"These days there is no harmony among people, " observes Kojun Kobayashi, 32, a monk at the Sennyuji temple in Kyoto.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

One of them, the Hsuan Tsang Temple, houses the remains of the great itinerant monk Hsuan Tsang, immortalized in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, who went on a 16-year pilgrimage to India.

FORBES: Taiwan

The soft-spoken eldest son of a Buddhist monk, Oshima grew up on the grounds of the Nagoya temple his family has run for 27 generations.

FORBES: "Everyone said I would fail"

The monk who greeted them asked if they would like to view the temple's Buddha statue.

ECONOMIST: A week in the Asian travels of our former editor