Places Where I Would Like To Meditate

As you may have gathered from the title of my blog, I am a student of meditation. I truly enjoy the serene feeling I get from meditation. It's like a detachment from all that surrounds me and it helps me to return to center and regain my focus and it helps me to send helping energy to those in need.

I have made a "Meditation Bucket List" of places that I would like to spend some time meditating. In no particular order they are listed and pictured below.

Leshan Giant Buddha

The Leshan Giant Buddha was built during the Tang Dynasty  (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. It is the largest stone Buddha in the world. 

Hussain Sagar Buddha Statue

The Buddha statue situated at the center of an artificial lake in the city of Hyderabad is one of India’s most famous Buddha statues. This figure stands at 56 feet tall and weighs 320 tons. The single largest monolithic statue in all of India, it was sculpted by a group of artisans from a single piece of stone. Tragically, during the statue’s installation in 1992 the figure tipped over and fell into the lake, causing the death of 8 workers. The government recovered the statue and restored it to its full height and stature.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

 Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, located within the grounds of the Grand Palace. The main building is the central ubosoth, which houses The Emerald Buddha, one of the oldest and most famous Buddha statues in the world.

A jade statue adorned in gold clothing, the Emerald Buddha was, according to legend, created in India in 43 BC in the city of Pataliputra, where it remained for 300 years. In the 4th century AD it was taken away to Sri Lanka by Buddhist monks to save it from destruction by war. Eventually the statue made its way to Thailand and was moved to Wat Phra Kaew in 1779. The statue has three different sets of gold clothing, which are changed by the King of Thailand in a ceremony at the changing of the seasons.

Gal Gal Viharaya Buddha 

Located in north central Sri Lanka, Polonnaruwa is the site of one of the most breathtaking of the world’s representations of the Buddha – the Gal Gal Viharaya. This massive rock temple was constructed by Parakramabahu the Great in the 12th century. The central attraction of the temple are 4 large Buddha statues carved into the face of a granite boulder. Among these giant stone figures are a reclining statue of the Buddha that measures 46 feet in length and a standing figure measuring 23 feet high.

The Borobudur Temple 

Located on the Indonesian island of Java, 25 miles northwest of Yogyakarta, the Borobudur is the largest and most famous Buddhist temple in the world. The Borobudur was built over a period of some 75 years in the 8th and 9th centuries by the kingdom of Sailendra, out of an estimated 2 million blocks of stone. Containing over 500 representations of Buddha it is one of the most amazing Buddhist temples known to mankind. It was abandoned in the 14th century for reasons that still remain a mystery and for centuries lay hidden in the jungle under layers of volcanic ash.

That's my "Meditation Bucket List" folks. I hope to visit all of these before I hit my 60th birthday. That gives me 13 1/2 years to visit each of these serene and beautiful Buddha representations. I think that my goal is well within reach.