Overview
Chinese Name: 峨眉山
English Name: Mount Emei;Emei Mountains
Location: Sichuan
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Website: http://www.ems517.com/
Brief Introduction
Mount Emei Scenic Spot is located in Leshan乐山, Sichuan Province, with an area of 154 square kilometers, and the highest peak, Wanfo Peak万佛顶, is 3099 meters above sea level. It is famous for its beautiful natural scenery, long Buddhist culture, rich animal and plant resources, and unique geological landforms. It is known as the “plant kingdom”, “animal paradise” and “Geological Museum”.
Mount Emei Scenic Spot in Leshan City has been rated as a national key cultural relics protection unit, a national key scenic spot, and a national AAAAA tourist attraction. The Emei Mountains is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China and the most beautiful mountain in China. It has been rated as “the world’s excellent ecotourism scenic spot” by the United Nations.
The Emei Mountains, standing on the southwest edge of the Sichuan Basin, is the general name of the Da’e大峨, Er’e二峨, and San’e三峨 Mountains. Li Daoyuan郦道元 in the Northern Wei dynasty recorded that “it is thousands of miles away from Chengdu, but the autumn is clear, and the two mountains are relatively slender eyebrows, so it is called Emei”. Due to the height and geographical location of the Emei Mountains, there are four seasons in a mountain from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain.
What are worth visiting and seeing？
Architectures
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Peak is the highest altitude scenic spot and natural ecological reserve among the four famous Buddhist mountains in China, and it is also the world’s highest altitude natural and cultural heritage site in China. Wanfofeng is 3099 meters above sea level. The original temple on the top is called Wenshu nunnery, also known as Qingliang Nunnery清凉庵, and the Blissful Hall极乐殿. It was built in the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty正德年间 and rebuilt in the 11th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty.
The Golden Buddha金佛 is a statue of Buddha made of copper casting and gold plating. It is 48 meters high and weighs 660 tons. It is composed of a pedestal and a statue of Samantabhadra普贤菩萨 in ten directions. Among them, the pedestal is 6 meters high, 27 meters long, and 27 meters wide. Ten kinds of general wishes of Puxian are engraved on all sides, and the exterior is decorated with granite relief. The ten statues of Puxian are 42 meters high and weigh 350 tons. It comes from the “48 wishes to spend all living beings” in the Buddhist Scripture, which means Amitabha Buddha‘s 48 wishes to spend all living beings.
Ninety-Nine Turn九十九道拐 is a famous dangerous slope of Mount Emei, starting from Lingxiao Pavilion凌霄亭 and ending at Shouxing bridge寿星桥. One turn after another, one slope after another. At the end of the slope, suddenly, the road turns around, and there is another slope.
It is said that when Puxian普贤 came to the Emei Mountains to build a Taoist temple when he passed by here, he saw that the mountain was high and steep, the slope was steep and the stones were slippery, and it was dangerous. He instructed Lingzu Bodhisattva灵族菩萨 to command the 3000 Hercules accompanying him to start at the same time, and each of them repaired a step. Three thousand stone steps were formed in an instant. When Lingzu checked and accepted, it happened that there were 99 turns on the stone steps, so this slope was named.
Cultural History
“Emei Martial Arts峨眉武术” originates from Mount Emei and is called the three major Chinese Wushu with Shaolin少林 and Wudang武当. According to historical records, “Emei Martial Arts” originated in the Shang Dynasty and was formed in the Southern Song Dynasty. It has a long history. After the mutual integration, infiltration, and struggle of Taoism道教, Confucian儒家, Buddhism佛教, and other religious cultures and martial arts cultures in Mount Emei, it has gathered two martial arts of Buddhism and Taoism, both Buddhist and Taoist Qigong气功.
According to legend, Buddhism was introduced to Mount Emei in the 1st century A.D., and Buddhists established temples here at the end of the Han Dynasty. They regard the Emei Mountains as the ashram of Samantabhadra, mainly worshiping Samantabhadra. They believe that Mount Emei is the place for Samantabhadra to manifest and preach scriptures. According to legend, there were Taoist temples on the mountain during the Eastern Han Dynasty. After Mount Emei was honored as a Bodhisattva ashram, the whole mountain changed from Taoism to Buddhism.
The nearly two-thousand years of Buddhism development have left Mount Emei with a rich Buddhist cultural heritage, making the Emei Mountains gradually become a Buddhist holy land with far-reaching influence in China and even the world.
