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[Travel] Vicent
Lim Sui-leong
The Seven Treasures of Wutaishan
五台七宝
Great White Stupa, Tayuan Temple
Revolving Bookcase, Tayuan
Temple
Bronze Chamber, Xiantong
Temple
Manjusri with a Thousand Alms Bowls, Xiantong Temple
Manjusri with Auspicious Features, Shuxiang Temple
Wooden Lotus that Opens to
Reveal Four Buddhas, Luohou Temple
The Ornate White Marble Gate, Longquan
Temple
Wutaishan (五台山), one of the earliest sites where Buddhism took root in China,
has been a religious centre since at least the reign of Emperor Ming Di (汉明帝, 58-75 AD). According to legend, an Indian monk arrived at the
mountain and experienced a mystical vision of the bodhisattva Manjusri (文殊菩萨), the embodiment of enlightened wisdom. Since then, this lofty
mountain range in the northern part of Shanxi has been dedicated to the great
bodhisattva, and has remained an immensely popular pilgrimage site for
Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhists even till today. It has often been
pointed out that the Avatamsaka Sutra (华严经) , an important Mahayana scripture, contains a reference to
"a pure and fresh mountain in the northeast"------thought to be Wutaishan ------ where Manjusri
resides, "constantly preaching Dharma to a retinue of ten thousand
bodhisattvas". By the time of Northern Wei, Wutaishan
became so prosperous that it was deemed important enough to be depicted on
a mural in Dunhuang
Caves far away in Gansu. The mountain
saw its heyday during the Tang dynasty, when there were as many as two hundred
temples scattered around its snow-clad peaks. The number of temples
declined in late Tang, when Buddhism was persecuted, but the mountain
enjoyed a second surge of popularity in the Qing dynasty, when it found
royal patronage. Both Emperor Kangxi (康熙) and Qianlong (乾隆) were frequent visitors; and since they embraced the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, Wutaishan
also became a Gelug stronghold playing host to
eminent lamas such as Changkya Rolpai Dorje (章嘉大师) and more recently, Venerable Neng Hai (能海法师). Today, even with just forty of the two hundred temples left,
visiting each and every one of these remains a very daunting task for the
modern pilgrim who is hard pressed for time. To help you prioritize, I have
compiled a list of seven unmissable
sights------all cultural and heritage treasures------ which comfortably
fits a two-day itinerary, leaving the third day for the peaks (which will
be covered in a separate article in the next issue of FOR YOU).
1. The Great White Stupa
Wutaishan¡¯s most distinctive feature, whose picture appears on tourist
postcards and brochures, sits just uphill of Taihuai
village (台怀镇): the fifty-meter-tall, Tibetan-style white stupa
of Tayuan Temple (塔院寺). Its bulbous, white-washed peak, sitting on a square base,
rises high above the sea of slate-grey roofs, and the chimes of the 250
bells hung from its bronze top can be heard across the valley on a windy
day. The largest of many such bottle-shaped stupas
in Wutaishan, it testifies to the importance of
the mountain to Tibetan Buddhists. At the base of the stupa
are niches containing some charming Nepalese-style images, including a Maitreya sitting "Western-style" on his
jeweled throne and a set of tableaux with rustic images of the bodhisattva
trio of Manjusri, Avalokiteshvara
and Vajrapani------ respectively representing the
wisdom, compassion and power of all the Buddhas.
The thing to do here is to circumambulate the stupa
several times while reciting Manjusri¡¯s mantra,
making aspiration prayers, and turning the rows of large and small prayer
wheels. Alternatively, join the lamas at the sheltered corridors at the
perimeter of the courtyard in making full-length prostrations.
2. The Revolving Bookcase
After you are done with the stupa, venture behind to the two-storey Ming-dynasty
library to admire the bizarre but beautiful revolving bookcase, which is
much older than the rest of the complex. Its 33 layers of shelves, split
into cubbyholes and painted with decorative designs, hold volumes of sutras
in Tibetan and Mongolian as well as Chinese scripts. It is reputed that
there is a Ming sutra written in blood, and others whose ink is made of
crushed precious stones, though you will only get to see these if you are a
visiting high monk or dignitary. I have seen photographs of these before,
but not the real thing. It is believed that by turning this bookcase once,
one gains the same amount of merit as having recited the whole Tripitaka, but alas, the turning mechanism has been
spoilt since several years ago.
