient 60-mile pilgrimage path. Trudge along with me in this episode of-- TEMPLE TALES! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

From time to time I'll be sharing well-known stories from Japanese and Chinese culture. We'll examine two stories displaying mono no aware, the "transience of things," from the Japanese Tale of the Heike in this episode of-- TEMPLE TALES! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »

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! FULL Show Notes at Substack Click for audio and podcast links »