Overview

Chinese Name: 普陀山
English Name: Mount Putuo;Putuo Moutain
Location: Zhoushan, Zhejiang
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Website: http://www.putuo.org.cn/

Brief Introduction

Mount Putuo, located in Putuo District, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, the southern edge of Hangzhou Bay, in the eastern sea of Zhoushan Islands, is located at latitude 29°58′3″-30°02′3″N, longitude 122°21′6″-122°24′9″E, and is said to be the dojo of Guanyin Bodhisattva 观世音菩萨 to teach sentient beings.

Mount Putuo’s topography is diamond-shaped, is a small island in the 1390 islands of Zhoushan Islands, shaped like the dragon lies in the sea, with an area of 12.52 square kilometers, and the Shenjiamen 沈家门 of Zhoushan Islands across the sea, known as the “South China Sea Sacred Land”, 8.6 kilometers long from north to south, about 3.5 kilometers wide from east to west, and 30 kilometers long shoreline.

The central Buddha’s Peak Mountain 佛顶山 Sky Lantern Terrace is the highest, with an altitude of 291.2 meters, extending on all sides, west of Chashan Mountain 茶山, north of Fulong Mountain 伏龙山, east of Qinggulei Mountain 青鼓垒山, southeast of Jinping Mountain 锦屏山, Liantai Mountain 莲台山, Baihua Mountain 白华山, southwest of Mei Cen Mountain 梅岑山, the main peak is between 100 and 200 meters, undulating.

In 1982, Mount Putuo was rated as a national key scenic spot. In 2004, Putuo Mountain was rated as ISO14000 National Demonstration Area On May 8, 2007, The Putuo Mountain Scenic Area in Zhoushan City was officially approved by the former National Tourism Administration as a national 5A level tourist scenic spot.

What are worth visiting and seeing？

Architectures

There are three main attractions on Mount Putuo: Puji Temple 普济禅寺(front temple), Fayu Temple 法雨禅寺 (Hou temple), HuijiTemple 慧济禅寺 (Fodingshan Temple), and known as the three major Zen temples of Putuo Mountain, which frame the Putuo Mountain Guanyin Dojo.

Fayu Temple, also known as Hou Temple, was originally named Haichao’an 海潮庵, and in the thirty-eighth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1699), it was given the title of “Tianhua Fayu 天华法雨”, which was called Fayu Temple. The layout of the building is based on the mountain, and the group rises. Among them, the Kowloon Hall is the most brilliant, the Buddhist hall was relocated from the Ming Palace in Nanjing as a whole, and there is one of the Three Treasures of Putuo Mountain, the “Nine Dragon Algae Well 九龙藻井”.

Huiji Temple is located on Buddha Peak Mountain, the highest point of Putuo Mountain, also known as Folding Mountain Temple 佛顶山寺. The layout of the whole temple is rare in other Zen forests, and behind the Tianwang Hall 天王殿, the Daxiong Treasure Hall 大雄宝殿, the Great Compassion Hall 大悲殿, the Cangjing Building 藏经楼, and the Abbot’s Room are all on a parallel line, which is quite in the architectural style of the eastern Zhejiang garden.

Unlike other temples on Putuo Mountain, the main hall of Huiji Temple is the Daxiong Treasure Hall, which enshrines the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, and the Tang Dynasty Guanyin statue enshrined in the Great Compassion Hall on the right side is the oldest Buddha statue art in Putuo Mountain. The roof of the main hall of Huiji Temple is made of glazed tiles of sky blue, light green, goose yellow, purple, and other colors, and the sun reflects a rainbow of thousands of rainbows, forming a scene of “Buddha’s light”.

The Statue of Guanyin 观音像 in the South China Sea is located at the top of LongwangGang龙王岗 in the southeast of the Putuo Mountain Scenic Area. The total height of this Statue of Guanyin in the South China Sea is 33 meters, of which the platform base is 13 meters high, the bronze statue is 18 meters high, the lotus seat is 2 meters, and it weighs more than 70 tons.

The base level of the Buddha statue is a merit hall with an area of more than 1,000 square meters, the upper floor enshrines 500 bronze statues of Guanyin of different shapes, and the lower half is decorated with large boxwood carvings of Guanyin’s spiritual stories and colorful jade reliefs based on the scenery of the Putuo Mountain Scenic Area.

Guanyin Ancient Cave 观音古洞, commonly known as Guanyin Cave, is the largest stone cave in Putuo Mountain. Entering the mountain gate, there is a yellow temple wall with the inscription “Nam no Guanyin Bodhisattva 南无观世音菩萨”, and believers call the wall “Bodhisattva Wall”. Guanyin Cave resembles a large stone chamber, naturally generated, the cave is as wide as a chamber, and the ground is quite flat.

Nantianmen is located on the south mountain of Putuo Mountain, facing off with the Duangudaotou 短姑道头. Nantianmen is suspended into the sea, at the southernmost end of Mount Putuo, separated from the island by a river, with a stone bridge, the bridge body is like a dragon, and the name ring dragon bridge. Here the boulders are standing, the dangerous rocks are towering, and there are two stones such as the gate, so it is called the Nantianmen.