California Livin' Series: Byodo-In Temple (Kaneohe)

Let's hop on a flight from Cali to Hawaii, shall we? Cus I wanna tell you about this cool temple located near Honolulu on the island of Oahu in a city called Kaneohe.

As you can see it is very grand, but the interior is simple. Buddhism is somewhat known for its minimalism thanks to its de-emphasis on possessions so there is simply a lone Buddhist statue, some flowers and a stand for offerings. They don't like you taking photos inside for obvious reasons but I found a pic.

One cool thing you can do here (pretty much the only thing besides take pictures) is ring this huge gong. It is very loud and you will probably hear it a lot during your visit because everyone else wants to do it too.

There are a bunch of koi, as one might expect at a Japanese garden of sorts.

And on a more morose note, a bunch of graves on the drive up.

One unexpected encounter you will have on your journey to the temple: there is a bunch of cats roaming around outside. They're obviously feral so you can't pet them but I have no idea why they swarm the temple. Visitors feed them, apparently.

Overall it's a pretty short trip but it's a very peaceful place to be, and if you're on the island you should definitely go out of your way to check it out.