3. The Bronze Chamber
Xiantong Temple (显通寺), just uphill from Tayuan Temple, is
said to date back to Eastern Han (52AD), although the buildings are mainly
Ming and Qing. It is the largest complex in Wutaishan,
consisting of nine majestic halls lined along its main axis. Among the four
hundred rooms is a splendid hall made entirely of solid bronze (铜殿), complete with brackets and hinges in imitation of fine
timberwork, shining resplendently in the sun. Its walls and doors are
covered with animal and flower designs on the outside. Inside the chamber,
rank upon rank of tiny Buddhas face towards an
elegant bronze Manjusri. The temple is also known
for the delicacy of its brickwork, which can be seen at its best in the
Hall of Immeasurable Splendor, whose eaves are built in imitation of wooden
brackets.
4. Manjusri
with a Thousand Alms Bowls
A separate hall in Xiantong Temple enshrines a rare gilded statue of Manjusri with a thousand arms (千钵文殊), each holding an alms bowl in which sits one of the Buddhas of the Fortunate Aeon.
This particular form of Manjusri was revealed in
a little-known scripture with a very long title, "King of Sutras
Expressing the Great Teaching on the Yoga of the Great Vehicle, the Sea of Vajra Nature, Manjusri with a
Thousand Arms and a Thousand Alms Bowls" (大乘瑜伽金刚性海曼殊室利千臂千钵大教王经), translated by Kukai (空海), the Japanese monk who later founded the Esoteric School in
Japan. This image portrays Manjusri as the mentor
to all the Buddhas past, present and future.
5. Manjusri
with Naturalistic, Auspicious Features
Shuxiang Temple (殊像寺), which has the tallest statue of Manjusri
in the whole of Wutaishan, is where most people
start their pilgrimage circuit traditionally. Here, the 9.87-metre
bodhisattva in the main hall is depicted holding a ruyi
(如意, a curvy ceremonial scepter), and riding a strange Pokka-dotted
lion-like beast. He sits in the middle of a high-vaulted hall, surrounded
by a colorful grotto of five hundred eccentric arhats.
However, the real gem in this temple really lies behind this giant, where
there is a smaller but much more exquisite bronze statue of Manjusri that has garnered the praise of Emperor
Qianlong, who commissioned a calligraphic plaque that states
"naturalistic auspicious appearance" (瑞相天成). A picture says a thousand words, so take a look for yourself
and see whether you agree with the emperor.
6. The Wooden Lotus that Opens
to Reveal Four Buddhas
According to local legend, Manjusri once revealed his form above a particular tree
in the courtyard in Luohou Temple (罗侯寺), which lies roughly midway between Tayuan
Temple and Pusa Ding. The tree has since been
chopped down and its wood used to furnish one of the halls in Luohou
Temple. What remains
of the tree have been enshrined in a small Tibetan-style stupa in the outer courtyard. After you have
circumambulated this stupa and done the usual
practices, proceed along the covered walkways and admire the many beautiful
Tibetan-style thangkas (cloth paintings) and
statues kept in dim halls illuminated by butter lamps. In the inner
courtyard, lamas can sometimes be seen dressed in ritual costume and
performing burnt offerings. Just behind the inner courtyard, the Sutra Hall
houses a round wooden altar with a wave design at its base supporting a large
wooden lotus with moveable petals. A mechanism underneath (thankfully,
still functioning) opens the petals to reveal four sitting Buddhas: Shakyamuni, Bhaisajyaguru, Amitabha and Maitreya. This altar is attended to by a friendly old
lama with a toothless grin, who happily sounds a bronze bowl to synchronize
with every prostration you make.
7. The Ornate White Marble
Gate
Other than the cluster of
temples near the tourist village
of Taihuai,
there are temples further afield, some of which
are worth the extra effort to get there. From the bus station at the foot
of Dailuo Peak, hop onto the tourist bus (the
fare is covered in your entrance fees to Wutaishan,
and you are allowed unlimited rides) to Longquan
Temple (龙泉寺), 5 km away from Taihuai. Its
highlight is the white marble entranceway at the top of its steep flight of
108 steps, whose surface is densely adorned with images of writhing
dragons, soaring phoenixes and exuberant foliage buried in a mass of
abstract patterns. Unlike most of the heritage treasures in Wutaishan, this gem of a gate is actually a recent
creation, a painstaking effort that spanned six years, between 1916 and
1922. The rest of the temple seems rather sedate in comparison, though the
commemorative stupa of Venerable Puji (普济和尚, who is believed by some to be an emanation of Maitreya) is equally densely adorned. Before you leave,
do take a few sips of the refreshingly cool and clear water sprouting from
an underground spring in the vicinity of the temple, where Manjusri is believed to have subdued nine
trouble-making dragons according to local legend. No, I did not get any
gastroenteritis from that.
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