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The influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the multiculturalism of Mount Wutai

Yanchu Zhao

Miracles and Images in East Asia

Professor Michele Matteini

5/13/16

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fig. 1

fig. 2

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Wutai Mountain, also known as Qingliang Shan, or “Five-Peak Mountain”, is a Buddhist

sacred site located at the headwaters of river Qingshui, in Shanxi province of northeastern

China. Every inch of the mountain unveils a colorful yet turmoil history of the cultural hub

where multilingual and multi-centric superpowers’ unceasing transform its political, cultural,

and social landscape. An essential source to examine the mountain’s vibrant past would be

the woodblock print titled Pilgrimage Map of Mount Wutai (fig. 1). This paper will use the

map to trace the gradual process of the Tibetan Buddhism’s acquisition of power, and its role

in promoting multicultural and transnational exchanges as the empire’s official religion

during the Qing dynasty and from then on.

Pilgrimage Map of Mount Wutai records the panoramic view of the sacred mountain in a

well preserved, six-foot-wide, and hand-colored woodblock print on cloth. The map,

produced by the Mongolian monk Lhundrup in 1845 in the Wutai Mountain’s Cifu Temple,

where is now one of the most popular sites among Mongolian pilgrims, provides a possible

view of the geographical layout of the mountain and the itineraries of the pilgrimage: the

winding paths link the scattered temples spreading all over the mountain; People of different

ethnicities from different classes dress in cultural-specific costumes and perform

characteristic activities; Deities appearing in the clouds each show their special prowess and

illustrate the monks’ miraculous visions at the sacred earthly abode of the bodhisattva of

wisdom Manjushri.

The temples and events presented in the map span more than a thousand years and offer a

comprehensive historical record of the mountain with more or less contrived details. As

illustrated by the Rubin Museum of Art, “more than 120 Buddhist monasteries, Taoist

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temples, and villages of interest to the pilgrims who ventured to Wutai Mountain are labeled

with Chinese and Tibetan inscriptions on the woodblock, and the sacred sites, together with a

great amount of miraculous events and religious objects, are both historical and imaginary.”1

In the map, Foguangsi and Nanchansi, the two oldest structures in China originally built in

the northern Wei dynasty (471-499) are juxtaposed with Cifusi, which was the main lodging

for Mongolian monks visiting Wutai Mountain and constructed only two years prior the

production of the map.2 Also, the famous event of Kangxi shooting the tiger during his first

visit to the mountain was vividly depicted at the lower right of the map while Pha dam pa, the

first person to link Tibet and Wutai Mountain, who lived on the mountain for ten year in

eleventh century, was portrayed in a temple on the upper left of the map.3 Moreover, besides

the imperial sites and events recounted in the map, the daily life of the common people are

also recorded, such as the commoners in peasant clothing depicted as carrying tributes with

shoulder poles, and the people in Mongolian traditional costumes walking and riding

relaxingly around the stupa of Taranatha, both scenes on the below left. 4 As Chou

Wen-shing explained in the article Ineffable Paths: Mapping Wutaishan in Qing Dynasty

China,“the map is not only a religious record of monasteries, miracles and apparitions, but

also an ethnographic document that gives a glimpse of the daily life of merchants, pilgrims

and monks, the roads and paths they took, and the gestures they made in front of temples."5

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%1% “Master%Works%of%Himalayan%Art”,%Rubin%Museum%of%Art,%Feb%2016%–%Feb%2017,%Exhibition%Wall%Text%

%2% The%Monk%Lhundrup,%engraver%of%sanggai%Ayimag,%Ulaanbaatar,%Mongolia.%Pilgrimage%Map%of%Mount%Wutai,%Cifu%Temple,%Mount%Wutai,%Shanxi%Province,%China;%1846.%Painted%woodblock%print.%%3% The%Monk%Lhundrup,%Pilgrimage%Map%of%Mount%Wutai.% %%4% The%Monk%Lhundrup,%Pilgrimage%Map%of%Mount%Wutai.%%5% Chou,%WenVshing.%2007.%“Ineffable%Paths:%Mapping%Wutaishan%in%Qing%Dynasty%China”.%(Taylor%&%Francis,%Ltd.,%

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The meticulous execution of this mammoth project leads to a question of the purpose and

motivation behind such effort. According to a story written in Chinese, a pious Mongolian

