{"id":8212,"date":"2012-11-24T10:39:33","date_gmt":"2012-11-24T14:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=8212"},"modified":"2012-11-24T10:39:33","modified_gmt":"2012-11-24T14:39:33","slug":"four-sacred-buddhist-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/four-sacred-buddhist-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back, we introduced China’s Five Great Mountains<\/a>. Well, there’s more to China’s mountains than just those five, so today we’ll take a look at the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains<\/strong> (\u56db\u5927\u4f5b\u6559\u540d\u5c71 – s\u00ec d\u00e0 f\u00f3 ji\u00e0o m\u00edng sh\u0101n)\u00a0as well. After all, a big part of Chinese culture is making a pilgrimage<\/strong> (\u671d\u5723 – ch\u00e1o sh\u00e8ng) to one of these mountains. As such, don’t be surprised when you see a huge crowd of people there when you visit! Let’s take a closer look at each of these sacred mountains individually:<\/p>\n

Mt. Wutai<\/h1>\n
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Mt. Wutai on the map.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Beautiful scenery of Mt. Wutai.<\/p><\/div>\n

Located in Shanxi province, Mt.<\/strong>\u00a0Wutai<\/strong>\u00a0(\u4e94\u53f0\u5c71 – w\u01d4 t\u00e1i sh\u0101n – lit. “five platform mountain”) is believed to be the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, known as Wenshu<\/strong> (\u6587\u6b8a – w\u00e9n sh\u016b)\u00a0in Chinese. The name comes from the fact that there are five rounded peaks, of which the northern is the highest. It is home to 53 monasteries, which were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. Wutai is thought of as the first of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains, as it was identified before the others. The reason that Wutai was designated as a holy mountain was a description in the\u00a0Avata\u1e43saka S\u016btra<\/strong>\u00a0(\u534e\u4e25\u7ecf – hu\u00e1 y\u00e1n j\u012bng), a holy book that said Wenshu lived on a “clear, cold mountain in the northeast.” Actually, it’s believed that Wenshu often appears on the mountain, either in the form of a person such as a monk, or more often in the form of multi-colored clouds.<\/p>\n