As one of the most important Buddhist sites in China, Wutaishan is a treasure house of Chinese Buddhist culture.
Recorded Buddhist history of the mountain goes back as far as the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), and it was around this time that a wandering Indian monk is said to have met the Manjusri Buddha (Wenchu Buddha in Chinese, Buddha of Wisdom) in a dream. This Buddha was also said to have stayed on the mountain, when he took bodily form, and legend has it that his hairs are still kept in a small pagoda in the Tayuan Temple. In such circumstances, the mountain was dedicated to Manjusri, and many statues on the mountain still depict this personage riding a lion with sword and sutra in hand (a fierce pro-intellectual).
The area has seen many productive peaks and destructive purges in its time, although both have historically been somewhat lessened by the remoteness of the mountains. The Tang (618-907 AD) and Ming (1368-164 AD) Dynasties saw probably the most prosperous periods for Wutaishan, and many of the temples in the area still have architecture from these periods. In the highs of the Tang, the area had a total of over 200 monasteries. Purges have also at various times and for various reasons passed through the mountain, although the purges of the late Tang and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) are probably the most famous. The Anti-Buddhist persection of the late Tang hit the area badly and many of the temples were either destroyed or allowed to deteriorate for almost 300 years. The more anti-intellectual basis (intellectuals were Mao's stinking ninth category), that was a cornerstone of the Cultural Revolutionary movement, fortunately did not turn the Red Guards sights towards wise Manjusri's mountain and most of the temples were left untouched. A lucky twist of fate.
Nowadays there are around 50 or so monasteries in this area, many of them dedicated to the worship of the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism (Gelukpa). The majority of these temples are to be found in little Taihuai, so that nowadays the village looks more like one huge temple, than a village.
RSS 
Home
Producer:
Chu Daye & Peng Ran 
Recorded Buddhist history of the mountain goes back as far as the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), and it was around this time that a wandering Indian monk is said to have met the Manjusri Buddha (Wenchu Buddha in Chinese, Buddha of Wisdom) in a dream. This Buddha was also said to have stayed on the mountain, when he took bodily form, and legend has it that his hairs are still kept in a small pagoda in the Tayuan Temple. In such circumstances, the mountain was dedicated to Manjusri, and many statues on the mountain still depict this personage riding a lion with sword and sutra in hand (a fierce pro-intellectual).
The area has seen many productive peaks and destructive purges in its time, although both have historically been somewhat lessened by the remoteness of the mountains. The Tang (618-907 AD) and Ming (1368-164 AD) Dynasties saw probably the most prosperous periods for Wutaishan, and many of the temples in the area still have architecture from these periods. In the highs of the Tang, the area had a total of over 200 monasteries. Purges have also at various times and for various reasons passed through the mountain, although the purges of the late Tang and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) are probably the most famous. The Anti-Buddhist persection of the late Tang hit the area badly and many of the temples were either destroyed or allowed to deteriorate for almost 300 years. The more anti-intellectual basis (intellectuals were Mao's stinking ninth category), that was a cornerstone of the Cultural Revolutionary movement, fortunately did not turn the Red Guards sights towards wise Manjusri's mountain and most of the temples were left untouched. A lucky twist of fate.