Lama who exceled in woodblock printing, created the map after seeing his brother appearing

as the sacred Tsongkhapa, founder of the Geluk sect of Tibetan Buddhism, who is considered

by his disciples to be an incarnation of Manjusri. To pay reverence to Tsongkhapa, the Lama

took the project very seriously and spent years traversing the mountain before getting

started.6 In the map, the views are not accurately or realistically depicted, the temples with

greater importance and the figures involved in more essential rituals were painted

disproportionally larger, as explained by Chou, “the significantly larger figures in the central

procession, which include the lamas in their yellow robes and ceremonial headdresses, as

well as the Qing military or imperial officers in their blue robes and red conical official caps,%

occupying in large numbers the central portion of the%picture, conveying that they were not

only closer to the viewer%but also more prominent than the wandering pilgrims.”7 Also, the

miraculous scenes and the presences of Manjusri were mostly contrived according to the

artist’s imagination.8 So, if the map was not meant to be merely an accurate historical record

of the mountain or guidance for the pilgrimage routes, then what other messages does this

arduous project aim to spread?

Looking at the mountain’s history, the status of the Mongols at the Wutai Mountain

underwent a gradual process, and the Tibetan Buddhism’s prestige in the Qing dynasty was

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also tangled with the court’s attempt to stabilize the multicultural empire where people with

diverse background, history, tradition, culture, and lifestyles came together in compliance

with the ruling under a single regime. Bringing people together under the same roof by war

and weapon was one thing, but winning people’s hearts and loyalty often times required a

powerful faith embraced by the majority of the population. In this sense, the magnificent

patronage of the Tibetan Buddhism acted as both a social stabilizer and a political catalyst in

complicated situation of the Qing Empire.

Throughout the history, Wutai Mountain was believed to be the earthly abode of the

Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Mañjuśrī, and was widely treasured for its identity as the authentic

location for Mañjuśrī’s “field of activity” or “place of practice” (daochang, or maṇḍa).9 As

explained in Wutai Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain, field of activity is “where a

Buddha or high-ranking bodhisattva exerts his or her influence and preaches, greatly aiding

the faithful’s ability to develop spiritually and attain enlightenment.”10 Also, Mañjuśrī’s field

is especially important because “unlike many other Buddha fields, or pure realms, such as

Amitābha’s Western Paradise (sukhāvatī) into which one prays to be reborn, Mañjuśrī’s is

thought to be here on earth and is associated with a particular geographic location, reachable

by foot, and thus the focus of both local and international pilgrimage.”11

According to Debreczeny, the mountain became a sacred site to Chinese Buddhists as far

back as the fifth century, and in seventh century the mountain turned into an international

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pilgrimage center, for which thousands of Buddhist pilgrims came to the mountain from India,

Kashmir, Tibet, Japan, and Korea to pay their reverence.12 By the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries Wutai Mountain had grown to an indispensible gathering place for Tibetans,

Mongols, and Manchus, when “Tibetan Buddhism was at its apex there and the mountain was

a confluence of Himalayan cultures.”13 So, why did the mountain come into the favor of the

Mongols during the late Qing period? As Wutai Mountain is located in China, through what

process did the mountain converted to a flourish Tibetan Buddhist site in the Qing dynasty at

the edge of Chinese land? Since many of the Tibetan temples are constructed in the Yuan

dynasty, why were the pilgrimages not broadly popularized until the late eighteenth century?

What evidences on the map could be used to justify the process of the Tibetan Buddhism’s

development along the time?

As Debreczeny explained in Wutai Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain, starting

from the eighth century Mañjuśrī has been seen as the patron deity of China and Wutai

Mounatin came to the center of imperial attention.14 Emperors tied their own legitimacy to

Mañjuśrī to obscure and entwine religious, state, and ethnic identities, and subsequently, with

traditional Chinese practice served as a historical precedent for the later Tibetans, Manchus,

and Mongolian successors, rituals for the protection and preservation of the nation became a

characteristic feature of state involvement at Wutai Mountain.15 Also, the Tibetan interest in

Wutai Mountain was expressed as early as the Tibetan imperial period (seventh-ninth %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

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century).16 Records of eighth century Tibetan envoys and Buddhist masters, including the

master the Indian master Vimalamitra, one of the founding figures of the early Tibetan

Rdzogs chen meditation tradition, were stated in Testamentof Ba (sba bzhed).17 Also, in Old

Tang Dynasty History (Jiu tangsh), the story of the Tibetan emperor in 824 requesting the

map of Wutai Mountain from the Tang court also revealed the Tibetans’ interest in the site

during the Tibetan imperial period. And as Debreczeny pointed out, images of Wutai

Mountain were painted at Dunhuang, a Buddhist center and a trade site along the Silk Route

bordering Tibet, China, and Central Asia, during the time Tibetan empire occupied the area.

