Mongol pilgrimages to Wutaishan in the late Qing Dynasty

Journal of theInternational Association

of Tibetan Studies

Issue 6 — December 2011

ISSN 1550-6363

An online journal published by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL)

www.jiats.org

http://www.jiats.org

Editor-in-Chief: David GermanoGuest Editors: Gray Tuttle, Johan Elverskog

Book Review Editor: Bryan J. CuevasManaging Editor: Steven WeinbergerAssistant Editor:William McGrathTechnical Director: Nathaniel Grove

Contents

Articles

• Wutai Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain (pp. 1-133)– Karl Debreczeny

• Tales of Conjured Temples (huasi) in Qing Period MountainGazetteers (pp. 134-162)

– Susan Andrews

• Tibetan Buddhism at Wutai Shan in the Qing: The Chinese-languageRegister (pp. 163-214)

– Gray Tuttle

• Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan (pp. 215-242)– Kurtis R. Schaeffer

• Wutai Shan, Qing Cosmopolitanism, and the Mongols (pp. 243-274)– Johan Elverskog

• Mongol Pilgrimages to Wutai Shan in the Late Qing Dynasty (pp. 275-326)– Isabelle Charleux

• Bla brang Monastery and Wutai Shan (pp. 327-348)– Paul K. Nietupski

• The Jiaqing Emperor’sMagnificent Record of the Western Tour (pp. 349-371)– Patricia Berger

• Maps of Wutai Shan: Individuating the Sacred Landscape throughColor (pp. 372-388)

– Wen-shing Chou

• The Thirteenth Dalai Lama at Wutai Shan: Exile and Diplomacy (pp. 389-410)– Elliot Sperling

• Gifts at Wutai Shan: Rockhill and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (pp. 411-428)– Susan Meinheit

ii

Article Related to JIATS Issue 4

• Of Horses and Motorbikes: Negotiating Modernities in Pastoral A mdo, SichuanProvince (pp. 429-450)

– Lilian Iselin

Book Reviews

• Review of Jokhang: Tibet’s Most Sacred Buddhist Temple, by Gyurme Dorje, TashiTsering, Heather Stoddard, and André Alexander (pp. 451-466)

– Cameron David Warner

• Review of Buddhism and Empire: The Political and Religious Culture of EarlyTibet, by Michael Walter (pp. 467-471)

– Sam van Schaik

Abstracts (pp. 472-476)

Contributors to this Issue (pp. 477-480)

iii

Mongol Pilgrimages to Wutai Shan in the Late QingDynasty

Isabelle CharleuxNational Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Abstract: Since the beginning of the Qing dynasty, Mongols have viewed WutaiShan as a substitute for Tibet pilgrimages. Relying on various Mongolian, Chinese,Japanese, and Western sources (stone inscriptions, local gazetteers, travelogues,mountain guides), this paper tries to document the pilgrimage of Mongols toWutaiShan from the late Qing dynasty to the early twentieth century. Who were theordinary pilgrims, where did they come from, and what were their motivations?How were they informed about the pilgrimage and how did they travel to WutaiShan?What were they particularly looking for and what were their priorities? Thefinal section deals with a particular type of cave, the famous “Womb Cave,” andits connection to pilgrimage sites in Mongolia.

Introduction

Un lieu saint ne peut exister sans l’action centrifuge des saints et des religieux,et l’action centripète des pèlerins. Les religieux proposent et les pèlerins disposent.1

Pilgrimage is one of the most important expressions of lay religiosity. Mongolsbeing reputedly pious and sincere devotees, their devotion at pilgrimage sites wasspectacular. As noted by a few nineteenth- and early twentieth-century observers,they made pilgrimages to numerous local shrines, but none of them could compareto Wutai Shan. James Gilmour for instance, who traveled from 1870 to 1880,compared the Wutai pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Mecca.2 Yet this had not always

1 Katia Buffetrille, “Montagnes sacrées, lacs et grottes. Lieux de pèlerinage dans le monde tibétain.Traditions écrites, réalités vivantes,” (Ph.D diss., Nanterre, 1996), 390.2 “All overMongolia, and whereverMongols are met with in North China, one is constantly reminded

of this place. It is true that the mania which possesses theMongols for making pilgrimages carries themto many other shrines, some of which are both celebrated and much frequented, but none of them canbe compared to Wu T’ai.” James Gilmour, Among the Mongols (New York: Praeger, 1970 [1883]),141.

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011): 275-326.http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5712.1550-6363/2011/6/T5712.© 2011 by Isabelle Charleux, Tibetan and Himalayan Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies.Distributed under the THL Digital Text License.

http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5712

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been the case: the transformation into a Tibeto-Mongol3 pilgrimage site was agradual process. Although Tibetan Buddhist monasteries were built on themountainby the YuanMongol emperors, we have no evidence ofMongol pilgrimages beforethe mid-Qing dynasty, when Rol pa’i rdo rje (1717-86), the Second (or Third forthe Chinese) Zhangjia (章嘉, lcang skya) Qutuγtu, spent summers on themountainfor thirty-six years (1750-1786). At that time, three thousand bla mas (lama, 喇嘛, blama)4 lived in twenty-six Tibeto-Mongol monasteries at Wutai Shan.5Although the Qing also subsidized the Chinese monasteries,6 the Tibeto-Mongolones were obviously wealthier and received more donations from the Qing court.7

Figure 1: General view of Wutai Shan in thefirst half of the twentieth century. ErnestBoerschmann, Picturesque China - Architectureand Landscape - A Journey through TwelveProvinces (New York: Brentano’s, 1923).Photographs taken between 1906-1909.http://www.pbase.com/lambsfeathers/image/43157671.

Thesemonasteries staffed byMongol andTibetanmonks attracted so manyMongolpilgrims that during the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries Wutai Shanpresented a strong exotic flavor forChinese visitors. With Qing support, theTibeto-Mongol monasteries became aTibetan enclave on the edge of Chineseterritory, only a few hundred kilometersfrom Mongolia, ruled by therepresentative of the Dalai Lama in China– the head ruling lama (Jasaγ Da Blama).8Under the emperor Jiaqing (嘉庆, r.1796-1820),Wutai Shan was called Tibet

3 The terms “lamaist” and “Lamaism” – which are no longer in use in the academic world (see DonaldLopez, Prisoners of Shangri-la: Tibetan Buddhism and the West [Chicago & London: The Universityof Chicago Press, 1998]) – would be more appropriate for these monasteries that were staffed byTibetan, Mongol, but also Monguor and Han Chinese monks.4 I here use the term “bla mas” in current Mongolian usage (fully ordained monks in Tibeto-Mongol

Buddhism), to distinguish them clearly from the monks of Chinese Buddhism. The Chinese sourceson Wutai Shan use the terms monk in yellow robe (huangyi seng, 黃衣僧), lama, or foreign monk(fanseng,番僧).5 Tian Pixu et al., ed., Wutai xin zhi, juan 1 and 4 (Chongshi shuyuan, 1883).6 See Nathalie Köhle, “Why Did the Kangxi Emperor Go to Wutai Shan?: Patronage, Pilgrimage,

and the Place of Tibetan Buddhism at the Early Qing Court,” Late Imperial China 29, no. 1 (2008):73-119.7 The rent and produce from their lands were their first source of income. In addition, Tibetan

monasteries received larger imperial favors, as well as a tribute from Shanxi Province (Xin Butang andZheng Fulin, “Wutai Shan simiao jingji de tansuo,” Wutai Shan yanjiu [1995, no. 3]: 28). Of the fivemonasteries that received the highest amounts of donations in 1936, four were Tibeto-Mongolmonasteries: Tayuan Si (塔院寺, suburγan süme; 17,000 yuan), Pusa Ding (15,000 yuan), Cifu Si (慈福寺, byams dge gling, buyan ibegegci süme; 11,000 yuan), Zhenhai Si (鎮海寺, luus-i daruγsan süme;10,000 yuan); Xin and Zheng, “Wutai Shan simiao jingji,” 28.8 The six first head ruling lamas were appointed by the Manchu emperors; from the seventh on, they

were appointed every sixth year by the Dalai Lama and became ambassadors for Tibetan religiousaffairs in China.

276Charleux:Mongol Pilgrimages to Wutai Shan

http://www.pbase.com/lambsfeathers/image/43157671

of China (Zhonghua Weizang, 中華衛藏)9 and a statute was created grantingTibetans there extraterritoriality. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, who took refuge inWutai Shan in 1907-1908, felt more secure and free there than in Beijing. However,during that period, Wutai Shan continued to be a very important pilgrimage sitefor Chinese Buddhists, included in the circuit of the Four Grand and FamousMountains (Si da ming shan,四大名山).

Figure 3: A Mongol Bla ma invited to make aritual for the festival of the Wuyemiao, theChinese temple dedicated to the Five DragonKings in Taihuai Village, July 2007. Photo byIsabelle Charleux.

Figure 2: Bla mas playing music during the’Cham ritual. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 14.

Popular Wutai ShanIf the imperial patronage of the mountain has attracted the attention of past andpresent scholars – see the numerous publications on the imperially-founded templesand the steles and poems written by emperors – the activities of ordinary pilgrimsare comparatively poorly documented. I will try here to move away from theimperial center and focus on the ordinary Mongols who undertook the pilgrimageto Wutai Shan: why, how they came, and what they did there. These pilgrims didnot write travelogues about their journeys, but had stone inscriptions carved tocommemorate their donations. About 340 Mongolian stone inscriptions still standat Wutai Shan and have not been published. Some were carved on very bad qualitystone, so they are now completely illegible, but the majority has been wellpreserved. They generally inform us on the date of the donation, the name andorigin of pilgrims, and the amount of donations.10

9 Stele, “Qingliang Shan ji,” (1811) inWutai Shan beiwen biane yinglian shifu xuan, edited by ZhouZhenhua, et al. (Taiyuan: Shanxi jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998), 81.10 The names, dates and authors of 249 stone inscriptions are listed in Zhongguo Menggu wen gu ji

zong mu bian wei hui, ed., Zhongguo Menggu wen guji zongmu (Beijing: Beijing tu shu guan chu banshe, 1999), 2141-47, n. 12610-47, and 2178-211, n. 12786-996. I thank Vladimir Uspensky and JohanElverskog for this information. I found 91 more stone inscription on Wutai Shan.

277Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)

Travelers’ accounts also inform us about the Mongol pilgrims’ practices.11European explorers, scientists, diplomats and missionaries, as well as Chineseofficials, scientists and pilgrims who went to Wutai Shan in the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuries give us some vivid descriptions of the Mongolpilgrims. At last, a useful source is the 1846 wood-block map made by a Mongolmonk of the Cifu Si. As shown by ChouWen-shing, the map is not only a religiousrecord of monasteries, miracles and apparitions, but also an ethnographic documentthat gives a glimpse of the daily life of merchants, pilgrims and monks, the roadsand paths they took, and the gestures they made in front of temples.12

These sources tell us about sacred features of the landscape – grottoes, springs,ponds, strange rocks, as well as ritual practices associated with them, suggestingthe popular appropriation of the mountain. Some of these popular practices, suchas crawling through the cave of initiatory rebirth, which will be the object of thethird part of this paper, are not documented by official records, probably becausethey do not belong to any learned tradition and because the eminent monks neverconsidered them as important compared, for instance, to the manifestations ofMañjuśrī. The clerical views of the mountain differ from the pilgrims’ ordinaryexperiences.13 These popular practices and narratives reveal the transformation ofthe mountain as a Tibeto-Mongol pilgrimage site, and inform us, in a different waythan the Tibetan andMongol gazetteers, about how the Tibetans andMongol monksand pilgrims reshaped the mountain.

I will thus raise a few questions about how the reconfiguration of Wutai Shanas a Tibeto-Mongol pilgrimage site supported by the Qing emperors for theMongolswas adopted and reshaped by them. What did Wutai Shan really mean for theMongols, how could it compare and compete with Tibetan pilgrimages, and howdid the Tibetans and Mongols transplant and superimpose Tibetan pilgrimage

11 I mostly used the following accounts: Gilmour, Among the Mongols, and Rev. Joseph Edkins,Religion in China; containing a brief account of the three religions of the Chinese: with observationson the prospects of Christian conversion amongst that people (London: Trübner & Co., 1893 [1878]),who traveled together in 1872; D. Pokotilov, “Der Wu T’ai Schan und seine Klöster,” trans. fromGerman by W. A. Unkrig, Sinica-Sonderausgabe (1935): 38-89 (U-taj, Ego prošloe I nastojaščcee,Zapiski Imp. Russk. Geogr. Obščestva po obščej geografii 22 [Saint-Petersbourg, 1893]: 2), whotraveled in 1889;WilliamW. Rockhill, “A Pilgrimage to the Great Buddhist Sanctuary of North China,”The Atlantic Monthly 75, no. 452 (June 1895): 758-69, who traveled in 1887 and 1908; Emil S. Fischer,The Sacred Wu Tai Shan in connection with modern travel from Tai yuan fu via Mount Wu Tai to theMongolian border (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1923); John Blofeld, The Wheel of Life. TheAutobiography of a Western Buddhist (London: Rider & co, 1959), who traveled in 1935-36; GaoHenian, Ming Shan youfang ji (Beijing: Zong jiao wen hua chu ban she, 2000 [repr.; first ed. 1949]),who traveled in 1903 and 1912; Jiang Weiqiao, “Wutai Shan jiyou,” juan 10, 1918, in Gujin youjicongchao 3, ed. Lao Yi’an (Taibei: Taiwan Zhonghua shu ju,Minguo 50 [1961], 48 juan: 15-26); andZhang Dungu, “Wutai Shan can fo riji,” Dixue zazhi 3, no. 1 (1911): 17-28, who traveled in 1911.12 ChouWen-shing, “Ineffable Paths: MappingWutaishan in Qing Dynasty China,” The Art Bulletin

89, no. 1 (March 2007): 108-29, and this volume.13 The “gap” which exists between a pilgrim’s mundane experience of a holy place and visionary

accounts of an environment’s sublime features has been explored by specialists of Tibetan pilgrimages(Alexander W. Macdonald, “Foreword,” in Pilgrimage in Tibet, ed. Alex McKay [Richmond (Surrey)& Leiden: Curzon Press, International Institute for Asian Studies, 1998], x).


traditions onto the preexistentWutai Shan landscape and narrative by creating newsites, legends and rituals?

I will begin with a presentation of howWutai Shan became a popular destinationamong Mongols during the late Qing dynasty, and then try to give an overview oftheir peregrinations and daily religious practices. The third part of the article willfocus on pilgrims’ practices at natural holy sites, and particularly, caves. Manyquestions will remain unsolved and demand further studies, in particular whethertheMongol pilgrims observed certain vows, certain taboos, and in what ways theirpilgrimage was different from that of Chinese devotees.

Promoting the MountainThe reasons why the Mongols considered Wutai Shan to be the most sacred placeto visit on earth are many – the ancientness and pan-Asian Buddhist character ofthe pilgrimage, the particular promotion of the mountain during the Yuan dynasty,the importance of the cult of Mañjuśrī in Buddhist Mongolia,14 the promotion ofthe mountain by the earlyManchus, linked with the cult of the emperor-Mañjuśrī,15and by the Mongolian and Tibetan clergy affiliated to the Qing court. But whatwere the means of propaganda used on the common Mongolian herders?

David Farquhar stressed the importance of theMongolian guide-books (γarcaγ,dkar chag) as a major instrument of promotion of the holy mountain for theMongols.16 The first guide-book ofWutai Shan inMongol was written by LobsangDanjin (blo bzang bstan ’jin , seventeenth century), at the request of AwangLaozang (阿王老藏, ngag dbang blo bzang, 1601-87), the first head ruling lamaof Wutai Shan.17 It was published in Beijing in 1667 or, more probably, 1721.Farquhar showed that it was one of the first block-prints made in China for theMongols and assumed it was supported by the imperial court to promote themountain.18 This book had a very large circulation and was still available in theearly twentieth century.19 However, the guide-books were read by a minority oflearnedMongols and were probably not the main means of promotingWutai Shan.

14 About the importance of Mañjuśrī in religious canonical texts as well as in texts and narrativesused in Mongols’ daily life, see Johan Elverskog, “Wutai Shan, Qing Cosmopolitanism, and theMongols,” Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011),http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5715 .15 David M. Farquhar, “Emperor as Bodhisattva in the Governance of the Ch’ing Empire,” Harvard

Journal of Asiatic Studies 38, no. 2 (1978): 5-34.16 Farquhar, “Emperor as Bodhisattva.”17 Uta-yin tabun aγulan-u orusil süsüg-ten-ü cikin cimeg orusiba (“A Guide to the Five Mountains

of Wutai: Ornament for the Ears of the Devotees”); see Walther Heissig, Die Pekinger LamaistischenBlockdrucke in mongolischer Sprache. Materialien zur mongolischen Literaturgeschichte, GöttingerAsiatische Forschungen 2 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1954), n°7, n°58. Ngag dbang blo bzangwas appointed by imperial order in 1659.18 Farquhar, “Emperor as Bodhisattva,” 30.19 Heissig, Die Pekinger, 12, n. 4. On the other Mongolian guidebooks, see Farquhar, “Emperor as

Bodhisattva,” 30; Gray Tuttle, “Early Qing Patronage of (Tibetan) Buddhism at Wutai Shan: The



A second means was the wood-block images of Wutai Shan such as the CifuSi image dated 1846, which was widely circulated, recarved, and copied on othersupports (silks, mural paintings). It was exported to Outer Mongolia: Dr. G. J.Ramstedt’s Finnish expedition purchased one print in 1909 at Örgüge (YekeKüriye)in a Beijing shop, “an agency representing the Wutai Shan monasteries,” alongwith sixty-three brightly colored thang ka probably made on the mountain.20 Theprint preserved in the Museum of the Mission of Fathers of Scheut (C. I. C. M.)in Belgium was probably purchased in Inner Mongolia.21 In 1874, onlythirty-two years after the first print, the image was re-carved on new wood-blocks,probably somewhere in China, and other similar style wood-blocks also exist.22

The Cifu Si image of Wutai Shan, by giving an easily decipherable panorama,helped spread knowledge of the mountain. It could at the same time be used as aguide-map,23 a model for painters, a souvenir, an object of worship comparablewith the paintings of famous monasteries found in Mongolian monasteries,24 andeven the locus of a surrogate pilgrimage. According to the Chinese inscription, thepilgrimage toWutai Shan and the act of seeing this map are two means of listeningto and preaching the dharma ofMañjuśrī and ensure blessings, happiness, longevity,and deliverance from all calamities and diseases in this life.25 By worshipping themap the pilgrim could even make a more complete pilgrimage than the original.26

The Mongolian gazetteers and the Cifu Si image were made widely availableto the Mongols, but the promotion of the mountain was mostly done in the field,through the oral accounts of pilgrims and monks, the tales of miracles, visions andencounters with Mañjuśrī, and the advices and prescriptions given by learned blamas and reincarnations who encouraged Mongols to undertake the pilgrimage tocure an illness. Besides, the numerous monks from the Wutai Shan monasterieswho traveled around, gathering funds for restoration work or new construction,spread the fame of Wutai Shan throughout Mongolia and even in Buryatia withsuch persuasion that after their visit, theMongol donors often made a vow to makea pilgrimage to the mountain. These bla mas, in charge of the treasury of a

Chinese Language Register,” paper read at the “ConferenceWutai Shan and Qing Culture” (NewYork,May 12-13, 2007), Appendix 1.20 Harry Halén, Mirrors of the Void, Buddhist Art in the National Museum of Finland, 64

Sino-Mongolian thang ka from the Wutai Shan Workshops, a Panoramic Map of the Wutai Mountainsand Objects of Diverse Origins (Helsinki: Museovirasto, 1987), 4. The thang ka and the map are nowin the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki.21 Museum of China, Anderlecht, inv. Bouddhisme/N°193, personal communication of Father

