i'm oddly intrigued...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Valley of the Temples Memorial Park
Valley of the Temples Memorial Park is a memorial park located on the Windward (eastern) side of the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. It is a vast area of lush, rolling green hills at the foot of the Koʻolau mountains, overlooking the sleepy town of Kāneʻohe. Thousands of Buddhist, Christian and Shinto residents of Hawaiʻi are buried in this memorial park.
The park features the replica of a 12th. century Japanese Buddhist temple built in the late 1960s. Its name is Byodo-In Temple which translates to the Phoenix temple, because of the two majestic metal phoenixes along the top ends of the main temple. It is a recreation of the Buddhist temple in Uji, Japan. Inside the main part of the temple there is a 9-12 ft Buddha sitting on a gold leaf lotus.
Also on the grounds are large Roman Catholic statues depicting Jesus' suffering, crypts and mausoleums of some of the most influential people in Hawaiʻi. Most notable of those interred at the mausoleums of the Valley of the Temples is Walter F. Dillingham, Hawaiian entrepreneur and statesman. For a time, former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos was interred at a private mausoleum overlooking the Byodo-In Temple.
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