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Mount Wutai
Introducing Mount Wutai (from wikipedia)
Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan, is a sacred Buddhist site. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks roughly corresponding to the cardinal directions. The north peak is the highest (3,061 m or 10,043 ft) and is also the highest point in northern China. Mount Wutai is one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism. Each of the mountains is viewed as the bodhimanda of one of the four great bodhisattvas. Mount Wutai is the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri or Wenshu in Chinese. The bodhisattva is believed to frequently appear on the mountain, taking the form of ordinary pilgrims, monks, or most often unusual five-colored clouds. Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldest wooden buildings in China that have survived since the era of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). This includes the main hall of Nanchan Temple and the East Hall of Foguang Temple, built in 782 and 857, respectively. As host to over 53 sacred monasteries, Mount Wutai is home to many of China's most important monasteries and temples.
Mount Wutai Fast Facts
• Chinese Name: Wu Tai Shan 五台山
• Best Time to Visit: May, June, Sept & Oct
• Recommended Visiting Hours: 1 - 2 Days
• Things to Do: Photography, Buddhism, Architecture
• Opening Hours: 08:00 to 17:00
• Entrance Fee: CNY135 from Apr to Oct; CNY118 from Nov to Mar
• Address: Taihuai Town, Wutaishan County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province
What UNESCO says of Mount Wutai
Mount Wutai with its five flat peaks is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. It is seen as the global centre for Buddhist Manjusri worship. Its fifty-three monasteries, include the East Main Hall of Foguang Temple, with life size clay sculptures, the highest ranking timber building to survive from the Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty Shuxiang Temple with a huge complex of 500 ‘suspension’ statues, representing Buddhist stories woven into three dimensional pictures of mountains and water. The temples are inseparable from their mountain landscape. With its high peaks, snow covered for much of the year, thick forests of vertical pines, firs, poplar and willow trees and lush grassland, the beauty of the landscape has been celebrated by artists since at least the Tang Dynasty – including in the Dunhuang caves. Two millennia of temple building have delivered an assembly of temples that present a catalogue of the way Buddhist architecture developed and influenced palace building over a wide part of China and part of Asia. For a thousand years from the Northern Wei period (471-499) nine Emperors made 18 pilgrimages to pay tribute to the bodhisattvas, commemorated in stele and inscriptions. Started by the Emperors, the tradition of pilgrimage to the five peaks is still very much alive. With the extensive library of books collected by Emperors and scholars, the monasteries of Mount Wutai remain an important repository of Buddhist culture, and attract pilgrims from across a wide part of Asia.
Mount Wutai & Tibetan Buddhism
Mount Wutai has an enduring relationship with Tibetan Buddhism. When Drogon Chogyal Phagpa (1235-1280), the fifth leader of Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, visited the mountain for a summer stay, he rhapsodized that Wutai was “as magnificent as Mount Meru, the supreme holy mountain in Buddhism.”Phagpa was the most significant Tibetan Buddhist figure practicing at Mount Wutai. After his visit, several Lama temples were built. Local people called them the yellow temples.
What to expect at Mount Wutai
Mount Wutai is the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri or Wenshu in Chinese. In history, a total of 360 temples were built at Mount Wutai dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) but now only 47 of them exist. The Xiantong Temple, Tayuan Temple, Manjusri Temple (Bodhisattva Summit Temple), Shuxiang Temple, the Luohou Temple are known as the "Five best places for meditation in Mount Wutai".
Xiantong Temple
Xiantong Temple is the largest Buddhist Temple at Mount Wutain with the longest history. The temple was first established in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220). Its current 400 buildings were mostly built during the Ming (1368-1644) & Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. The seven main halls along the central axis are the Guanyin (Avalokitesvara) Hall, Great Manjusri Hall, Great Buddha Hall, Amitaba Hall, Qianbo Hall, Copper Hall and Buddhist Texts Library. The brass bell hanging in the Bell Tower in front of the temple was cast between 1621 and 1627 during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Outside of the bell cast over ten thousand words of Buddhist inscriptions. The brick Amitaba Hall is the fourth hall along the central axis of Xiantong Temple and gets its name from the Amitaba Buddha enshrined in it. It is also called "Beamless Hall" since it is built with blue bricks without pillars or columns. The Qianbo Hall is behind the Amitaba Hall for the worship of a copper statue of Manjushri with a thousand alms bowls. The statue of Manjushri has five heads stacked and six hands in front, two of which hold a gold alms bowl in each. There is a sitting statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the bowl. A thousand hands stretch from the back of the statue with gold alms bowls of a sitting statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in each hand. The statue of Manjushri was made in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and also known as "Statue of Manjushri with a Thousand Alms Bowls". Its unique style is rare in China. The pure copper made Copper Hall behind the Qianbo Hall is a rarer cultural relic in China. Ten thousand of golden and spectacular small Buddha statues are carved on the walls of the hall. There are also exquisite and delicate color paintings and patterns of flowers, birds and animals engraved on the columns, architraves and partition boards.
Tayuan Temple
Tayuan Temple was originally a stupa of Xiantong Temple. The stupa, named the Great White Pagoda, was constructed in 1302 during the Yuan dynasty. It was expanded to a temple in 1407 during the Ming Dynasty and got its name as Tayuan Temple. Tayuan Temple stands in the north facing the south. Its axis is filled with magnificent structures such as screen walls, stone tablets, arches, stone stairways, passing doors, gates, drum towers, Tianwang Hall, Daci Yanshou Hall, Cangjing Mansion, Shanhai Mansion, Manjushri Hair Pagoda, and so on. There are 20 layers of wooden rotating wheels in the Cangjing Mansion, each of which is placed with over 20,000 Buddhism sutras in Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan characters. The Great White Pagoda is the main building in the temple. It is a Tibetan-style pagoda sits on a rectangle base. It is 75.3 m tall, constructed of brick with a lime coating on the outside that gives its white color, towering amongst the mountains and trees and standing out with its white pagoda. The tower spires, trays and pearls are all made of bronze. Wind-bells are decorated in the middle of the pagoda and the trays. To the east of the Great White Pagoda stands a smaller white pagoda. Legend has it that inside the pagoda stores the golden hairs of Manjushri Bodhisattva when He presents himself to the people on earth. Therefore, the smaller white pagoda is also called “Manjushri Hair Pagoda.
Manjusri Temple (Bodhisattva Summit Temple)
The legend says that Manjushri revealed himself and preached at the summit of Mount Wutai, hence the name "Bodhisattva Summit Temple" . The Manjusri Temple is considered the best of all temples in Mount Wutai. This temple was built originally in Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). In 1656, the temple converted to Tibetan Buddhism. In 1683, with the Kangxi Emperor's permission, the roof of the temple was tiled with yellow glazed tiles. From then on, it became the principal temple of Lamaism. A walkway of 108 stone steps leads to the summit as if it was a ladder to heaven from the temples below. It is said the 108 stone steps represent 108 worries of mankind, and one has to overcome them one step (one worry) at a time to see the true capacity of Buddha.
How to get to Mount Wutai
• Mount Wutai is approximately 250km away from Taiyuan.
• Bullet trains from Taiyuan is available to Mount Wutain (3.5 hours).
• Take a bus from Taiyuan East Station to Mount Wutai (approximately 5.5 to 6.5 hours).
• Rent a car/bus from GGC to enjoy a hassle free private transfer from hotels in Taiyuan to Mount Wutai.