Jean-Pierre Benit.22 Chou, “Ineffable paths,” 126, n. 2, 11, and 12; 127 n. 48, 49.23 Although its labels are written in Chinese and Tibetan, not in Mongolian.24 A painting of Wutai Shan together with seven Tibetan monasteries is found on the second floor

of the Coγcin Dugang (built in 1757) of Badγar Coyiling Süme (or Aγui Yeke Onul-Tu Süme, UdanJuu, Ch. Wudang Zhao, north east of Baotou). See Isabelle Charleux, Temples et monastères deMongolie-Intérieure (Paris: Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques & Institut Nationald’Histoire de l’Art, 2006), fig. 104 and CD-rom 63.25 Translation of the Chinese inscription in Chou, “Ineffable paths,” 125, “Appendix.”26 Chou, “Ineffable paths,” 124.


monastery or of a reincarnation, organized annual collective fund-raisingexpeditions, setting off with carts and tents; others traveled alone and were calledwandering monk.27 They left the mountain in the spring and returned before winter.As noted by the missionary James Gilmour, “these expeditions are numerous andindefatigable, and perhaps there is no tent, rich or poor, throughout the wholelength and breadth of the eastern half of Mongolia, which is not visited by suchdeputation every year. These collectors penetrate even beyond the bounds of theChinese empire, and carry off rich offerings from the Buriats, who compared withMongols are wealthy. Food, tea, skins, cattle, money, all are eagerly received[…].”28 Fund-raising bla mas fromBla brang, Dgon lung byams pa gling and otherA mdo monasteries also criss-crossed Mongolia, and found Mongol herdersgenerally wealthier than Tibetans.

TheWutai Shan wanderingmonkwere held in great esteem byMongol families.Going from yurt to yurt, they delivered a speech about the monastery where theycame from, the temples and stūpa they had to repair, asking for the great compassionof the donor and telling them of the infinite merits they could obtain. They broughtsmall gifts – silk they bought in Beijing, clothes for the children, silk scarves,statues from the mountain, charm (adis, adhiṣṭhāna),29 as well as children’s shoesfor childless families as a promise to bring them children. Like other wanderingbadarci, they also brought news and stories.30 Once they had gathered enoughfunds, they returned to Wutai Shan, sometimes with large sums of money, goldand silver, driving before them up to two thousand sheep and hundreds of horses.31They usually sold some of these animals in the towns they went through.32 Thosewho traveled to Eastern Inner Mongolia went via Beijing,33 where they purchasedvarious artifacts to take to Mongolia, and on their way back, they exchanged partof the gifts they had received for silk in Beijing. Wutai Shan bla mas who traveledin Mongolia for other purposes, such as to take back home ill or tired pilgrims,also received many gifts from Mongol families on the way.34

27 A term that designates a wandering unordained practitioner who traveled for various purposes: tocollect funds to build a monastery, teach and spread the Dharma, further their religious training inTibet, or to run away from taxes and debts (C. Gocoo, “Le Badarci mongol,” trans. from Mongolianby Sarah Dars, Études Mongoles 1 [Nanterre, 1970]: 73-77).28 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 151.29 Squares of white paper written in Tibetan containing flour and sugar, rice, and so forth, to eat as

a medicine, to bring happiness, wealth and luck.30 SongWenhui, “Mengzu renmin deWutai Shan qing,”Wutai Shan yanjiu (2000, no. 3): 33; quoting

a document written by a Qaracin bla ma and preserved in the Archives of the Qaracin Right Banner,which relates the expeditions of alms-collecting bla mas visiting the Qaracin Right banner in InnerMongolia.31 In 1930 a certain Babu (twentieth century), after having deducted his traveling expenses, brought

back 1,300 silver dollars to his monastery (Song, “Mengzu renmin,” 33).32 Song, “Mengzu renmin,” 33.33 John Blofeld met a fund-raising monk from Wutai Shan in Beijing around 1936-37 (The Wheel

of Life, 96-97).34 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 149.


The Mongol donors whose names were entered in the subscription list gainedgood merit through the act of donation, and were to think that they had createdconnections with Wutai Shan. They had established a particular relation, a speciallink with a specific monastery, so that when they went to the mountain, they wouldthen bewelcomed to that monastery “as old acquaintances by thosewho experiencedtheir hospitality in the desert, and were the recipients of their pious gifts.”35 Thesefund-raising expeditions certainly played an important role in the spread ofknowledge of the mountain and were therefore a living advertisement for WutaiShan.

The Mongolian Pilgrimages to Wutai Shan

When Did the Pilgrimage Start?We don’t know exactly when the pilgrimage started. Wutai Shan does not seemto have been an important place for Mongols to visit during the late sixteenthcentury renaissance of Buddhism inMongolia. In the early Qing dynasty (Shunzhi[顺治, r. 1644-61] and Kangxi [康熙, r. 1662-1722] reigns), Mongols started tofinance the restoration of temples on the mountain.We can assume that pilgrimagesof lay Mongols may have become popular when the population of Tibetan andMongol monks living in Wutai Shan increased significantly, that is, under theQianlong (乾隆, r. 1736-95) emperor and particularly when the Zhangjia QutuγtuRol pa’i rdo rje lived on the mountain. The rise of religious poetry at that periodreveal the strong attraction Wutai Shan exerted over Tibetan and Mongol clericsat that time.36But sources suggest that the pilgrimage reached its peak of popularityamong the lay Mongols from the nineteenth century up to the 1930s.37 Stoneinscriptions reveal that the patronage of Mongol donors replaced the decliningimperial patronage in the second half of the nineteenth century: of the 340 stoneinscriptions in Mongolian or multilingual including Mongolian, 135 date from theRepublican period, 147 from the 1880-1911 and only thirty-four are dated before1880 (on twenty-four inscriptions the date is illegible).38

Even if we can assume that maps ofWutai Shan weremade before the nineteenthcentury, the making of the Cifu Si map in 1846 by a Mongolian monk, and itscirculation again showWutai Shan to have been a very lively place in the nineteenthcentury.

35 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 151.36See Kurtis R. Schaeffer, “Tibetan Poetry onWutai Shan,” Journal of the International Association

of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011), http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5719.37 However, in 1900, A. W. S. Wingate, “Nine Years’ Survey and Exploration in Northern and

Central China (Continued),” The Geographical Journal 29, no. 3 (March 1907): 276, noticed a “largefalling off in the number of Mongol pilgrims” and consequently “a heavy shortage in the amount ofcontributions,” and gave as explanation the scarcity of water along the routes.38 Elverskog, “Wutai Shan, Qing Cosmopolitanism, and the Mongols”; Zhongguo Menggu wen gu

ji zong mu bian wei hui, ed., Zhongguo Menggu wen, 2141-47, n°12610-12647, and 2178-211,n°12786-996, and personal observation.



Who Were the Pilgrims?The Mongol pilgrims were common people as well as the Borjigid aristocracy,laymen and bla mas, coming from Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and China.39The main Mongol group represented by the stone inscriptions are the Sünid ofInner Mongolia (fifty inscriptions),40 then come the Caqar, Dariγangγa, Abaγa,Kesigten from Inner Mongolia, and pilgrims from Secen Qan Ayimaγ in OuterMongolia. According to the stone inscriptions of Shifang Tang,41 the clerics (fromnovices to abbots and reincarnations) represent one-third of the donors. However,since this monastery was founded to accommodate Tibetan, Mongol and Manchubla mas coming from afar, the monks were probably over-represented in ShifangTang, and the general proportion of bla mas among pilgrims was probably less.

AntoineMostaert noted that generally only the wealthy, and the itinerant beggingmonks, could undertake long journeys such as going to Lhasa.42However, it seemsthat a pilgrimage to Wutai Shan was affordable to ordinary Mongolian familiesbecause it was close to the Mongol border and herders were able to bring alongtheir flocks and herds more easily. Although there were no regulations concerningthe pilgrims in the Lifanyuan zeli, Mongol pilgrims did have to obtain a travelpermit from the administration of their banner.

Figure 5: Modern Mongol pilgrims from Otoγbanner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, July 2007.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.Figure 4: Mongolian women attending the

festival. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 23.

The Mongol noblemen and important reincarnations would take it in turns(modeled on the New Year “pilgrimage to the emperor” [chaojin,朝覲], every sixyears) to make the pilgrimage to Wutai Shan. For instance, each year twelve of

39 The Mongols of China include the Mongols of the Eight Manchu banners as well as the Mongolsliving in China since the Ming dynasty. I have no information on Monguor and Manchu pilgrims.40 Since seventy percent of the stone inscriptions are located in Shifang Tang (see below), this could

mean that the SünidMongols stayed in Shifang Tang and used to carve a stone to record their donations,while other Mongol groups did not.41 Also called Guangren Si (廣仁寺, nub phyogs kun ’dus gling, örüsiyel-i badaraγuluγci süme),

founded by a monk from the Co ne Monastery in A mdo, and staffed by Tibetan bla mas.42 Antoine Mostaert (cicm), “Matériaux ethnographiques relatifs aux Mongols Ordos,” Central

Asiatic Journal 2 (1956), 289.


the InnerMongolian Ruling Princes and their families went on pilgrimage toWutaiShan, which means that each of the ruling families of the forty-eight banners ofInner Mongolia would go to Wutai Shan every four years. Mongol nobles andhigh-ranking monks were sometimes invited to accompany the emperor on hispilgrimage. The First Jebcündamba Qutuγtu made a pilgrimage to the mountainwith the Kangxi emperor in 1698.43 In 1811 the Jiaqing emperor took Mongolnobles to pray at Wutai Shan; they visited temples “in the spirit of a unique familyof interior (China) and exterior (outside China).”44

Worship and Fairs: The Motivations of the Mongol Pilgrims

Figure 6: White stūpas and tombs on thehillsides with Mongol script. Photo by GrayTuttle.

