Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t4: Mount Jiuhua
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t4
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Mount Jiuhua
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Mount Jiuhua is one of the four Buddhist holy mountains in China in Qingyang County, Chizhou of Anhui province. It was called Lingyang Mountain or Jiuzi Mountain in ancient China. During Tang Dynasty, Li Bai, the famous poet, and his friends made a trip to this mountain and noticed its nine peaks which look like a lotus and thus renamed it as Mount Jiuhua.
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Mount Jiuhua, as a nation-level scenic spot, occupies an area of 334 sq km, whose highest peak is the Shiwang Peak, 1,342 m above sea level. Within 100 km around the mountain, there are 99 peaks, all boasting beautiful views. On a horizontal inscribed board, Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) entitled Mount Jiuhua as The First Mountain in southeast China. As one of the Buddhist holy lands in China, Mount Jiuhua has 99 temples in total, nine of which are listed as nation-level key temples and 30 of which are province-level key temples. The famous temples include Ganlu Temple, Huacheng Temple, Zhiyuan Temple, Zhantanlin Huiju Temple etc. At present, Mount Jiuhua has about 600 monks, treasures 6,300 Buddhism statues and more than 2,000 precious historical relics.
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According to legend, Kim Gyo-gak (696-794 CE), an eminent monk from ancient Silla came to China to learn Buddha Dharma during Kaiyuan period of Tang (713-741 CE) and lived in Mount Jiuhua to practice Buddhism. Some local rich men built temple for him. In the Zhide second year of Tang Dynasty (757 CE), the temple was completed. From then on, Kim Gyo-gak began to accept disciples to promote Buddhism and gradually became more and more famous. He even attracted many monks from Silla to learn Buddhism from him. He lived at Mount Jiuhua for more than 10 years and passed away in the Zhenguan 10th year of the Tang Dynasty (794 CE) at the age of 99. His body still seemed alive even after three years. People, in accordance with so many magic events that took place before and after his death, believed he was the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha and with reverence called him golden Ksitigarbha. Therefore, Mount Jiuhua became the ashram of Ksitigarbha. Later, with some major changes in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, Mount Jiuhua Buddhism was greatly developed until the early Ming Dynasty and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, there were around 300 temples accommodating more than 4,000 monks in the mountain. Since 1978, a grand Ksitigarbha *Dharma* assembly would be held by the Mount Jiuhua Buddhist Association each year to pray for world peace. In 2013, the consecration ceremony for the 99 m high outdoor bronze statue of Ksitigarbha was grandly launched at the Dayuan Cultural Park of Mount Jiuhua. The statue was made of more than 3,000 bronze plates which consumed over 1,100 tonnes of bronze with three elevators inside it to carry visitors to the top.
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Roushen Palace (Flesh Body Palace)
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Since Tang Dynasty till now, there have been many Buddhists following golden Ksitigarbha’s lead, thus establishing the tradition of flesh body Nirvana in Mount Jiuhua. There were 15 monks and nuns who underwent flesh body nirvana and now there are flesh bodies of five eminent monks available for believers to worship. The Flesh Body Palace is where the body of golden Ksitigarbha is saved and there was a flesh body pagoda in the palace. During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Ming Dynasty, the government granted heavy funds to rebuild the flesh body pagoda of golden Ksitigarbha and great hall outside the pagoda. The palace was rebuilt again in the 22nd year of the reign of emperor Kangxi, Qing Dynasty (1683) and was later repeatedly rebuilt in 1886, 1914, 1955 and 1981. Currently, it covers an area of 705 sq m. Each year, on July 15th of the lunar calendar, when Ksitigarbha was born and on July 30th of the lunar calendar when he became immortal, his believers and followers surge to Mount Jiuhua to burn incense, chant sutras and even keep watch at night.
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*Tiantai Temple at Mount Jiuhua Anhui, China*
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Statue of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha at Mount Jiuhua Anhui, China
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Huacheng Temple
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Huacheng Temple is located in the middle of Jiuhua Street, on a small town in the mountain 600 m above sea level. It is the most time-honoured temple and also the main temple in Mount Jiuhua, built on the Longan fifth year of Eastern Jin Dynasty (401 CE) and in which the golden Ksitigarbha once practised Buddhism for a very long time. The temple was officially named Huacheng Temple on the Jianzhong first year of the reign of Emperor Dezong, Tang dynasty (780 CE) and a year later, it was determined as the *ashram* of Ksitigarbha. The temple reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasty.
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Zhiyuan Temple
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Zhiyuan Temple is well-known as the most majestic temple in Mount Jiuhua which is named after Jetavana, a holy land of Indian Buddhism. Originally built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing, Ming Dynasty (1522-1566), the temple gained great fame since the Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty (1796-1820) when it was expanded.
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(*Xue Keqiao*)