Thus, “this nineteenth-century map is part of a larger visual tradition of depicting Wutai shan

as the pure realm of Mañjuśrī, one that stretches back nearly a millennium.”18

With the Mongol’s conquest of the Chinese land and the founding of Yuan dynasty, the

incorporation of the Tibet and China into the Mongol empire further stimulated a frequent

and regular Tibetan presence on Wutai Mountain. Mongol empire during thirteenth century

showed great tolerance among the wide spectrum of faith of its people but singled out

Tibetan Buddhism among all other faiths competing for imperial attention. 19 Also,

Debreczeny pointed out, “Qubilai Khan himself came to be seen as an imperial emanation of

Mañjuśrī, and patronage of several Tibetan traditions was divided up among the Mongol

princes and their monasteries flourished as never before.”20 For example, Dam pa, a key

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figure in Qubilai Khan’s court in the service of the Mongol imperium, was appointed abbot

of Temple of Longevity and Tranquility as the first Tibetan Buddhist establishment on the

mountain, and a sculpture of the protective deity Mahākāla (Da Heitian) was erected to

celebrate his effort in ritual interventions that were credited for many key battles Mongols

won. 21 Here, on the map, both Temple of Longevity and Tranquility and the site

“Mgonpori,”or “Mahākāla Hill”, could be found in the central area.22 Also depicted in the

center of the map, the Great White Stupa, designed by the Nepalese artist Anige as a leading

Mongolian imperial atelier, was not only an iconic landmark of Wutai Mountain but also a

symbol of Mongol imperial authority.23 Indeed the Mongols were pious believers of Tibetan

Buddhism, but it’s not unclear that, since the Yuan dynasty, Mongols already started to

employ the mountain as a political tool to justify their ruling of China as a heavenly will, by

associating their imperial identity with the Buddhist deity Mañjuśrī. Moreover, the

connection between the Qubilai Khan and the Mañjuśrī deity at the Wutai Mountain set a

perfect model for the later Manchu rulers in the Qing dynasty.

After a subsiding period during Ming dynasty, the worship of Tibetan Buddhism was

revived ferociously when the Manchu came to power and reinvigorated unprecedentedly

during the Qing dynasty. Three hundred year later, Tibetan Buddhism was once again

became the official religion of the empire, where the regime of sacral legitimacy as seen in

Yuan dynasty was inherited and further refined by the Qing imperial court. As pointed out by

Debreczeny, Manchus’ fascination with the Tibetan Buddhism in the seventeenth and %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

21% Debreczeny,%14.%%22% The%Monk%Lhundrup,%Pilgrimage%Map%of%Mount%Wutai.%%23% The%Monk%Lhundrup,%Pilgrimage%Map%of%Mount%Wutai.%

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eighteenth century could be directly attributed to the Mongols patronage in the thirteenth

century. “Lacking the proper bloodlines to claim themselves as the descendants of Qubilai

Khan, the Manchu rulers used the Tibetan Buddhist succession mechanism of reincarnation

to declare themselves Qubilai Khan’s spiritual inheritors.”24 It is important to note that the

incorporation of the Mongols in the Qing dynasty was indispensible for the Manchu court’s

survival, and both the Qubilai Khan lineage and Tibetan Buddhism appeared frequently in the

Mongol political vocabulary in the seventeenth century.25 Furthermore, “by promoting

themselves as emanations of Mañjuśrī, the Manchu emperors were essentially declaring

themselves Qubilai Khan reborn.”26 Going further to claim the connection with Mañjuśrī,

emperors in the Qing dynasty denied their images as outsiders by referring themselves as

Mañjuśrī. The most impressive example could be the Manchu emperor Kangxi, who

commissioned many works of art to portray himself as Mañjuśrī, such as in Portrait of the

Qianlong emperor as the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (fig. 2). Also, he claimed himself as Mañjuśrī

in his preface to the officially commissioned Mongolian translation of the Tibetan Buddhist

canon (1718-1720): “Then Mañjuśrī, the savior of all living forms, [with the] intellect of all

the Buddhas, was transformed into human form, and ascended the Fearless Lion Throne of

gold; and this was none other than the sublime Emperor Kangxi-Mañjuśrī who assisted and

brought joy to the entire vast world.”27

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Moreover, the classic Tale of Kangxi Shooting The Tiger depicted in the map portrays