TheMongols used to go toWutai Shanfor three main reasons: worship, burial,and trade. Their major motivation, as inany Buddhist pilgrimage, was toaccumulate merit and gain a betterreincarnation for themselves or for livingor dead relatives (by transfer of merit).As the meaning of the Mongolian wordfor the Buddhist notion of merit (buyanpunya), which also means good luck,fortune and prosperity,45 reflects, theywere also seeking happiness andprosperity in this life and their futurelives. SomeMongols used to go toWutaiShan often, sometimes as much as oncea year, hoping that each new visit wouldensure happiness in a new life.46 Somehad specific goals such as to ask for anheir, to look for a vision, to do penance,or to cure an illness; but many were justfulfilling their vow to go to the mountain.It was sometimes the most important vowof their life and also their most risky and

43 Charles Bawden, ed., The Jebtsundamba Khutukhtus of Urga (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz,1961, Asiatische Forschungen, 9), 56, 58.44 As recorded in the stele “Qingliang Shan beiji,” inWutai Shan bei wen, edited by Zhou, et al., 81.

On imperial tours to Wutai Shan in general, see Köhle, “Why Did the Kangxi Emperor,” and on theJiaqing emperor’s tour toWutai Shan, see Patricia Berger, “The Jiaqing Emperor’sMagnificent Recordof the Western Tour ,” Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December2011), http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5711.45 For a discussion of “orthodox” benefits (notions of karma and accumulation of merit) and less

“orthodox” ones (such as good luck, purification of sins, transgressions and pollution, life energy,longevity) in Tibetan pilgrimages, see Toni Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: PopularPilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet (New York & Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1999), 10, 16-19.46 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 143.



difficult venture ever.47All this fits well with the standard definition of a pilgrimage,“a journey to a sanctified place, undertaken with the expectation of future spiritualand/or worldly benefit.”48

Figure 7: The horse and mule fair (luoma dahui,騾馬大會).

In addition to the ordinary pilgrims,many Mongols traveled to Wutai Shancarrying the bones of their deceasedparents and ashes of monks in order to beable to bury them in the holy land ofMañjuśrī, so that they could acquirereligious merit and have a betterreincarnation.49 They carried gold to buyseveral square chi (尺)50 of land and thenerected small funerary stūpa on the plot.So many Mongols asked to be buriedthere that an edict restricted burials at

Wutai Shan to the resident monks.51 But the urns carrying the cremated remainsof many reincarnations and abbots from Mongol monasteries continued to be sentthere in the early twentieth century to be buried in stūpa.52 For instance severalreincarnations of the Caγan Diyanci Qutuγtu from the Caγan Diyanci-Yin Keyidin Eastern Inner Mongolia (present-day Fuxin Autonomous District, Liaoning)had their relic stūpa (stūpa śarīra) built in Fenglin Valley (Fenglin Gu,風林谷)on Wutai Shan. Nowadays many old white stūpa and tombs can still be seen onthe hillsides and even near the monasteries.

47 Song, “Mengzu renmin,” 34.48 Alex McKay, “Introduction,” in Pilgrimage in Tibet, ed. Alex McKay (Richmond [Surrey] &

Leiden: Curzon Press, International Institute for Asian Studies, 1998), 1; a similar definition is givenby Susan Naquin and Yü Chün-Fang, “Introduction,” in Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1992), 3.49 According to the Lazarist fathers Huc and Gabet, who did not actually visit Wutai Shan: “The

most celebrated seat of Mongol burials is in the province of Chan-Si [Shanxi], at the famous Lamaseryof Five Towers (Ou-Tay) [Wu-t’ai]. According to the Tartars, the Lamasery of the Five Towers is thebest place you can be buried in. The ground in it is so holy, that those who are so fortunate as to beinterred there are certain of a happy transmigration thence. The marvellous sanctity of this place isattributed to the presence of Buddha, who for some centuries past has taken up his abode there in theinterior of the mountain. In 1842 the noble Tokoura, of whom we have already had occasion to speak,conveying the bones of his father and mother to the Five Towers, had the infinite happiness to beholdthere the venerable Buddha. […] it is certain that the Tartars and the Thibetians have given themselvesto an inconceivable degree of fanaticism in reference to the Lamasery of the Five Towers. You frequentlymeet, in the deserts of Tartary, Mongols carrying on their shoulders the bones of their parents to theFive Towers, to purchase almost at its weight in gold, a few feet of earth, whereon they may raise asmall mausoleum” (Régis Evariste Huc [1813-1860], Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-1846[trans. by William Hazlitt; ed. with an introduction by Professor Paul Pelliot, London: Routledge, 2vols., 1928 (repr.; first ed. 1924)], 93-94).50 1 chi = 0.32 meters.51 Guangxu, ed., Qinding Lifanyuan zeli, compiled in 1811, 64 juan (1890): 16, s. l., juan 59.52 Song, “Mengzu renmin,” 34.


Figure 8: The Yanglin Street market. Photo byGray Tuttle.

A third reason why Mongol pilgrimswere attracted to Wutai Shan was trade,which appears to have been – as withmany pilgrimages the world over – a veryimportant part of pilgrimages to WutaiShan, especially for the Mongols whocame every year. Wutai Shan became animportant Sino-Mongol trade center inthe late Qing dynasty. The pilgrimsbrought with them cattle, camels, mules,horses, hides, leather, wool, gold andsilver to give in offerings to themonasteries, but also to sell; thewealthiest camewith dozens of animals.53Of all theMongol social classes – princes,dukes, nobles (tayiji), monks, andcommon people – the wealthiest of allwere the monks.54During the sixth monthof the Lunar year, an important horse andmule fair (luoma dahui,騾馬大會 – butalso for cattle and donkeys) wasorganized, attracting traders from Zhili, Shandong, Henan, and southwest Shanxi.55It was started in the Qianlong period and is still held today.56 The cool climateallowed for the gathering of horses, and the pastures on Wutai Shan were said tobe excellent for horses and cattle; the grass and water quickly fattened, strengthenedand cured animals.57

The two main trading centers in the late Qing dynasty were Taihuai Zhen (twoli south of Xiantong Si [顯通寺, Гayiqamsiγtu tegüs süme], see the RubinMuseumCifu Si map) where twenty Chinese shops sold flour and other food products, andYanglin Street (Yanglin Jie, 楊林街), Xiantong Si’s main street. The YanglinStreet market, stretching out fromXiantong Si to either side of the 108 steps leadingto Pusa Ding,58 had narrow lanes that were densely crowded with thirty or fortyChinese merchant families. These shops belonged to the monasteries and were

53 Bai Meichu, Zhonghua Minguo shengqu quanzhi (Beijing: Beiping Shifan Daxue shi di xi, 1925,vol. 3: “Lu Yu Jin sansheng zhi”), 154.54 Zhang, “Wutai Shan can fo,” 25.55 Bai, Zhonghua minguo, 92.56 It was organized at the foot of Dailuo Ding near Taihuai, but was moved to the pastures facing

Zhenhai Si during the twentieth century.57 Han Heping, and Wang Miao, Wutai Shan (Hong Kong: Xianggang Zhongguo lü you chu ban

she), 1999, 98-99.58 The Pusa Ding, “Bodhisattva’s Ushnisha Monastery” or “Bodhisattva’s Peak Monastery”

(Bodisadua-Yin Orgil), was built during the Yongle (永乐, r. 1403-1424) reign on the old Da WenshuSi or Zhenrong Yuan that sheltered the “true image” of Mañjuśrī. It was the residence of the head rulinglama and thus the Dge lugs pa principal monastery, sponsored by the Manchu emperors.


rented to the Chinese.59 They sold all sorts of Tibetan-style ritual objects – woodenbowls,60 wooden rosaries, metal objects, statues, lacquer dishes, books, bells,amulets, prayer-wheels, vajra, glass, precious stones, seeds, thang ka, banners,charms in one, two, or three languages, oil paintings representing Buddha,Bodhisattva, Dharmapāla, Chinese gods, three-dimensional maṇḑala, but alsofurniture and cooking utensils for the yurt – everything that a Mongolian familyneeded could be bought there.61 Other merchants sold silk, antiques and leatherobjects.62 Two other markets were held at Yingfang Street (Yingfang Jie,營坊街)and Taiping Street (Taiping Jie, 太平街).63 In the late Qing and the Republicanperiod, the Chinese traders mostly came from Daizhou (Fanzhi District [FanzhiXian,繁峙縣], Wutai District [Wutai Xian,五臺縣], and Guo District [Guo Xian,崞縣]), and Xinding.64

Figure 9: Large appliqué of Tsong khapa containing a letter in Mongoliansewn inside dated 1805. NewarkMuseum.

Wutai Shan was certainly an important placefor Mongols to buy small statues and thang ka.Some of the thang ka and bronze images thatwere sold to the pilgrims were apparently madeinWutai Shan’s workshops, located in the shopsof Yanglin Street. The pilgrims could alsocommission a specific thang ka: this was thecase of the large appliqué of Tsong kha pa inthe Newark Museum, probably commissionedby anOngniγudMongolianwoman to a Chineseartist at Wutai Shan, and containing a letter in

59 Bai, Zhonghua minguo, 92; Xin and Zheng, “Wutai Shan simiao jingji,” 30.60 The production of wooden bowls made from outgrowths of willow roots, particularly prized by

Mongols and Tibetans, has continued up to the present day; they were reputed to be unbreakable, staycold when containing hot food and during the summer, and were used to store meat and oil becausethey had preserving qualities (Han, and Wang, Wutai Shan, 96).61 Bai, Zhonghua minguo, 92; Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 123; Edkins, Religion in China, 237-38;

Rockhill, “A Pilgrimage,” 767; Pokotilov, “Der Wu T’ai Schan.”62 Bai, Zhonghua minguo, 92.63 Jiang, Wutai Shan jiyou, 22.64 Yan Tianling, “Menggu ren ‘chao tai’ yu Meng Han gou jian,” Wutai Shan yanjiu (2004, no. 1):

42-43.


