Sacred Mountain of Manjushri
Seen as one of the most holy places of Chinese Buddhism, Wu Tai Shan is a sacred Buddhist mountain located in North-East China in Shanxi Province.
One of the first times I heard of this mountain is from His Holiness Gaden Tripa Jampal Zhenpan in the USA before he conferred upon us the Manjushri empowerment. I had the fortune to visit this holy place over ten years back. Did alot of prayers there also.
Also known as Mount Wu Tai to many foreigners, the Chinese words translate to “Five (Wu 五) Plateau (Tai 台) Mountain (Shan 山)”. The mountain has five peaks, with the highest of these standing at 3,058 meters.
Wu Tai Shan is a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims as it is one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism. The other three are in other Chinese provinces, they are: E Mei Shan (峨眉山), Jiu Hua Shan (九华山) and Pu Tuo Shan (普陀山).
It is believed that on each of the Four Sacred Mountains, there is a residing Boddhisattva. This is because of the sheer number of times the respective Boddhisattvas have manifested on those mountains. E Mei Shan is believed to be the abode of Samantabhadra, Ksitigarbha resides in Jiu Hua Shan, Avaloketishvara in Pu Tuo Shan and Manjushri in Wu Tai Shan.
Besides Wu Tai Shan being seen as the abode of Manjushri, the mountain is home to 53 of China’s most sacred monasteries and temples. It also has some of the oldest existing wooden buildings in China dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
It was also during the Tang Dynasty that 360 temples existed… but only 53 of them have survived. Amongst those that survived, the five most famous ones are: Xian Tong temple, Ta Yuan temple, Manjushri temple (Summit Bodhisattva), Shu Xiang temple, and Luo Hou temple.
Wu Tai Shan is also home to over 600 species of plants… of which more than 150 species of grass can be used as rare herbs!
From reading the above, I’m sure that you can see how immensely rich in culture and history Wu Tai Shan is. It is globally recognized and in 2009, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One of my students, Paul Yap (Liaison and Head of Kechara Blooms, Kechara Discovery and Kechara Saraswati Arts) paid a visit to Wu Tai Shan. He took a lot of great photos which I would like to share with all of you. Do take a look. I have added them into 5 image galleries… the photos are beautiful.
Take your time to let the photos load up. They are very nice photos and you will be very happy to see this sacred place… May you have the fortune to visit the holy mountain of Manjushri one day!!
Tsem Rinpoche
Selected Galleries of Wu Tai Shan.
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Thank you, Rinpoche for sharing these beautiful photos.
May I be fortunate enough to visit Wu Tai San one day…a dream I look forward to.
Yes, you definitely can visit. Do Tsongkapa Guru Yoga daily with lots of Migtseymas daily…It will help create the causes. TR
Thank you very much indeed. Best wishes, always good fortune and a healthy long life.
Everyone must click and see all the beautiful pictures of this place. Make a strong wish to visit one day. It is so important of a place. TR
The mount Wutai or “Five platforms or Abodes”, one of the four sacred mountains in chinese buddhism and in Buddhist lore, is the earthly residence of the great Bodhisattva Manjusri(Wensu in chinese). Each of the five platforms or abodes of mount Wutai has a temple and is viewed as the abode or place of practice of one of the four great Bodhisattvas. Nuns, monks and Lamas from different orders and from all over China, Japan, Nepal and Thailand come to Wutaishan during summertime, some to climb the five terraces, others simply to take part in the many activities of the temple. Immensely rich in culture and history, and globally recognised, Wutaisan became officially listed as UNESCO’S WORLD HERITAGE SITE in 2009. MAY ALL HAVE THE GOOD FORTUNE AND BLESSINGS TO BE ABLE TO VISIT AND SEE THIS SACRED PLACE AT LEAST ONCE IN THEIR LIFETIME!
Wow there are so many places and pictures to take in. Though the place is not very sunny but the pictures turned out very vibrant in the case of the statues in the temples. I do wish I can be up in Wu Tai Shan some day to pay hoage to Lord Manjushri.
Mount Wu Tai looks so beautiful and serene. THe statues are also so beautiful. Can’t help but notice that they have Lama Tsongkapa and other tibetan buddhas in the temple. It goes to show that Lama Tsongkapa’s teachings are very influential in China.
I would really love to visit this sacred place in the future. And would also want to visit all the other 3 sacred mountains before I die. I had the opportunity to visit Mount Pu Tuo last year. 2 more to go.
I want to go to Wu Tai Shan one day with my grandfather because I think that it will do him good but I do not think that he will be able to climb much so maybe one day I will go with Mama instead. It would be so fun to visit the mountain of Manjushri. By the way, I really like the photos.