Penang Buddhist Temples

Buddhist Temples in Penang

Penang Buddhist Temples are mostly of Thai or Burmese origin, although there are a number of Chinese inspired Buddhist religious institutions here. The Chinese Buddhist temples are likely to follow the precepts of Mahayana Buddhism while the Thai and Burmese temples follow Theravada Buddhism. The majority of the devotees are Chinese, although once a while, there is the odd Thai or Sri Lankan devotee at these temples. The common believer may call himself a Buddhist, but might not be able to differentiate Mahayana from Theravada.

The origin of Mahayana Buddhism is unknown, given that it may have existed in or in similar form without a name for centuries. Scholars believe that the Mahayana way of Buddhism originated in India and spread to China when Mahayana Buddhist scriptures were brought there in the second century BC. It grew during the Gupta Dynasty, which ruled parts of northern India, eastern Pakistan, Bangladesh and western India, from 320 to 550 AD. It allows the religion to spread to Southeast Asia (the ruins at Borobudur and the Buddhist ruins at Angkor of the earlier periods are Mahayana). From Southeast Asia, Mahayana Buddhism to central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. Thus, the type of Buddhism followed by these countries today is Mahayana.

The Theravada form of Buddhism traces its roots to the Third Buddhist Council, which took place around 250 BC, during the reign of Emperor Asoka. It spreads south to Sri Lanka. Ruins in places like Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka shows Theravada Buddhism architecture at its earliest stage. From Sri Lanka, it spreads to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Temples in places like Bagan, Ayutthaya and Luang Prabang are all Theravada Buddhism, while in Angkor, there is a transition from Mahayana, which came earlier, to Theravada, which is the common practise in Cambodia today.

The majority of Buddhists in Penang are Chinese. The non-Christian Chinese layman might not be aware of the form of Buddhism he practises, and is as likely to visit a Thai Buddhist temple as well as a Chinese Buddhism monastery, and think nothing of dabbling in Taoism. Such is the case in Penang, as well as Malaysia on the whole, that a fusion of beliefs has taken root. Those who have professed the Christian faith will however have abandoned such practises.

View Buddhist Temples and Associations in Penang in a larger map

Addresses of more Buddhist temples and related associations

Paramita Buddhist Association
Lorong Maju Jaya 1
14000 Bukit Mertajam, Penang
Phone: 012 488 7900

List of Buddhist Temples in Malaysia

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.