This is a stunning temple. Although the Zen rock garden is much over-rated so avoid if you know anything about them or are a fan.

Why one star? This is an unbelievably badly run temple with incredibly rude staff. It’s certainly not run on any Bhuddist or Zen principles.

The receptionist was bizarrely and deeply rude to our guide on entry (she’s a very sweet old lady and did nothing but try and buy our entry tickets). They refused to let us throw away a plastic cup (which are not allowed) in their bin despite allowing people who had bought a drink inside to use this exact bin. So one of us had to walk several streets away to find a bin. Whilst they did this they security guards got very annoyed that we were waiting in the lobby and tried to get us to start the tour without one of our party who was a young teenager who they’d just sent away.

The security guides seem very officious and drunk on their power - they were constantly asking people to sit up, not sit, sit down, move, change directions. If you weren’t doing things exactly how they imagined you should then you got told off. There’s an invisible rule book which you’re not told but find out as you inadvertently break each rule and a guard comes to tell you off. None of these rules has anything to do with being respectful or Bhuddist teachings. They are just a very odd set of rules which seem designed to annoy and frustrate visitors.

And this wasn’t people misbehaving or being disrespectful. The crowd were very well behaved. This was things like a security guard berating a father for his toddler who was doing nothing more than being a toddler. It really was an extremely bizarre experience.

The most un-Zen and non-Bhuddist Zen Bhuddist temple ever.