Mongolian sewn inside, dated 1805.65 The pilgrimage toWutai Shan was thereforean opportunity for major economic exchanges for both Mongolian herders andChinese merchants.66

The Road to Wutai Shan: Bringing a Nomad Lifestyle to theMountainWutai Shan was far less risky, dangerous and expensive for Mongols than goingto Lhasa. However, it was still a difficult adventure.67 The Mongol pilgrims spentat least ten days crossing a part of Shanxi,68 and up to five years away from theirhomes for those who advanced by doing full prostrations.69 They sometimes wentin caravans of thirty to forty pilgrims, walking or riding up to ninety li a day. Theyprobably visited the mountain on foot as they still do today.70 Pokotilov noticedin 1889 that they generally traveled with their own yurts and their herds.71Yet theycould not live completely self-sufficiently: they had to buy fodder and fuel, paytaxes, and organize for their cattle (except for the animals destined to be offeredor sold) to be looked after at the foot of the mountain.72 Others stopped at innsestablished every forty-five li and paid for room and board.73Many Shanxi tradersand shopkeepers learned to speak Mongolian and opened shops and inns for theMongols, with notices written in Mongolian in front of their inns, such as: “Themen of this inn are honest and mild, everything is ready and cheap, therefore, Oye Mongols, our brothers, you could not do better than rest here.”74 Some evenmarried Mongols.75

65 Valrae Reynolds, “A Sino-Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhist Appliqué in the Newark Museum,”Orientations 21, no. 4 (April 1990): 32-38.66 Yan (“Menggu ren ‘chao tai’”) – quoting Zhang, “Wutai Shan can fo,” and Bai, Zhonghua minguo,

92 – showed that Wutai Shan became an important center of interaction between the Mongols and theHan. The bla mas learned to speak Chinese, and the Shanxi traders learned to speak Mongolian.67 As do most of the Christian missionaries, James Gilmour (Among the Mongols, 149) takes the

Mongols’ defense: “There is no more severe test of the earnestness of the religious devotion of theMongols than their being willing thus to journey for days through the country of unsympatheticChinamen, whose language they do not understand, and who lie in wait for their money, ready to fleecethem at every turn…”68 The pilgrimage road from Mongolia crosses the northern part of Shanxi: Longsheng Zhuang

(Fengzhen District [Fengzhen Xian,豐鎮]), Datong, Ying District (Ying Xian,應縣), Fanzhi District,Taihuai.69 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 114-55; Yan, “Menggu ren ‘chao tai’,” 42. Even the Torgut Mongols

“perform journeys occupying a whole year, and attended with immense difficulty, to visit for thispurpose [burying the bones of their deceased parents] the province of Chen-Si” (Huc, Travels in Tartary,94).70 In modern Mongol pilgrimages and temple fairs, dismounting one’s horse at a certain distance

from the monastery is very important and is seen as particularly praiseworthy for Mongols who hatewalking for long distances, and who wear boots unsuitable for walking.71 Pokotilov, “Der Wu T’ai Schan und seine Klöster.”72 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 149.73 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 122.74 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 149.75 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 149; Yan, “Menggu ren ‘chao tai.’”


Figure 11: Pilgrim in great prostrations, 1846Cifu Si map. Rubin Museum. Photo by KarlDebreczeny.

Figure 10: Pilgrim in great prostrations, WutaiShan. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 13.

Therefore, contrary to the idea of pilgrims undergoing a transformative andequalizing experience freed from the structure of ordinary society, wearing specialclothing or other markers distinguishing them from ordinary worshipers, respectingparticular taboos and carrying out distinctive actions,76 the Mongol pilgrims whotraveled with their herds, and especially those who went every year and sold theirbeasts at the market, just seem to have adopted a particular kind of nomadizationlittle different to their daily life. If pilgrimage was probably not a liminal experienceof the religious life releasing the devotees from mundane structure in a spirit of“communitas” as described by Victor and Edith Turner,77 this does not mean thatthe pilgrims did not enter into a deeper level of existence and, at the end of theirjourney, had not been transformed through the exposure to powerful religious sacraand the practices of circumambulating and prostrating.

The Pilgrimage SeasonWestern and Chinese travelers and pilgrims described the crowds of Mongolpilgrims, who were particularly noticeable among the other visitors because of thespectacular and sumptuous headdresses and ornaments (especially the Qalqaheaddress) the women wore, their colorful garments, and their complete devotion.TheMongol pilgrims came continuously from the fourth to the tenth month,78 thusthe year on the mountain was divided between a winter of isolation – a period ofreligious practice and contemplation for the monks, and a pilgrimage season, withtrade and fairs. The population of the mountain doubled in summer, from one to

76 Victor Turner, and Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: AnthropologicalPerspectives (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978), 7-9.77 Turner and Turner, Image and Pilgrimage, 7. For a discussion of Turner and Turner’s arguments:

Simon Coleman, and John Eade, eds., “Introduction,” in Reframing Pilgrimage: Cultures in Motion(London, New York: Routledge, 2004).78 Wutai xin zhi, juan 3, 9b.


two thousand because of the Mongol, Tibetan, and Chinese pilgrims.79 The sixthlunar month was the busiest period on the mountain: in addition to the abovementioned horse fair, the great Tibetan festival was organized, attended bythousands of Mongol pilgrims. The climax of the festival, which started on thefirst day of the sixth month, was the ’Cham dances with 180 participants in PusaDing (fourteenth day of the sixth month, Mañjuśrī’s birthday) and the Monasteryof Rāhu(la) (Luohou Si,羅睺寺, raqu-yin süme; fifteenth day of the sixth month),followed by a grand two-mile-long procession of the image of Mañjuśrī in apalanquin led by dancers and musicians followed by the head ruling lama in asedan chair and four hundred to five hundred participants. Blofeld’s detaileddescription matches well with the representation of the procession on the Cifu Simap.80 He talked of imperial processions, with stops at small altars on the way,triple prostrations performed by the various abbots paying their respects to thepalanquin and to the head ruling lama. At the end, the head ruling lama made fullprostrations in front of the White Pagoda, went through Xiantong Si and returnedto Pusa Ding.81

Figure 13: Spectators attending the ’Chamritual of the sixth month. Ono and Hibino,Godaishan, 16.

Figure 12: Dancing monk, ’Cham ritual of thesixth month. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 16.

Mongol pilgrims also seem to have been numerous during the fall, when horseswere fat and healthy; and they left when snow began to fall, closing off the

79 Lao Li, “Dao Wutai Shan qu baifo,” Bao lin 1 (2004): 99, figures for the early twentieth century.In July 2007, two thousand monks came for the sixth month festival from A mdo, Tibet, and InnerMongolia.80 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 131-44.81 Wei Guozuo, Wutai Shan daoyou (Beijing: Zhongguo lü you chu ban she, 1993 [1988]), 77-78;

Zhao Peicheng, “ShitanWutai Shan Zang chuan fo jiao yu jin gang shen wu,” Xinzhou Shifan Xueyuanxuebao 20, no. 4 (August 2004): 38-40. For a description by a Chinese eye witness in 1905, see Gao,Ming Shan youfang, 65.


mountain.82 We can assume that the majority of pilgrims probably stayed in theirown yurts, with their sheep and cattle in the pastures of Wutai Shan such as DailuoDing and the South Terrace (Nanshan,南山). Those who did not have their owntent could stay in inns or rented houses at or near Taihuai.83 The Tibeto-Mongolmonasteries offered a very limited number of beds, and their hostelries were oftenreserved for wealthy pilgrims. Some halls of the Tayuan Si, for instance, werereserved for Mongol princes,84 and occasionally welcomed Western travelers.85For the Tibetan and Mongol monastic pilgrims, two main lodging centers werefounded in 1822 and 1831 respectively, Cifu Si86 and Shifang Tang, the branchmonastery of Luohou Si (and adjacent to it).87 These were apparently foundedbecause the monasteries could not accommodate the bla mas undertaking thepilgrimage in ever greater numbers.

Figure 15: Procession, festival of the sixthmonth. 1846 Cifu Si map. RubinMuseum. Photoby Karl Debreczeny.

Figure 14: Procession, festival of the sixthmonth. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 22.

82 Zhang, “Wutai Shan can fo,” 24.83 Nowadays, the monks and pilgrims who come for at least a month rent a room in the “Tibetan

suburb” north of the village. In 2007 a five-bed room in a courtyard could be rented for three hundredyuan per month.84 Fischer, The Sacred Wu Tai Shan.85 Christopher Irving, “Wu-Ta’i-Shan and the Dalai Lama,” New China Review (May 1919), 157.86 byams dge gling, built by the head ruling lama of Pusa Ding.87 Cai Hong, “Shifang Tang,”Wutai Shan yanjiu (1999, no. 1): 23-25.


The Circuits of Mongol PilgrimsSeveral oral accounts, travelogues and stone inscriptions about donations (as wellas modern practices) inform us about the most-visited places, considered mostsacred by Mongol pilgrims. These objects of worship are of three kinds: themonasteries and the holy relics of monks and Buddha they enshrine, the livingreincarnations, and the sacred natural features of the mountain.

Figure 17: Praying gestures and prostrationsin front of the ‘Taranatha stūpa.’ 1846 Cifu Simap. RubinMuseum. Photo by Karl Debreczeny.

Figure 16: Mongol pilgrims worshipping astatue of Mañjuśrī in a monastery, Wutai Shan.Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 24.

