Quiz on Buddhist temples

Here is a new quiz with an Asian bias for Chinese New Year.

For those of you who may not have travelled to all these places, I have given a list of the various sites concerned below. You may wish to look at it before you start the quiz.

Temples listed in chronological order

Some of these dates are obviously historically invalid (they are marked with an asterisk*) but the legend about them subsists. Archeologists have tried to reconstruct a better chronology by reconciling their finds from excavations, written sources and the style of the building. The last category is not always reliable, though, as many of these temples have been rebuilt or modified after fires or other destructions.

The Internet provides good information on these buildings, so I would encourage you to do a bit more research if you are interested.

1. Shwedagon, Yangon, Myanmar 6^th century BC.* (6^th/ 10^th century AD?))
2. Mahamuni pagoda, Mandalay, Myanmar 6^th century BC* (at least the statue …)
3. Swayanbhunath temple, Katmandu, Nepal 5^th century AD
4. Borobudur, Java, Indonesia circa 750
5. Single pillar pagoda, Hanoi, Vietnam 1049
6. Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia 1^st half of 12^th century
7. Bayon, Siem Reap, Cambodia 1200
8. Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto, Japan 1397
9. Wat Xien Thong, Luang Prabang, Laos 1560
10. Hsinbyume pagoda, Mingun, Myanmar 1816
11. Chi Lin Nunnery, Hong Kong 1934
12. Temple des 1000 Bouddhas, Saône & Loire, France 1987
13. Tooth Relic temple, Singapore 2007

• You may also like to consult
• in the “Publications” section: Making sense of the Shwedagon, A visual guide to the life of the Buddha
• in the “Lectures section: Introduction To Buddhism, Temples, pagodas and incense sticks: religion in Vietnam, I see Mother India everywhere, I see her but I don’t recognize her