Mt. Emei, More than Buddhism

Mt. Emei is located in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. It is towering, beautiful, old and mysterious. Mt. Emei is like a huge green screen standing in the southwest of the Chengdu Plain. Looking its winding and beautiful figure, you will find that it resembles very much an eyebrow of a girl. It is the highest one among all the famous sight-seeing mountains in China.

Mt. Emei has a long history. According to the archaeological material, people in remote ancient times have lived in this place. As early as 5,000 years ago, the Emperor Xuanyuan paid two visits to the mountain to learn Tao thoughts. 1,900 years ago, a practitioner built the first monastery in the mountain, thus marked the Emei the birthplace of Buddhism in Yangtze Valley. Today the Buddhist culture has become the main body of Emei Culture. The Buddhist architecture, music, grottos and paintings in the mountain all reflect rich religious flavor and culture. In 1996 Mt. Emei was enlisted in the world natural and cultural heritage by the UNESCO.

I. Four Features of Mt. Emei

Mt. Emei is well-known for its enjoyable natural scenery, extensive Buddhist culture, abundant range of species and unique landform. Thus it gets such titles as “Kingdom of Plants”, “Geological Museum”, “Animals Paradise” and “Buddhist Celestial Mountain”.

Florid Natural Scenery

Going into the mountain, you can see continuous ranges of peaks and tall trees covering on them. Water flows swiftly as if it were flying. Birds are singing and pretty butterflies are dancing. In spring, all the creatures are burgeoning and the whole mountain is in a fresh green coat; in summer, beautiful flowers are blooming one after another in a way of competition; in autumn, the entire Mt. Emei is decorated by the red leaves which make the mountain so amazing that it is far beyond your imagination; in winter, it is covered by snow like a pure bride with white wedding dress.

Profound Buddhist Culture

Mt. Emei is one of the four celebrated Buddhist Mountains in China. It is said that Buddhism was brought to Mt. Emei in the first century BC. After nearly 2,000 years of development, Mt. Emei has become a place rich in Buddhist heritage, which has made it an influential sacred place in China and even in the whole world. There are vivid and exquisite statues of Buddha made of clay, wood, jade, bronze and porcelain. As one of the three genres of Chinese martial art in China, Mt. Emei has gained its reputation both at home and abroad.

Abundant Resources of Species

Mt. Emei is covered with green vegetation all the year round. Its plentiful rainfall, peculiar landform, varied climate and complicated structures of the soil provide a perfect environment for a great number of species growth and propagation. Among the plants, here you can have the chance to admire the rare trees, many different flowers and herbs. These plants not only endow the mountain with beauty but also create a natural fairyland for the animals here. Among all the animals there are many rare species.

Mysterious Geological Museum

The splendid Mt. Emei was created by the Himalayan mountain-building movement and the later uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It contains geological features of all the periods following the Cambrian period. The special geological feature is the precondition of the growth of various species and beautiful sceneries.

II. Four Scenic Regions of Mt. Emei

Baoguo Temple

Baoguo Temple is the center of Buddhist activities in Mt. Emei. The climate here is mild and trees are verdant and serried. Visiting this temple, you can enjoy either the renowned ancient buildings and precious Buddhist cultural relics or peculiar natural attractions and rare animals and plants.

Facing the east, Baoguo Temple awaits the arrival of the rising sun in the morning and sends off the setting sun in the dusk. In front of the temple gate there is a pair of stone lions carved in the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). They are lively, grand and mighty, like door guards protecting the temple as well as the Mt. Emei. A large engraved stone slab hangs above the gate with the name of the temple on it which was written by the Emperor Kangxi (1654 – 1722) of the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911).

Qingyin Pavilion

Qingyin Pavilion is in the middle part of Mt. Emei. It is no exaggeration to say that the whole area of the pavilion is a fine picture with green hills and blue water. At its high point there are towering exquisite and refined pavilions. Two gloriettes stand in the middle of the region of Qingyin Pavilion. There is one stone bridge crossing on the Black Dragon River (The color of the water is dark green.) and the White Dragon River (The color of the water is ivory.) on each side of the gloriette. The two bridges are like a pair of wings, so a beautiful name was given to them: Double Flying Bridges. In the lower point, you can see the Black Dragon River on the right of the Cattle Heart Pavilion and White Dragon River on its left.