The steles tell us about the most visible objects of worship: the monasteries.The inscriptions are mostly concentrated in Shifang Tang (182 inscriptions), TayuanSi (sixty-one), and Luohou Si (forty-seven), but also record donations to the otherTibeto-Mongol monasteries (Pusa Ding, Luohou Si, Yuanzhao Si [圓照寺, kun tukhyab pa’i lha khang, tegüs geyigülügci süme], Cifu Si, Zhenhai Si, AvalokiteśvaraCave [Guanyin Dong, 觀音洞 qomsim bodisadua-yin aγui], and so on), and toChinese monasteries (Shuxiang Si, Xiantong Si, Dailuo Ding, Cave of the Motherof Buddhas [FomuDong,佛母洞 eke-yin aγui], and so on).88 TheMongol pilgrimsdonated livestock and products made from livestock, but also gave gold and silver,and the altars were covered with Mongol women’s jewelry.89 Some participated

88 Henry Payne, “Lamaism on Wutai shan,” Chinese Recorder 60, no. 8 (1929): 508, relates in 1929that a Mongol prince visited Wutai Shan every year and brought large sums of money for the upkeepof the monasteries, and that the three large temples under construction were all being built using fundsfrom votive offerings fromMongolia andManchuria. Mongol princes also restored temples at NārayānaCave (Naluoyan Ku,那羅延窟), Lingying Si, Falei Si at theWestern Terrace, and Puji Si at the SouthernTerrace (Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 115-7, 120).89 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 128-129.


in person in building temples at Wutai Shan to gain merit;90 others financed therebuilding of ruined temples, such as Pushou Si, an old Jin dynasty monasteryrebuilt in the Guangxu period by a bla ma fromOuterMongolia, Yonden (Yundeng,雲登, nineteenth century).91

Figure 19: Mongolian stele written in Tibetanand Mongolian, Luohou Si. Photo by IsabelleCharleux.

Figure 18: Mongolian stele, Shifang Tang.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 20: The White Pagoda of Tayuan Si.Postcard (n. d.).

The first and most importantdestination of Mongol pilgrims was thefifty-meter-highWhite Pagoda of TayuanSi, built in 1301 by the Nepalese artistArniko (Anige) to enshrine Aśoka’s (ca332-304 BCE) original stūpa thatsheltered one of the eighty-four thousandrelics of the Buddha, the holiest of WutaiShan’s relics.92 The White stūpa wasenlarged during the fifteenth century andrestored many times. Among the nine major restorations of the pagoda recordedduring the Qing dynasty, five were carried out by Mongols. In 1703 a Mongolabbot of the Qaracin called Chahan Deliji (察漢得力吉, eighteenth century)financed some restoration. In 1869while visitingWutai Shan, PrinceNamjilvangcuγ(Namujiliwangqingge,納木吉力王慶哥), ruler of the Sünid Left Banner, made a

90 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 126.91 Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 167.92 Anning Jing, “The Portraits of Khubilai Khan and Chabi by Anige (1245-1306), a Nepali Artist

at the Yuan Court,” Artibus Asiae 54, nos. 1-2 (1994), 55.


vow to restore the pagoda, gave two thousand taels for its restoration and thenasked all the princes (beyile), nobles, and commoners to contribute.93 In 1887, thecorji da lama (Quji da lama, 曲記大喇嘛) Γalsangdondub of the ecclesiasticalestate (šabi) of the Qalqa Jaya Bandida fromMongolia came on pilgrimage, stayedat Tayuan Si and sawmiraculous lights with five colors playing around the pagodaat night; he gave five hundred taels of white silver, four camels, and one yurt torestore the main hall and to add thirty prayer-wheels.94 In 1895 a Qalqa donornamed Longdanjamsu donated 1,800 taels.95 In 1905, a donor from Urga named“Qilengbutimuji” (乞楞補踢木濟, twentieth century) gave one thousand taels ofwhite silver to restore the pagoda.96

Figure 22: Pilgrims and tourists turning prayerwheels and circumambulating the WhitePagoda, July 2007. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 21: Mongol pilgrims turning prayerwheels and circumambulating the WhitePagoda. Ono and Hibino, Godaishan, 13.

The crowds of Mongol pilgrims making numerous circumambulations andprostrations, turning the 108 prayer wheels, touching the Buddha’s feet with theirforehead and giving offerings to the stūpa are described by all the travelers.97 Itwas the “central place of worship where even the most illiterate pilgrims to thismountain may consummate their pilgrimage.”98 The Chinese lay Buddhist JiangWeiqiao, famous for having popularized meditation practices, describes the great

93 “Chongxiu Tayuan Si sheli baota beiwen,” in Bei Xin, “Tayuan Si beiwen,” Wutai Shan yanjiu(1996, no. 4): 39-40.94 “Namo Amituofo”, in Bei, “Tayuan Si beiwen,” 40.95 “Yongyuan liufang”, in Bei, “Tayuan Si beiwen,” 40.96 “Chongxiu baota beiji”, in Bei, “Tayuan Si beiwen,” 42.97 See the description of pilgrims rich and poor alike circumambulating the giant stūpa, reciting

prayers, telling their beads, turning prayer-wheels, and prostrating on a plank in the direction of thestūpa: Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 128-29; Payne, “Lamaism on Wutai shan,” 509; Gao, Ming shanyoufang, 109-10 (who traveled in 1912).98 Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, 130.


piety of Mongol pilgrims who prostrate without interruption on wooden planks,their hands protected by rags.99

Figure 24: Modern pilgrims worshippingtowards the White Pagoda, July 2007. Photo byIsabelle Charleux.

Figure 23: A mdo monk-pilgrims in prostrationsin front of the White Pagoda of Tayuan Si, July2007. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

The pilgrims visited the central complex of monasteries located near the greatpagoda – Xiantong Si, Yuanzhao Si, Guangzong Si, and Pusa Ding. A major siteof devotion for Mongol pilgrims was the blooming lotus revealing the Buddha(kaihua xianfo,開花現佛) at Luohou Si,100 which was said to attract pilgrims likea magnet.101 On each of the eight petals of the great wooden lotus a Buddha isengraved that appears as the lotus blooms, activated by a hidden mechanism.102The Mongols called Luohou Si the “monastery of the revolving lotus.”103 Backhome, they said they saw the Buddha appear atWutai Shan. The pilgrims thereforethought the lotus especially opened for them, though the monks revealed themechanism to learned visitors such as Gao Henian.104 Luohou Si was restored in1658 by the First Caqar Diyanci (d. 1671) of Kökeqota who had received thirtythousand taels of white silver from the Shunzhi emperor.105 Yuanzhao Si106 withthe stele of the beggingMañjuśrī (Wenshu taofan), also received numerousMongoldonations.

99 Jiang, Wutai Shan jiyou, 21.100 “Monastery of Rāhu(La)” (Śākyamuni’s son), an old Tang monastery rebuilt under the Ming,

and staffed by Chinese bla mas in the Qing dynasty.101 Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 61-64.102 The lotus already existed in the seventeenth century. There was a similar lotus at Yansui Ge in

the Yonghe Gong of Beijing (now lost).103 Delege, Nei Menggu lamajiao shi (Kökeqota: Nei Menggu ren min chu ban she, 1998), 350.104 Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 119.105 Delege, Nei Menggu lamajiao shi, 350.106 Previously called Puning Si (普寧寺), rebuilt and renamed Yuanzhao Si (圓照寺, kun tu khyab

pa’i lha khang, tegüs geyigülügci süme) in the Ming dynasty to house a twenty-three meters high whitestūpa erected in 1434 to contain the ashes of an Indian monk who visited Beijing under the Yongleemperor and received the title of Imperial Preceptor.


Figure 26: The statue of Mañjuśrī at ShuxiangSi. Postcard (n. d.).

Figure 25: The “blooming lotus revealing theBuddhas” of Luohou Si. Postcard (n. d.).

Up the hill, the pilgrims crawled on their knees up the 108 steps of Pusa Ding,and visited the monastery which, after the decrease of Manchu patronage in themid-nineteenth century, was heavily dependent on Mongols’ donations.107 TheShuxiang Si108 statue of Mañjuśrī was particularly worshipped by pilgrims fromInner Mongolia, Qinghai, and Tibet.109

107 Fischer, The Sacred Wu Tai Shan, 10.108 An old Chan monastery located south of Dabai Cun founded under the Tang dynasty and rebuilt

several times under the Yuan, Ming, and Qing. It sheltered the highest and most revered statue ofMañjuśrī at Wutai Shan, said to imitate (or was sometimes mistaken for) the original statue of theZhenrong Yuan.109 Lao, “DaoWutai Shan,” 100. Song, “Mengzu renmin,” 34, records that old bla mas of the Qaracin

Banner in Inner Mongolia remember some of the highlights of Wutai Shan: they stayed in the ShifangTang, climbed to Pusa Ding, admired the stele of the begging Mañjuśrī at Yuanzhao Si, and saw theportrait of Mañjuśrī with the “head made of buckwheat” at Shuxiang Si. There are several stories inthe Chinese folklore about a statue’s head (said to have been) made of a cereal. About the ShuxiangSi statue: the sculptor who made the statue of Mañjuśrī could not make the head because nobody hadseen the true face of Mañjuśrī. The abbot and then all the monks were fighting with him because theywanted the statue to be completed. Then a cook said it was useless to fight about that becauseMañjuśrī’sface could be done as one likes. Mañjuśrī then appeared (in the kitchen); the sculptor had no time tofind his tools and quickly made the head with buckwheat according to what he was seeing. This is justa more detailed story of the Mañjuśrī statue located in the Zhenrong Yuan, the temple of the “Trueface.” But at that time this statue had disappeared. The Shuxiang Si statue was the most importantstatue of Wutai Shan; it was believed to be a “true portrait” comparable to the Sandalwood statue ofBeijing. It was this statue and this temple that Qianlong chose to copy for his Beijing and Chengdetemples.


