About Us | Site Map | Contact Us |
|
Home | Schools & Teachings | Dharma Centers | Buddha & Bodhisattva Directory | Cosmos |
Buddhist Four Sacred Mountains in China
The Four Most Holiest Sites
Each of the four mountains is viewed as the abode or place of practice (dàocháng; 道場) of one of the four bodhisattvas. or Qing-Liang –Shan (清涼山, Clear Cool Mountain), Shanxi Province
According to Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經), which describes the abodes of many bodhisattvas, Manjushri or Wenshu (文殊菩薩) is said to reside on a "clear cold mountain" in the northeast.
This served as charter for the mountain's identity and its alternate name "Clear Cool Mountain".
Ever since the East (Dong) Han dynasty (25-220) Er-mei Mountain had been famous with many fairy stories and aspired by practitioners as a mystical land of Taoism.
It was believed that many fairies were living in the mountains helping people avoid disasters from wars and sickness. It was in the early Bei (North) Song dynasty
(~960), the emperor brought in and strongly supported the development of Buddhism in Er-mei and eventually established this mountain as the holy abodes of
Samantabhadra, Chinese as Puxian (普賢菩薩).
Mount Jiu-hua was called Mount Lingyang (陵阳山)in Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). It was renamed to Jiu-hua by a great poet Li Bai of Tang dynasty (618–907).
There are 99 peaks in the area, among them Shiwang Peak, Lotus Peak, and others. In 719, Kim Qiaoque (金喬覺), a Silla (新罗国)prince (today's Qingzhou city in South Korea)
came to Jiu-hua, practiced Buddhism for 75 years, and died at 99 years of age. After he passed away, people saw the phenomenon of his life and after-dead resembles
various auspicious Ksitigarbha (Di-zang, 地藏菩薩, Jizō) displays thus believed he was a reincarnation of the bodhisattva.
As this result, Jiu-hua Mountain became the holy abode for Di-zang Boddhisatva. During the golden periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties,
there were as many as 360 temples and 4,000 to 5,000 monks and nuns.
Putuo Mountain is an island southeast of Shanghai. During the Tang dynasty(618–907), along with the development of sea silk road,
Putuo Mountain became the center of Chinese Buddhism because it was considered the bodhimanda (place of enlightenment) of Avalokitesvara (Guan-yin, 觀世音菩薩).
Since then, Putuo has been a pilgrimage site for over a thousand years. Every year on February 19 (birth), June 19 (being a monk), and September 19
(being bodhisattva) of the lunar calendar, millions of people come to celebrate. Other Buddhist Holy Sites in China
Yungang Grottoes, ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi,
is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes.
Longmen Grottoes is in Hénán province. There are as many as 100,000 statues within the 1,400 grottoes.
|
About Us | Free Books | Site Map | Contact Us | ||
Copyright © 1999-2020 Manjushri. All Rights Reserved. |