Temple Tales Newsletter and Podcast
James Baquet AKA The Temple Guy
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Thrilling accounts of one man's journey to over 700 sites in Japan and China, with plenty of Buddhist teachings thrown in
Available episodes
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Oct 20, 2020
Ep. 100: The Temple of the Sleeping Dragon (8:05 min)
In the splendor that is Xi'an, Wolong Temple barely registers on most itineraries. Yet, it's called "the oldest temple in Shaanxi Province"! Let's take a look in this landmark 100th episode of--
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Oct 16, 2020
Ep. 099: The Temple of the Warring Monks (11:47 min)
Let's look at a place that was once headquarters for an army of warring monks, Mii-dera on the shores of Lake Biwa and--more significantly--at the base of Mount Hiei, in this episode of--
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Oct 13, 2020
Ep. 098: A Touch of Tibet in Old Chang'an (14:45)
Four days after returning from the first leg of my "Chinese Pilgrimage," I was standing in front of the Terracotta Army, one of China's highest-rated tourist destinations. In just three days we would visit this as well as four temples from my list. Come visit the first one in this episode of--
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Oct 9, 2020
Ep. 097: Stone Mountain Temple (9:51 min)
I have been twice to beautiful Ishiyama-dera, Shiga Prefecture's "Stone Mountain Temple." Learn about both visits in this episode of--
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Oct 6, 2020
Ep. 096: The Temple of the Jade Buddha (5:38 min)
Jade Buddha Temple, the last temple I saw in Shanghai, is the home of several magnificent (you guessed it) jade Buddhas. Let's visit them in this episode of--
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Oct 2, 2020
Ep. 095: The Temple among the Rocks (7:58 min)
Another temple, another mountain. Iwama-dera (also called Shoho-ji, meaning "Correct Dharma Temple") is located at an altitude of 1280 feet, which accounts for the misty atmosphere on the January day in 2001 when I visited. Come and see in this episode of-- *_TEMPLE TALES!_*
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Sep 29, 2020
Ep. 094: Shanghai's Temple of Tranquility and Peace (8:56 min)
Check out the changes wrought at Shanghai's Jing'an Temple--the Temple of Tranquility and Peace--in the two-and-a-half short years between my visits in August of 2009 and again in January of 2012, in this episode of--
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Sep 25, 2020
Ep. 093: The Upper Ghee Temple (11:38 min)
When you visit Daigo-ji in Kyoto, you get two--or even three--temples for the effort of one. Find out what I'm talking about in this episode of--
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Sep 22, 2020
Ep. 092: Yuanming Lecture Hall (7:43 min)
When is a temple not a temple? When it's an office building in the parking lot of a hotel! You'll see what I mean when we visit the Yuanming Lecture Hall in this episode of--
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Sep 18, 2020
Ep. 091: Uji's Mimuroto-ji and Byodo-in (8:20 min)
Sometimes a pretty little temple leaves the visitor with pretty little to say. Nevertheless, for the sake of completeness, let's pay a quick visit to Mimuroto-ji in Uji--and one of its much more famous neighbors--in this episode of--
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Sep 15, 2020
Ep. 090: Shanghai's Temple of the Dragon Flower (9:07 min)
Come along with me and visit Longhua Temple, the largest ancient Buddhist temple in Shanghai, in this episode of--
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Sep 11, 2020
Ep. 089: A Small Hall and a BIG Buddha (7:46 min)
Number 9 on the Saigoku Pilgrimage is a single hall in a formerly-great but these-days-diminished temple in Nara. It also happens to be a fifteen-minute walk from Todai-ji, home of Japan's largest statue of the Buddha. We'll visit both--plus one more--in this episode of--
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Sep 8, 2020
Ep. 088: Shanghai's "Incense Pavilion" (7:32 min)
Shoving off from my digs in Beilun, I at last moved from this trip's first base to its second and last, a hotel in the Jing'an district of Shanghai, where I visited one of the most precious little temples I saw in all of China, the "Incense Pavilion." Join me in this episode of-- *_TEMPLE TALES!_*
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Sep 4, 2020
Ep. 087: The Other Hase Kannon (6:18 min)
Do you remember the Great Kannon at Kamakura's Hase-dera from Episode 048? Well, let's visit the scene of the rest of the story, the original Hase-dera Temple down south, in this episode of--
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Sep 1, 2020
Ep. 086: Ningbo's Temple of Seven Pagodas (6:50 min)
Let's visit the new-but-lovely Qita Temple, the "Temple of Seven Pagodas," in central Ningbo, China, in this episode of--
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Aug 28, 2020
Ep. 085: Oka-dera: The Temple on the Hill (6:56 min)
You can get to the temple in Asuka officially named Ryugai-ji just by saying, "Oka-dera"--the Temple on the Hill. Let's do it in this episode of--
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Aug 25, 2020
Ep. 084: The Temple of King Ashoka (12:28 min)
Let's continue our day trip in the eastern outskirts of Ningbo, and visit Ayuwang Temple, said to possess an authentic relic of the Buddha's skull! For reals? Come along and find out in this episode of--
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Aug 22, 2020
Ep. 083: Tsubosaka-dera, a Taste of India in Japan (7:36 min)
Come join me for a little "taste of India"--right smack dab in Nara, Japan! in this episode of--
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Aug 18, 2020
Ep. 082: Tiantong Temple, Chinese Fount of Japanese Soto Zen (8:04 min)
Two temples in (or near) the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, in one day? Yes, please! We'll cover the first one in this episode of--
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Aug 14, 2020
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--
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FULL Show Notes at Substack
Audio version at Archive.org .
Podcast on iTunes, GooglePlay, or Spotify (raw feed here)
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Aug 11, 2020
Ep. 080: Dharma Rain Temple (5:51 min)
Let's pay a visit to the temple the name of which has impressed me more than any other. If my karma ever results in my being allowed to found a temple of my own, it, too, will probably be called Fayu--"Dharma Rain." I'll explain in this episode of--
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Aug 7, 2020
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--
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Aug 4, 2020
Ep. 078: Puji, Putuoshan's Primary Temple (9:09 min)
On the morning of my last full day on the island, I finally entered the gates of Puji, as we'll see in this episode of--
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Jul 31, 2020
Ep. 077: A Temple on the Powder River (7:24 min)
Let's continue on down the pilgrim's path from Kimii-dera and visit Number 3 of Japan's Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage in this episode of--
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Jul 28, 2020
Ep. 076: The Temple of Aiding Wisdom on Putuo Shan (8:29 min)
Back in Episode 056 we visited the Nanhai Guanyin area of Putuoshan in Zhejiang Province. Let's continue that day's touring and drop in on Huiji Temple, the third of the 142 key temples I visited in China, in this episode of--
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