Mt. Emei near Chengdu

Mt. Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. The patron bodhisattva of Emei is Samantabhadra, known in Chinese as Puxian. 16th and 17th century sources allude to the practice of martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emeimade the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing’s place of origin. The Emei Shan Liocichla, a passerine bird is named after the site. Mt. Emei was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

 

A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a large igneous province generated by the Emeishan Traps volcanic eruptions during the Permian Period.

 

This is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE. The site has approximately seventy Buddhist monasteries of the Ming and Qing period, most of them located near the mountain top. The monasteries demonstrate a flexible architectural style that adapts to the landscape. Some, such as the halls of Baoguosi, are built on terraces of varying levels, while others, including the structures of Leiyinsi, are on raised stilts. Here the fixed plans of Buddhist monasteries of earlier periods are modified or ignored in order to made full use of the natural scenery.