Six Banyan Tree Temple in Guangzhou, China

December 1969 Issue

Six Banyan Tree Temple in Guangzhou, China

Mystery solved! Really, is there anywhere ITN readers haven’t been? (And, in this case, any when, too!)

Jo Ann Scott of Lacey, Washington, sent in this picture of two Buddhas taken on a trip to Asia in 1983, but she couldn’t recollect where she took it. (Note to self: label all those travel pictures ASAP.) 

Well, one reader, GARY YOST of Seattle, Washington, just happened upon the same site. . . in the same year (1983) as Jo Ann Scott. . . and took several shots from the same angle that Jo Ann’s picture was taken, complete with workers and building materials.

There are actually three Buddhas at the site, which is the Six Banyan Tree Temple in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China. They are Amitabha, Sakyamuni and Maitreya, the Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future. (A statue on the far left is not shown in this picture.)

Don’t look for them behind the temple if you go to Guangzhou today. One year after the picture was taken, the main hall was rebuilt to enclose the Buddhas, which have been painted and refurbished. So it really is amazing that Mr. Yost was in just the right place at the right time. — J.A.