The billowing waves strike the huge stone in the green pond giving out the roaring sound time and again and echoing around the surrounding valleys and woods. The water splashing in all directions like broken pieces of crystal pearls and jade and forms a series of water drops flying in the air and then drop into the pond. How amazing it is! In the night with full moon and soft wind, all is quiet and there is only the melodious sound of water resounding in the air. Listening to the clear sound, your heart will be in a state of quietness and you will forget the existence of yourself, as if you had introjected with the nature and hovered in the universe.

Wannian Temple

The scenery in Wannian Temple is pleasant all the year around but especially in autumn.

In autumn there is heat of summer at the foot of the Mt. Emei even though snow has fallen on the top, but it is the best season to visit the Wannian Temple. Here red leaves are reflected in the water and when a breeze comes the leaves dance in the pond forming red waves glistening in the sunlight. So thrilling! Also in the Wannian Temple scenic region, there are mountain villages creating a peaceful and intoxicating picture.

Looking around beside the White Water Pond, the wind touches the mountains, wobbling the trees making a howling sound; red leaves have a dance to the wind in the air; the ripply stream water goes rightly through the temple and is crooning and echoing the wind.

Golden Summit

Golden Summit gets its name from a bronze house which was there. The weather here is cold in all year round but its natural scenery is wonderful. The four great spectacles of Golden Summit and also of Mt. Emei are sunrise, clouds sea, Buddha rays and saint lamps. They are the essence of the beauty and mysterious charm of the Mt. Emei. In the following paragraphs detailed descriptions of the four great spectacles will be given.

III. Four Great Spectacles of Mt. Emei

Sunrise

In Golden Summit, the sky before the dawn is amazing. The ground and the sky are in the same dark purple. Then gradually wisps of rosy clouds appear above the horizon indicating the coming of a pleasant day. Under the pink clouds on the royal purple velarium, all of a sudden, a small mauve point comes out and rises slowly, and then little by little it becomes an arc and then a semicircle. The color turns from mauve to jacinth and then golden red. At last the semicircle makes an elegant jump thus the sun appears in the east sky.

Due to the different weather conditions and seasons, the sunrise is varied. On a fine day you can enjoy the whole process of the sunrise. If there is cloudy haze in the east sky, it is already a red sun far above the horizon when you see the sunrise; if the sky is covered with cloud, you can only see the sunglow and clouds sea sometimes.

After the sunrise, millions of sun rays shoot onto the ground. At this time the Mt. Emei is gold in color, from the head to the feet, showing all her glamour to the visitors.

Clouds Sea

When the sky is clearly blue, white clouds rise slowly among the mountains. Just in a moment, vast clouds sea appears above the horizon like a snowy white woolen blanket, smooth, clean and thick. Sometimes there are clouds either above the horizon or in the sky, so people stand between two clouds layers, which make you feel like a supernatural being. When wind comes, the clouds sea is wafted to all the directions and then mountains become small islands floating in an ocean; when the clouds sea gathers together, peaks are invisible again; when wind gets strong, the clouds sea sometimes moves at a full gallop like a horse; sometimes makes a welter like a big wave of the sea; sometimes becomes elegant and stretching like a fair lady. The most sublime scene is that once in a while you have the chance to enjoy countless cloud columns in the shape of mushroom. They fly up to the sky, and then sprinkle gradually and then turn into filmy flowing clouds.

Buddha Rays

In the afternoon, at the foot of the Sheshen Rock, every place is full of pure white clouds. Then an aura the color of red, orange, yellow, green, black blue, blue and purple extends within a radius of around one to two meters (about 3 to 7 feet). It looms and shines in the center like a mirror. Back against the sunlight from the west, sometimes you can find your own shadow in the aura. And your every action is followed by the figure in the aura, as if you were facing a bright mirror. To your most surprise, even if millions of people were viewing at it or two persons hugging each other were enjoying it, they could only see themselves. And this is the magic Buddha rays, which are rare in other places but appear in Mt. Emei frequently.

Saint Lamps

In the dark nights of Golden Summit, occasionally, you can see a point of fluorescence flowing between the valleys, then changing into several and step by step into numerous. This is the famous scenery saint lamps in Mt. Emei.

The saint lamps can be seen under four conditions: firstly, the weather must be fine right after the rain; secondly, there is no moon in the sky; thirdly, there are no clouds layers at the foot of the mountain; fourthly, there are no heavy wind and rain on top of the mountain. As for the conditions, it is clear that the saint lamps are really hard to be observed.