Emei Mountain and The Leshan Giant Buddha

Sixteen hundred years ago, an Indian monk came to Cinisthana, as China was called by the Indians in those days. He climbed to the top of Emei Mountain and was fascinated by the beautiful scenery. “This is the number one mountain in Cinisthana,” he said.

Emei Mountain rises like a green tower on the western Chengdu Plain. Viewed from a distance, the contour of the mountain looks like a girl's face with slender eyebrows; hence the name Emei, or tall eyebrows. Emei Mountain rises and falls for more than 200 kilometers before it meets Qionglai Mountain, a part of Asia's Backbone, or the Kunlun Mountain Range. Emei Mountain consists of Da'e, Er'e, San'e, and Si'e hills. Da'e Hill is a concentration of strangely shaped peaks and places of scenic beauty and historic interest. It is the hill most visited by tourists on Emei Mountain.

Of all the tourist attractions in China, Emei Mountain is the highest. Wanfoding (the Summit of Ten Thousand Buddhas), its highest peak, rises 3,099 meters above sea level, much higher than the Five Sacred Mountains: Mount Taishan in Shandong, Mount Hengshan in Hunan, Mount Huashan in Shaanxi, Mount Hengshan in Shanxi, and Mount Songshan in Henan. Legend has it that the Five Sacred Mountains are where the immortals stay.

The craggy southern side of Emei Mountain is crisscrossed by ravines and covered with a dense growth of plants. The northern side features sheer precipices and waterfalls cascading down the mountain slopes.

The mountain is warm and humid with abundant mist and rain. In spring and summer, flowers blossom luxuriantly among a verdant growth of mountain plants. Refined scholars of the past dynasties visited the mountain and wrote many poems in admiration of the enchanting scenery. One of the poems composed by a man of letters during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) reads, “Rising sky high, the lofty Emei Mountain is enveloped in mist and clouds for more than 100 li (50km). Narrow paths zigzag uphill, and the exotic peaks are in the shape of lotus blossoms.”

Jindingxiangguang (the Auspicious Light at the Golden Summit), also called Foguang (Buddha's Halo), tops the list of the ten principal scenic attractions of Emei Mountain. Buddhist followers say it is the light from Buddha's forehead, but others say it is a physical phenomenon. Before sunset after a rain or a snowfall, the sunlight penetrates the mist and clouds and forms a circle of seven colors by refraction through the tiny water drops in the mist. One may feel as though caught in the circle, which seems to move in synchronization with one's own movements, much like one's shadow. For centuries, this phenomenon was enshrouded in mystery, and Buddhists consider it good fortune to visit Emei Mountain and see Buddha's Halo.

Emei Mountain is one of the four famous mountains in China where Buddhist rites are performed. The other three are Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province, Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang Province, and Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui Province. It is said that Emei Mountain is where the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, one of the two principal disciples of Sakyamuni, mystically appeared and performed Buddhist rites.

Formerly, the mountain was important for both Buddhism and Taoism. In the early days of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), the house of a medicinal herb collector became a temple, the first temple in the mountain. In later dynasties from the Jin (265-420) through the Tang (618-907), the Song (960-1279), the Ming (1368-1644), and the Qing (1644-1911), more than 200 temples on the mountain housed several thousand monks.

With the rise of Buddhism and the decline of Taoism in China, Emei Mountain became a place held sacred by Buddhists. Today, the mountain has more than a dozen temples, still home to many monks. These include the Baoguo (Serving the Country), Wannian (Ten Thousand Years), Xianfeng (Immortal's Peak), Xixiangchi (Elephant Bathing Pond), and Jinding (Golden Summit) temples. Most of them are listed as historical relics under State protection.

Emei Mountain abounds in fauna and flora. There are more than 500 species of plants, many more than in Europe, including over 29 varieties of azaleas as well as the Chinese dove tree, known for its ornamental value. The mountain is the habitat of more than 2,300 species of insects, birds, and wild animals, including the orange oakleaf butterfly, the lesser panda, the honey buzzard, and the silver pheasant. Monkeys often come out to play with tourists or stand by the roadside to beg for food. In 1981, an international botanical team composed of specialists from Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, and five other countries explored the area and concluded that Emei Mountain is the most beautiful national park in the world, a rare treasure house of plants, and a paradise for plant lovers.

The Leshan Giant Buddha is carved into the face of a cliif on Lingyun Hill, to the east of Emei Mountain, where the Minjiang, Dadu, and Qingyi rivers converge. The statue is not Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, but his disciple Maitreya, who is also a Buddha. It is one of the major scenic attractions in the Emei Mountain Scenic Area of Leshan City.

Lingyun Hill has been known as a scenic spot since the Tang Dynasty. Tradition has it that the turbulent water at the confluence of the three rivers threatened the safety of boats sailing past. Hai Tong, a monk at the Lingyun (Cloud Reaching) Temple, raised funds and organized laborers to carve a giant statue of Maitreya into the cliff in an effort to tame the river with the power of Buddha. The carving began in 713 and lasted for 90 years. The artisans skilfully cut a hidden channel to drain rainwater and built the Giant Buddha Pavilion, a 13-story wooden structure, to protect the statue from weathering.

The Giant Buddha sits in a solemn manner and overlooks the three rivers. The statue is 71 meters high and ten meters across. The head is 14.7 meters high, and each of the feet is 11 meters long and 5.5 meters wide. More than 100 people can sit around the statue. It is the largest stone-carved Maitreya in the world.

The splendid Giant Buddha Pavilion was ruined during various wars. In the several hundred years since the Ming period, the carved statue has suffered serious erosion from exposure to rain and wind. In 1962, the Chinese government earmarked funds for an all-round maintenance of the Giant Buddha. Later, the Giant Buddha was listed as a major historical relic under State protection. At present, The Giant Buddha is being maintained under the sponsorship of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and under the guidance of experts from China and abroad.