Journey to a sacred mountain
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, June 14, 2012
Pilgrims and tourists flock to Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province, one of China's four sacred mountains. Dotted with monasteries and temples, it's the place to pray for career and exam success.
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Visitors are attracted to the Hanging Temple, an extraordinary monastery built into a cliff 75 meters above ground near Datong City, in north China's Shanxi Province. Buddhist cultural tourism has been developing fast in recent years in China. |
A fleeing bribery suspect from Sichuan Province was recently captured by police onw Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province, one of China's most famous sacred mountains, dotted with 50 monasteries and temples.
The suspect, who was on the run with a woman, was spotted near Xiantong Temple, the largest and one of the most crowded places of worship on the mountain. It's also one of the earliest temples in China, first built in AD 69.
He probably went there to pray for a successful getaway.
Millions of people, Buddhists and non-Buddhists, visit these sacred sites every year. Some go on pilgrimage to make wishes and some to express thanks and perform good deeds in return for wishes that have been granted. Some are interested in the well-preserved monasteries and temples, built over long periods, some dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). Hardly anything from that era is detectable today, because of major reconstruction.
Buddhist cultural tourism has been developing fast in recent years.
The four sacred Chinese mountains are Wutai (Five Plateau Mountain) in Shanxi Province, Putuo in Zhejiang Province, Emei in Sichuan Province and Jiuhua in Anhui Province.
They are among the most popular tourist attractions because of their history and because they are said to be the best place to pray - wishes are more likely to come true there.
The four peaks are said to be the abodes of the four great bodhisattvas. Wutai Mountain is home to Manjusri, bodhisattva of wisdom, and many worshippers make a pilgrimage to pray for success in exams and career.
Emei Mountain is the home of Samantabhadra, bodhisattva of Buddhist practice and meditation, and many people go there to pray for health. Putuo Mountain, home to Avalokitesvara, the most compassionate of all bodhisattvas, is a popular place to pray to bear children and for peace.
Jiuhua Mountain is associated with the Ksitigarbha bodhisattva, who brings consolation to the suffering beings in hell and protects children.
Rising to prosperity
The Emei Shan Tourism Co Ltd, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, announced last week that its revenue from the first quarter of 2012 had reached 1.721 billion yuan (US$268.9 million), a 37.47-percent increase year-on-year. The company also announced it would invest 242 million yuan to renovate a hotel on the mountain.
The other three mountains have also been rising to prosperity, investing in infrastructure and facilities. Wutai Mountain alone has improved roads a couple of times in the past five years.
Last week, Wutai Mountain released a set of gold and silver coins, bearing images of temples and the Manjusri bodhisattva, priced at around 5,000 yuan. It is one of the most valued tourist sites in Shanxi, which has an abundance of Buddhist sites.
Buddhism was introduced to China from India during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), and was widely promoted near the end of the Jin Dynasty (AD 265-420) and during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (AD 304-439), when many short-lived minority sovereign states ruled today's Shanxi. Minority rulers vigorously promoted the import of Buddhism in an effort to make the Han people more accepting and amenable to their rule.
Buddhism was integrated with the local culture and the area is filled with ancient sites.
Wutai Mountain became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. The Yungang Grottoes near the city of Datong was added to the list in 2001. The Hanging Temple is also near Datong and is an extraordinary monastery built into a cliff 75 meters above ground. Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple, aka the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County, is the oldest completely wooden pagoda in China, built in 1056 and surviving countless storms, earthquakes and more than 200 shells and cannon balls during battles in 1926.
The four sites are within hours driving distance of each other and can be seen in a two-day tour of Buddhist culture and ancient architecture.
Wutai Mountain
Wutai Mountain is one of the rare areas that contain both Buddhist temples and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, some built as early as the Han Dynasty. They have been preserved, rebuilt, repaired, expanded and are still operating today. This is one of the few places where one can appreciate the changes in architecture over dynasties.
The traces of early buildings from the Han Dynasty are now difficult to spot, since many were repaired or rebuilt in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the setting of the classic novel "Journey to the West." Buddhism reached its peak in China in the Tang Dynasty.
Buildings established or repaired during those 300 years are solid, imposing and simple. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) followed, and it was a time when art and culture greatly overshadowed military power. The temples built around that time are also softer in line and more colorful, including murals.
Around the same time, the northern part of China, which includes Shanxi, was mostly ruled by the minority Liao Dynasty (916-1125 AD), aka the Khitan Empire, and the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). These buildings are far more spare in style and decorative than those from the Tang Dynasty. The temple architecture from the following Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), ruled by the Mongols, turned more naturalistic and extravagant.
Architecture became more regular, solemn and simple again in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when many emperors preferred locally rooted Taoism to imported Buddhism. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the mountain again became popular among royal families, especially Emperors Kangxi (1654-1722) and Qianlong (1711-1799), the grandfather and grandson. Both of them made multiple trips to various temples on the mountain and left calligraphy, poems and essays that can be seen in many places.
They visited so frequently, legend has it, that Emperor Shunzhi (1638-1661), father of Kangxi, had fled his palaces in Beijing to become a monk in one of the temples on Wutai Mountain.
The official imperial record shows that the emperor died of illness at the age of 24 and toward the end of his life became obsessed with Buddhism, especially after the deaths of his favorite concubine and son.
The frequent visits by his son and great grandson also meant generous donations that made it possible for many temples to be repaired and others to be built. During this period craftsmen adopted a very intricate and elaborate style, often decorating the golden roofs of monasteries and temples.
The most "golden" part of the mountain is Xiantong Temple, one of the largest, oldest and most crowded. It contains three unique structures - a completely wooden palace supported by 108 pillars, a totally brick palace without a single pillar and a tiny (8.3m x 4.5m x 4.7m) bronze "palace" containing 10,000 small Buddhist sculptures.
Bronze palaces in China are often called golden palaces, since it is too expensive and almost impossible to build a golden palace and bronze is the next best thing. This palace, however, has literally been golden since 2007.
Locals say that a beverage company tycoon came to this temple to pray when his company appeared headed for bankruptcy. He made a comeback and in gratitude returned to Wutai Mountain, covering the entire tiny bronze palace with gold, inside and out. The incense burners in front of the structure, a large statue within and the 10,000 Buddhist figures were all covered with gold leaf. The value depends on the thickness, quality of gold and current price, but by any standard, it's a lot of money.
Pagoda of Fogong Temple
China has its own Leaning Tower of Pisa, in this case of Yingxian County near the city of Datong. It's the Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple, commonly called the Wooden Temple of Yingxian County. The 67.31-meter-tall tower is China's oldest purely wooden pagoda, and it's slightly tilted after surviving for nearly 1,000 years; It was built in 1056 during the Liao Dynasty.
It is an extraordinary example of ancient carpentry; it was made without a single nail or piece of metal and involved 54 different kinds of wood joining techniques. On the outside there are five stories, but the second through fifth stories have a hidden level, making it nine floors inside.
Only the first floor is open to tourists because of the building's tilt; it is feared that too many visitors on upper floors would weaken the structure, causing list further.
It is said that local authorities have undertaken research and are looking builders with the courage and skill to repair the tilted tower, which would mean major disassembly, examination of the foundation and so on. So far, there are no takers.
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