Figure 28: Pilgrim cloth map stamped by aresident bla ma with the seal of Zhenhai Si, July2007. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 27: The stūpa of Rol pa’i rdo rje inZhenhai Si. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 29: Stūpa on the top of the NorthernTerrace. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Themost important monastery outsideof the central complex for Mongols tovisit was the holy stūpa of Rol pa’i rdorje enshrined in a courtyard of ZhenhaiSi,110 the main monastery of the ZhangjiaQutuγtu, surrounded by woods. Beforethe Cultural Revolution, the stūpa of twoother reincarnations of the Zhangjia couldbe seen in a courtyard above themonastery. The Mongolian pilgrims alsocame to pay their respects to a stūpaallegedly enshrining the hat and robe of

’Phags pa bla ma (1235-1280) at Puen Si (also called Xitian Si), north of Taihuai.Many of the Mongol pilgrims did the great pilgrimage (dachao, 大朝), visitingthe monasteries of the five terraces, weather permitting,111 the classic spots andholy monasteries recorded in the gazetteers, the “ten remarkable things to see”;112the ancient Chinese monasteries – Qingliang Si, Zhulin Si, Jin’ge Si, Mimo Cliff(MimoYan,秘魔岩), and so on. In addition to all the sacred places on themountain,pilgrims also came especially to visit a high reincarnation, such as Rol pa’i rdo

110 Located at Yangbaiyu Village (Yangbaiyu Cun, 楊柏峪村), south of Taihuai, it was the mainmonastery of the Zhangjia Qutuγtu. The Zhenhai Si received exceptional imperial favors.111 In the Dailuo Ding monastery the pilgrims could worship copies of the Mañjuśrī statues of the

five peaks. It was called the small pilgrimage to the terraces (xiao chaotai, 小朝臺), and was analternative to actually going to the peaks.112 See the list in Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 188.


rje, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, or the Ninth Panchen Lama. The Commandantd’Ollone describes manyMongol princes accompanied by their numerous retinuesvisiting the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1908.113

The Natural Numinous Features of the Wutai Shan Pilgrimage

The Caves

Figure 30: Cave where the Sixth Dalai Lama isbelieved to have meditated, Guanyin Dong.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Wutai Mountain boasts many naturalfeatures endowed with numinous power,especially caves, springs, ponds as wellas the five peaks, which were no doubtas important to visit as monasteries.Visiting the caves seems to have beenparticularly important for Mongolpilgrims.Mountain caves are an essentialcomponent of Tibetan and Mongolianpilgrimage.114 Of the more than fiftynatural features of Wutai Shan said tohave sacred power (caves, springs, cliffs,peaks, curious rocks, and so forth) listedin the gazetteers, about thirty are caves. The avalokiteśvara Cave (Guanyin Dong),located high up on a hill just north of South Terrace and very difficult to reach,was one of the favorite destinations forMongols.115 The Sixth Dalai Lama Tshangsdbyangs rgya mtsho (1683-1706?) is believed to have meditated for six years inone of the Avalokiteśvara caves after his presumed death – manyMongols believedthat he did not die near Köke Naγur en route to Beijing after he was deposed bythe Qing in November 1706, but managed to give his escort the slip and started anew life, traveling as a beggar monk throughout East and South Asia, and finallysettled in Alašan, where he stayed from 1716 and 1746 and built severalmonasteries.116 It is also believed that Avalokiteśvara meditated there. A statue of

113 Commandant d’Ollone, Les Derniers barbares. Chine, Tibet, Mongolie (Paris: Pierre Lafitte &Co., 1911), 362.114 Robert B. Ekvall, Religious Observances in Tibet: Patterns and Functions (Chicago & London:

The University of Chicago Press, 1964), 241; Buffetrille, “Montagnes sacrées”; Caroline Humphrey,“Chiefly and Shamanist Landscapes in Mongolia,” in The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectiveson Place and Space, ed. Eric Hirsch, andMichael O’Hanlon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), 135-162.On caves in Buddhist scriptures and traditions: Rolf Stein,Grottes-matrices et lieux saints de la déesseen Asie Orientale (Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1988); Raoul Birnbaum, “Secret Halls ofthe Mountain Lords: the Caves of Wu-t’ai shan,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 5 (Kyôto, 1989-1990):118-20.115 Zhao Gaiping, and Hou Huiming, “Jian lun Qing dai qian qi de Wutai Shan Zang chuan fo jiao,”

Xizang Minzu Xueyuan xuebao 1 (2006): 28-32. On this cave see also Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 134.116 Piotr Klafkowski, ed., The Secret Deliverance of the Sixth Dalai-Lama as Narrated by Dharmatāla

(Wien: Viener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, Universität Wien, 1979); Michael Aris,Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives: A Study of Pemalingpa (1450-1521) and the Sixth Dalai Lama(1683-1706) (London & New York: Kegan Paul International, 1989).


the Sixth Dalai Lama could be seen in the Avalokiteśvara hall located just in frontof the caves. Back home, the pilgrims would say “I meditated at the place wherethe Sixth Dalai Lamameditated.” According to his biography, the Thirteenth DalaiLama also meditated in the cave of the Sixth Dalai Lama in 1908,117 and the smallmonastery still has the room where he lived. Infertile devotees also came to theAvalokiteśvara Cave hoping to be blessed with children, andWutai Shan in generalseems to have been an important destination for Mongols who wanted to havechildren.118 The Mongols and Tibetans also visited the ancient Sudhana’s Cave(nor bzang, Shancai, 善財, Šuddana)119 where Rol pa’i rdo rje lived before theconstruction of Zhenhai Si. The NewarkMuseum’s appliqué ofMañjuśrī was madeto be placed in that cave (see Figure 9).120

Figure 32: Board with diagrams andexplanations at the entrance of the Mother’sCave, July 2007. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 31: Crowds of pilgrims waiting fourhours to enter the Mother’s Cave, July 2007.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

The most important cave for Mongol pilgrims was the Mother’s Cave (eke-yinaγui) or Mother’s Womb (eke-yin umai), known in Chinese as the Cave of theMother of Buddhas (Fomu Dong), or the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas (QianfoDong,千佛洞). It is located on a cliff on the northeast side of the Southern terrace,seven liwest of the Baiyun Si. The official gazetteers say the cave was discoveredin the Jiajing (嘉靖, r. 1522-66) period of the Ming dynasty (1522-67), when amonk named Daofang (道方, sixteenth century), walking there late at night,followed ten thousand dots of lights into the cave where he saw rows of jade Buddhaimages. Lost in the cave, he chanted the name of Guanyin, vowed to make a sacredimage and the ten thousand lamps turned into a single light that guided him out.121

117 Quoted by Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 117-19.118 “Pour obtenir des enfants, les femmes qui en ont les moyens ont souvent recours à des pèlerinages,

soit au Ou t’ai chan (Chansi), soit à un autre endroit de pèlerinage renommé…” (Mostaert, “Matériaux,”292). A famous place to ask for children in Mongolia was the shrine of Isi Qatun (d. 1252) – Esi Qatun,the “Lady-mother,” Sorqaqtani Begi (d. 1252), Qubilai Qan’s (1215-1294) mother – in Ordos VangBanner (Hidehiro Okada, “The Chakhar Shrine of Eshi Khatun,” in Aspects of Altaic Civilizations 3,ed. Denis Sinor [Bloomington: Indiana University, 1990: 176-86]).119 See Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 134-35.120 Reynolds, “A Sino-Mongolian,” 38.121 Laozang Danba (老藏丹巴, blo bzang bstan pa, 1632-84), Qingliang Shan xin zhi, 1694, reprint

in 1701, 10 juan, in Qingliang Shan zhi san zhong, edited by Gugong bo wu yuan (Haikou shi: Hainan


Figure 33: Pilgrim being pushed into the narrowpassage at theMother’s Cave. 1846 Cifu Si map.Rubin Museum. Photo by Karl Debreczeny.

Surpisingly, the Mongol lore andpractices concerning this cave bring tolight a lived religion that is notdocumented by written sources.Ferdinand Lessing gives a full descriptionof this cave according to his interviewswith a Russian missionary in 1931 and,later, with theMongolian Qalqa dignitaryDiluwa Qutuγtu (1884-64), and was thefirst to highlight the ritual performed inthe cave.122 Inside the cave is a hole, aboutthree feet above the ground, with adiameter of ten to twelve inches. The

pilgrims were advised to remove all excess clothing or even to undresscompletely.123AChinesemonk, nicknamed by theMongols “themidwife,” assistedthe pilgrims and told them how to crawl in124 (today the hundreds of pilgrimsqueuing to enter the cave have plenty of time to study the board with diagrams andexplanations on how to crawl through). The pilgrim would then find himself in avery narrow but widening passage, some three feet long and one foot high, thatled into the inner chamber (the “matrix”), which allowed room for two people tostand. In its center was an altar bearing a stone statue of a deity, possibly Tārā orGuanyin, that the pilgrim had to worship. With the help of the “midwife,” thepilgrim would come back and been informed that he was within the womb of theMother of Buddhas; and then that he had been reborn.125 The pilgrims had to paya fee in order to enter the narrow passage, and an additional “ransom” fee to leavethe grotto. The “midwife” was said sometimes to leave devotees stuck and freethem only after making a vow tomake donations to the clergy. A similar descriptionis given by the Chinese lay pilgrim Gao Henian in 1912.126 The earliest evidenceof the womb-cave ritual can be seen on the 1846 Cifu Si map, where a man is seenpushing the behind of a pilgrim into the cave.

chubanshe, 2001), juan 2, 2a. Half a dozen similar modern stories are told by An Jianhua, “Bei Xinguyue du zhongsheng,” Wutai Shan yanjiu (2002, no. 2): 27; An Jianhua, “Chao bai Fomu Dong,”Wutai Shan yanjiu (2003, no. 2): 33. Most of them embellish and develop the Qingliang Shan xin zhistory.122 Ferdinand D. Lessing, “The Question of Nicodemus,” in Studia Altaica: Festschrift für N. Poppe

(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1957), 95, 97.123 According to Lessing’s Russian informant (“The Question,” 95) and Gao (Ming Shan youfang,

119). Birnbaum (“Secret Halls,” 139, n. 71) finds this difficult to accept.124 See also a description of the cave and its ritual in Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 137-40.125 Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 139-40.126 Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 119-20.


Figure 34: The Chinese monk who revived theMother’s Cave in the late 1990s. Photo byCorneille Jest.

