Hsi Lai Temple

Hsi Lai Temple spreads across a hillside in Hacienda Heights, east of Los Angeles, its glazed-tile roofs, courtyards and gardens laid out in the traditional style of a Chinese monastery. Completed in 1988, it was the first overseas branch of Fo Guang Shan, a Buddhist order based in Taiwan, and serves as the order's North American headquarters. When it opened, it was billed as the largest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere.

The temple practices Humanistic Buddhism, which emphasizes bringing Buddhist teaching into everyday life, and it welcomes visitors to its shrines, gardens, classes and vegetarian dining hall. Its planning in the 1980s met resistance from some neighbors, and in 1996 it drew national attention when a fundraising luncheon attended by Vice President Al Gore led to a federal campaign finance investigation. Today it is one of the best-known Buddhist sites in the country and a cultural center for Southern California's Chinese and Taiwanese communities.

• California
  The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850 located in
• Los Angeles
  The second-largest U.S. city, on the Southern California coast near
• BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham
  The largest Hindu temple in the Western Hemisphere related