La Boulaye: The Temple of the Thousand Buddhas in the Hills of the Arroux

Required Activities

• In the temple, stand in front of the three monumental figures on the end wall — Sakyamuni Buddha seven metres high in the centre, Green Tara to the right, Guru Rinpoche to the left — then look up and count the six painted mandalas on the ceiling, and walk the esplanade outside past its ring of thirty-six small stupas

• Walk the grounds between the temple on the Plaige estate and the former Schneider château of La Boulaye, now the guest lodgings, and on the way turn the prayer wheel clockwise — the way it is meant to go — and find the Temple of Lights, the small glazed building where the butter lamps and candles are offered

• Go into the church of Sainte-Madeleine in the village, built in 1903-1905 at the expense of the Le Creusot ironmaster who owned the château up the road, and look for the Schneider name and arms on what the family paid for inside it

• Walk out to the feudal motte and fortified house of La Roche-au-Bazot, which belonged to Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the dukes of Burgundy and the man who founded the Hôtel-Dieu at Beaune, and pick the mound out of the field pattern around it