Kangxi as a capable ruler in the presence of Mañjuśrī. In the below right of the map, the

emperor was tightening the bow and aiming at the tiger that was terrorizing the locals and

traveling merchants by the roadside, and on his left, the wild beast was defeated by a single

arrow. Nearby the scene, a stone tablet carved with name of the place “Tiger Shot Stream”

was erected to commemorate the event. According to the illustration given by the Rubin

Museum of Art, Kangxi “pacifying the region mirrors Manjushri’s subjugation of local

poisonous dragons on Wutaishan, alluded to by the dragon’s tail which Kangxi grasps.” The

brave taming of the beast was a sign of the emperor’s capacity to expel the tribulation for his

people and as his crucial emanation of Manjushri.28

Also, many temples on the map were at the time converted to Tibetan and Mongolian

institutions from Chinese Buddhist monasteries, such as the Rahula Temple, founded in the

Tang period and rebuilt in 1492. It was converted from a Chinese Buddhist temple to a

Tibetan Buddhist temple in 1683 and became a popular pilgrimage place for Mongols since

then. 29 Also, according to Debreczeny, Wutai Mountain under the Qing empire was

supported with more autonomy in its affairs and the Tibetan and Mongolian clergy enjoyed a

specially privileged position.30 In addition to the conversion of Chinese temples to Tibetan or

Mongolian institutions, the government provided abundant financial support to them and The

position of head of all religious and temporal affairs for both Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist

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institutions on Wutaishan was given to a Mongolian practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, the

“JasaghLama”, with his seat at Pusa ding Monestery.”31 In the map, Pusa ding was depicted

with special attention and positioned at the center of the map, where “its yellow-tiled rooftops,

usually reserved for imperial palaces, stamps the monastery with an imperial identity,”

because of its long acknowledged status as the focus of imperial patronage and the

administrative heart of this hierarchy since the eighth century.32

As shown in the map, many Tibetan and Mongolian monasteries were in typical Chinese

styles, distinguished by the titled roofs and bell-shape towers, and in contrast, the stupas are

always shown in Tibetan style, as in the stupa of Taranatha at the below left of the map.33

Also, many objects blending Tibetan and Chinese styles illustrate a confluence of the cultures,

such as the large appliqué of a Tibetan master made with Chinese artistic techniques, which

was meant to hang in Cave of Sudhana, as shown in the center of map besides of large

procession.34 The mixture of Chinese and Tibetan styles goes beyond the architectural

evidence in the map. The pilgrim procession depicted at the center of the map consists of a

group of people, composed of Mongols, Tibetans, and Chinese practitioners of Tibetan

Buddhism, distinguished by cultural specific costumes and activities. According to Wutai

Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain, “in some cases rituals and liturgies are printed and

performed in both Tibetan and Chinese at the same monastery at Wutai Mountain. This

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Sino-Tibetan cultural confluence is a fairly unique quality to Wutai Mountain.”35 The

diverse styles of both the temples and the people in the map indicate Wutai Mountain as a

transnational, global, and cross-cultural site in which dissimilar cultures co-exist, influence

each other, and entwining together to consist a complete whole.

As discussed above, the map acts as a perfect historical proof of the Tibetan and

Mongolian legacy spanning more than a thousand years on the mountain, and as the

prototype for depicting Wutai Mountain during the Qing dynasty. Also, these maps

experienced a wide circulation since then and served as the catalyst for hundreds years of

pilgrimages bringing back Mongols and Tibetans to the Chinese territory till today.

Continuously introducing exotic flavors to the mountain, the Mongols act as indispensible

forces to bring about the international exchanges and to shape the cosmopolitan landscape.

The pilgrimages of different populations constantly reshape the mountain through every new

visit added on top of the pre-existing narratives. Over the 1500 years, the mountain, like a

melting pot, takes in disparate memories, weaves together disconnected dots, adds on

sprinkles along the reformation, and finally becomes a nexus that presents the historical relics

as an array of lively totems.

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Bibliography

“Master Works of Himalayan Art ”, Rubin Museum of Art, Feb 2016 – Feb 2017, Exhibition

Wall Text

The Monk Lhundrup, engraver of sanggai Ayimag, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Pilgrimage Map

of Mount Wutai, Cifu Temple, Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China; 1846. Painted

woodblock print.

Chou, Wen-shing. “Ineffable Paths: Mapping Wutaishan in Qing Dynasty China”. (Taylor &

Francis, Ltd., College Art Association, Mar., 2007): 108–129.

Debreczeny, Karl, “Wutai Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain”, Tibetan and Himalayan

Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies. 2011. Web.

Farquhar, David. “Emperor as Bodhisattva in the Governance of the Ch’ing Empire,”

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 38, no. 1 (1978): 9