부산대학교 도서관

[Mt. Wu-t’aiWutai shanWu-t’ai shan] Buddhist pilgrimage and monastic center in Wutai County, Xinzhou prefecture, in the northeast of Shanxi Province, China, close to the Yanmen Pass of the Great Wall and approximately 150 km northeast of the provincial capital, Taiyuan. It is the oldest of the four famed Buddhist holy mountains in China (the others are Mt. Emei, Sichuan Province; Mt. Putuo, Zhejiang Province; and Mt. Jiuhua, Anhui Province). Manjushri (Wenshu), bodhisattva of wisdom, is believed to dwell on Mt. Wutai and manifest to pilgrims in unexpected ways. Its major temples are therefore devoted to the deity. As Manjushri is an important deity in Tibetan Buddhism, Mt. Wutai also became a major place of patronage and devotion for Inner Asian Buddhists (including Mongols, Monguors, Tibetans, and Manchus), especially those coming from Inner Mongolia, which borders Shanxi Province to the north. Five major plateaued peaks (about 3000 m above sea level) surround a depression in which stands Taihuai valley town, now the center of religious activity. Mt. Wutai’s location near the northern frontier of China proper meant it had existed for much of its history as a culturally and linguistically diverse site. The mountain first became a Buddhist site under the patronage of the Tuoba rulers of the Northern Wei (386–534 ...