Transnational Cult of Mount Wutai

Susan Andrews, Ph.D. (2012), Columbia University, is Associate Professor of East Asian Religions at Mount Allison University. Her research explores sacred place and pilgrimage, Buddhism’s interactions with autochthonous forms of practice, the economics of religious life, and participative pedagogy.Jinhua Chen is a professor at the University of British Columbia and a visiting professor at several major universities, including Tokyo University (2003-04), Stanford (2012) and Capital Normal University (2019-20). He has published extensively on state-church relationships, monastic (hagio/)biographical literature, Buddhist sacred sites, relic veneration, Buddhism and technological innovation in medieval East Asia.Kuan Guang, Ph.D.(2010), SOAS, is a Research Fellow in Chinese Buddhism at King’s College, London. Kuan Guang's principle research interests lie in the history and texts of Chinese Buddhism, with a particular expertise and interest in translating classical Chinese Buddhist and historical texts. His current study is focused on Ming Buddhist history, particularly on an internationally well-known Buddhist pilgrimage centre Wutai Shan.

• Contents AcknowledgementsFigures and TablesIntroductionSusan Andrews and Chen JinhuaPart 1: Court Patronage and State Control1 From Mount Wutai to the Seven Jewel Tower: Monk Degan and Political Propaganda of the Wuzhou PeriodYinggang Sun2 Faith and Realpolitik: Tang Dynasty Esoteric Buddhism at Mount WutaiGeoffrey Goble3 Monastic Officials on Wutai Shan under the Ming dynastyKuan Guang4 Beyond Seeking for Sacredness: Shedding New Light on the Carving of the Jiaxing Canon on Mount WutaiDewei ZhangPart 2: Pilgrims and Sacred Sites5 A Japanese Pilgrim’s Visit to Wutai in the Winter ofRobert Borgen6 The Pilgrimage Account of Duke Miγvačir of Alaša to Mount Wutai inIsabelle Charleux7 Visions in Translation: A Qing-Gelukpa Guidebook to Mount WutaiWen-shing Chou8 Mount Wutai and Mañjuśrī in Old Uigur BuddhismPeter Zieme9 How Important is Mount Wutai? Sacred Space in a Zen MirrorT.H. BarrettPart 3: Changing Practices at Mount Wutai10 Lama Nenghai’s imprint on Mount Wutai: Sino-Tibetan Buddhism among the Five Plateaus since the 1930sEster Bianchi11 The Pure Land Teachings of Fazhao and the Mañjuśrī Cult of Mount WutaiSheng Kai12 Fazhao Jin Bifeng, and Constructed Histories of Buddhist Chant and Music at Mount WutaiBeth SzczepanskiPart 4: Replicating Mount Wutai13 The Legacy of the True Visage: The Mañjuśrī Statues at Zhenrong yuan and Shuxiang si of Mount WutaiSun-ah Choi14 Khotan and Mount Wutai: The significance of Central Asian actors in the making of the mountain cultImre Hamar15 Transnational Mountain Cult, Local Religiopolitical and Economic Concerns: Mount Wutai and the Kamakura period miracle tales of TōnomineSusan Andrews16 The Emergence of the “Five-Terrace Mountain” Cult in KoreaSangyop Lee17 Flying Mañjuśrī and Moving Mount Wutai Towards the Xi Xia Period: As Seen from Dunhuang CavesWei-Cheng LinIndex

"Although this volume is of undeniable worth to those interested in Chinese Buddhism, its greatest strength ironically lies in it being an invaluable sacred geography case study: the sheer variety of contributions succeed in demonstrating the intricate, varied, and oftentimes chaotic nature of Chinese sacred sites."– Joseph Chadwin, Religious Studies 47.2 (June 2021)