JSLALALAND

THE HEALING FREQUENCY

The LA stillness map | In a loud city, where do you go to quiet your mind?

LA is loud: freeways, helicopters, phones that never stop. But the city hides plenty of places that calm you down. How to visit and join temples, meditation centers and gardens, plus a list of ones you can't go to right now.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

Full text

  1. LA's 4 kinds of stillness

    At temples you can pay respects, eat vegetarian meals and take meditation classes; meditation centers are mostly donation-based; gardens need zero skills, just a slow lap; and there are sound baths where you lie down and listen.

  2. Hsi Lai Temple | Fo Guang Shan's North American HQ

    Master Hsing Yun was invited to build a temple when he came to the US in 1976, and it was finished in November 1988, Fo Guang Shan's first overseas temple. Open daily 9 to 5; the roads inside are one-way, speed limit 5 mph.

  3. Vegetarian meals and meditation at Hsi Lai Temple

    The dining hall buffet is $10 a person, weekdays 11:30–1:30; in the fall there are English meditation classes and group practice on Saturday mornings. 'In LA, meditate in English, then have a vegetarian meal in Chinese.'

  4. Visiting etiquette

    Wear a top with sleeves; tank tops, shorts and flip-flops aren't recommended. Speak softly, check for no-photo signs before you shoot, and leave the kneeling cushions out front for worshippers. These are places of worship, not tourist sights.

  5. SRF Lake Shrine | A lakeside meditation garden

    Run by the Self-Realization Fellowship, and the meditation garden has reopened after the fire. Free, but reservations are required; open Wednesday to Sunday, with the next week's slots released every Saturday at 10 a.m.

  6. Vedanta Hollywood Temple

    A small Vedanta temple on a Hollywood hillside; the Vedanta Society of Southern California was founded in 1930. There are set hours every day when you can go in and sit quietly, and talks on Sunday mornings.

  7. Meditation centers | InsightLA, ZCLA

    InsightLA's Santa Monica center has Dharma Nights on Wednesday evenings, by donation, suggested $40; the Zen Center of LA in Koreatown was founded in 1967 and has intro classes on weekends.

  8. Your first meditation class

    Donation-based means give what you can, and it's fine if you can't; get there 10 minutes early to grab a cushion, follow the guidance, and if your legs fall asleep, shift or use a chair >_<

  9. The Huntington's Liu Fang Yuan

    A Chinese garden built with artisans from Suzhou, with the last phase finished in 2020. Weekdays $29, weekends $34, and the free first Thursday of the month means fighting for tickets; last entry at 4:15.

  10. Descanso Gardens

    They say it has the largest camellia garden in the country, and there's a Japanese garden inside too. Adults $15; free on the third Tuesday of the month with a reservation, released on the 1st of each month.

  11. Two Japanese gardens

    The Earl Burns Miller garden on the CSULB campus requires reservations; SuihoEn in Van Nuys is watered with reclaimed water, open Monday to Thursday, $5, no reservation.

  12. Getty Central Garden

    Artist Robert Irwin's work of plants and water, with a stream running down a zigzag path to an azalea maze. The Getty Center closes for renovation from March 15, 2027, so go before then.

  13. Two-city mirror

    In Taiwan, Fo Guang Shan and Dharma Drum Mountain are up in the mountains; for quiet, you head for the hills. Hsi Lai Temple sits right next to houses and a freeway. 'In LA, we're in the city, saving a seat for quiet.'

In this series

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).