Up to now this cave has beenparticularly favored by Mongols andTibetans: “it is said that Mongolians,famous for their fervent piety, invariablycry when they enter the inner chamber.”127It is now also very popular among Hantourists who believe they can erase theirsins, get rid of all the evils of theirprevious life – get rid of the charnelenvelope and change bones (tuotaihuangu,脫胎換骨), obtain a second life,or even be reborn as a Buddha. They aretold that the Cave of the Mother ofBuddhas is the very body or womb ofŚākyamuni’s mother and, as withŚākyamuni, they will be reborn out of herarmpit. The stalactites are said to bewomen’s entrails.128Modern pilgrims arevery frightened by the experience; whenthey come out, exhausted and coveredwith dust, they really feel like children.129Pilgrims are said to be transformed andregret their past sins. Three Chinesemonks have lived in a hermitage on the slope since the early 2000s; one of them,Beiyue (悲月, twentieth century), has been restoring and reviving the place since1996 and has collected one million yuan in donations to build a one-kilometer-longstone staircase leading to the cave.130 In July 2007, the Cave of the Mother ofBuddhas was one of the most crowded places of Wutai Shan.

As stressed by Lessing131 and Stein132 the womb-cave rituals are poorlydocumented in the official and clerical records, and clearly belong to popular beliefsand practices that were not considered worthy of attention by the pilgrimage guides.TheQingliang Shan zhi and the extendedQinding Qingliang Shan xin zhi, mentionthe discovery of Wutai Shan’s Fomu Cave in the 1560s, but say nothing about the

127 Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 138, n. 70.128 See Stein, Grottes-matrices, 10.129 Zhang Minghui, “Fomu Dong,” Haiyan-Petrel 3 (2005): 36; An, “Chao bai”; Zhang Guixiang,

“Fomu Dong tan qi,” Wutai Shan yanjiu (1999, no. 1): 35-36; Zhang, “Fomu Dong,” and personalobservations.130 See his biography: An, “Bei Xin.”131 Lessing, “The Question,” 95.132 Stein, Grottes-matrices, 5.


womb cave and its rite.133 In his pilgrimage guide, Rol pa’i rdo rje retells Daofang’sdiscovery, and simply replaces Guanyin’s name by Mañjuśrī’s.134 Ono Katsutoshiand Hibino Takao do not mention it in their remarkable study of Wutai Shanmonasteries and holy sites.135 Lessing, who bases his study of caves of initiatoryrebirth on oral sources, qualifies this religious practice as “more or less secret.”136Lessing’s teacher, the rdo rams pa bla ma Blo bzang bzang po (twentieth century)“pretended never having heard about such an outrageous rite.”137 The silence ofthese erudite bla mas is surprising, because in other Esoteric Buddhist traditionssuch as in Cambodia or Japan, the womb-cave ritual is officially interpreted byBuddhist priests as being the womb-world maṇḑala (garbhadhātu maṇḑala) wherethe practitioner can reunite himself with Vairocana138 and be reborn in the senseof being newly endowed with esoteric knowledge and powers.139 Besides, Lessingand Stein have shown that the Mongol monks and important religious figures whovisited Wutai Shan, such as the Diluwa Qutuγtu (1884-64) and the FourthJebcündamba Qutuγtu, were well aware of this kind of popular ritual. The FourthJebcündamba Qutuγtu, for instance, wrote a Tibetan inscription on a stele erectedat the entrance of the cave.140

The Womb Caves in Tibetan and Mongol PilgrimagesWomb-caves – horizontal or vertical, natural or man-made – are a well-knowntype of holy cave found in the Tibetan cultural area. Modern scholars of Tibetanpilgrimage have described many examples of narrow caves or passages inWesternTibet (Mount Kailash), Central Tibet (Dga’ ldan Monastery; Gter sgrom near ’Brigung mthil), A mdo (A myes rma chen), Nepal (Tarap in Dolpo, theHalase-Māratika caves in Eastern Nepal), and Bhutan.141 In Tibet, they are used

133 Qinding Qingliang Shan xin zhi: expanded edition of Laozang Danba’s Qingliang Shan xin zhi,in 22 juan, compiled by imperial order of 1785, published in the palace in 1811, ed. Gugong bowuyuan(ed.), Qingliang Shan zhi san zhong, juan 9, 12a.134 Rol pa’i rdo rje, Ri bo dwangs bsil dkar chag mjugs ma tshang pa, text orally transmitted by Rol

pa’i rdo rje, trans. into Chinese by Wen Jinyu, “Sheng di Qingliang Shan zhi,” Wutai Shan yanjiu(1990, no. 2): 10.135 Ono Katsutoshi and Hibino Takao, Godaishan (Tôkyô: Zayuhô Kankôkai, 1942).136 Lessing, “The Question,” 95.137 Lessing, “The Question,” 97. In Khövsgöl Aimag (Mongolia), the womb-cave ritual at Dayan

Deerkh [Dayan Degereki] cave appeared as abhorrent to the local bla mas, who tried to contain andneutralize its power (G. P. Galdanova, L. N. Zhukovskaya, and G. N. Ochirova, “The Cult of DayanDerkhe in Mongolia and Buryatia,” trans. by C. Humphrey, Journal of the Anglo-Mongolian Society9, nos. 1-2 [1984]: 1-11; Humphrey, “Chiefly and Shamanist Landscapes,” 149-150).138 In Japan: Helen Hardacre, “The Cave and the Womb World,” Japanese Journal of Religious

Studies 10, nos. 2-3 (1983): 149-76.139 Francois Bizot, “La grotte de la naissance: Recherches sur le Bouddhisme Khmer II,” Bulletin

de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient 67 (1980): 221-69.140 This inscription is not to be seen anymore, but a damaged Mongolian inscription still stands on

the site.141 See Stein,Grottes-matrices, 11-15; Ekvall, Religious Observances, 241; Buffetrille, “Montagnes

sacrées,” 367-370; Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain, 19; Corneille Jest (personalcommunication).


for the ritual testing of one’s positive or negative karma. If the pilgrim succeedsin going through the narrow passage, he/she is ensured of the purification of his/hersins and a better rebirth, and is released from the terror of the intermediate statebetween death and rebirth (bar do). On the other hand, pilgrims with “bad karma”may get stuck. It is believed that the clefts and passages change size automaticallyto allow any morally suitable candidate to pass through, regardless of his or heractual body shape and size. At the same time the pilgrim who succeeds is ensuredof having good karma, of being purified of all his/her sins, and of being reborn.

Tibetans refer to these passages as hell paths (dmyal lam), or narrow paths(phrang lam), and also say they represent the Gates of Hell (those who pass willescape from the hells) or the way leading to a Pure Land.142 These testing ritualscan be performed in caves, in an opening between two rocks, or on a narrow naturalstone bridge across a deep ravine.

By contrast, most of the narrow caves ofMongolia, Buryatia, and Tuva are deadends that closely evoke a womb. The Mongolian terminology for these cavesfocuses on the Mother (womb, belly). For the Mongols, the womb-cave ritual isobviously a form of earth worship, of rebirth and fertility ritual: theMongols revereMother Earth as an important popular deity, and their word for mother (eke)frequently appears in the names given to natural features of the landscape (mother[eke] is homonymous with origin [eki]).143 In the Mongolian world, these cavesare especially visited by childless couples or people wishing to help others whoare childless, in order to obtain children, such as the womb-cave of the pilgrimagesite of Alkanay near Chita, in Buryatia. The Buddhist aim of this ritual – to bereborn purified of one’s sins144 – obscures the more popular ones (obtain children,benefit from the contact with the Earth goddess, being revitalized and healed withthe earth’s magnetic energy, augment one’s fortune – kii mori).145

142 Katia Buffetrille, “The Halase-Maratika Caves (Eastern Nepal): A Sacred Place Claimed by BothHindus and Buddhists,” in Pondy Papers in Social Sciences 16 (Pondichéry: Institut Français dePondichéry, 1994), 9-12; Stein, Grottes-matrices.143 There is apparently no association with mother-Earth and demand for children in Tibet and the

Himalayas.144 As shown by Lessing, sin is imagined as something material, to be scrapped off, physically

removed, by crawling through a narrow passage; a physical effort is needed to free oneself from sin.145 For Humphrey (“Chiefly and Shamanist Landscapes,” 150), the cave ritual belongs to shamanic

spirit cults; its power deriving “from the untamed sexual drives of the female spirits within.” Now thiscan also be the shamans’ interpretation of an old popular ritual.


Figure 35: A Mongol pilgrim crawling in thewomb-cave of Tövgön Hiid, Bat Ölzii Sum,Övörhangai Province, Mongolia. Photo by DonCroner.

While most of the Mongolwomb-caves are located far fromsettlements, several monasteries wereestablished close to womb-caves.146Among them, we find the two mainRnying ma pa monasteries of Mongoliaand Inner Mongolia: Qamar-Un Keyid(East Gobi) and the Monastery ofPadmasambhava,147 linked to the greatblama-poet Danjinrabjai (DanzanRajvaa,1803-56), the Fifth Noyan Qutuγtu.148

The Mongol fertility ritual andEarth-worshipwere therefore transplantedat Wutai Shan, in an old Chinese cave

that perfectly matches the requirements of a womb and a narrow passage. RolfStein, in his extensive study of womb-caves throughout the Asian world (Tibet,Nepal, India, Cambodia, and Japan), believes thatWutai Shan’s Cave of theMotherof Buddhas is the only known example of a cave of initiatory rebirth in Han China.The Chinese (up until the twentieth century) did not develop rebirth symbolismand ritual around their caves.149 The Wutai Shan Mother’s womb cave thereforeseems to be a typical Tibeto-Mongol pilgrimage characteristic transplanted uponthe Chinese mountain.

Other Features of Tibetan Pilgrimages Present at Wutai ShanAnother type of cave that seems to be an extension of womb-caves is the tunnelcave leading to a distant place in a very short period of time. The Wutai ShanMother’s womb cave is also described as a tunnel cave in a popular legend150 thatalso echoes that of the Jin’gang Ku, with a hidden entrance, which is regarded asa paradise-cave where one remains inside, withdrawing completely from human

146 A famous one is Tövgön Khiid in Övörkhangai Province, the hermitage of the First JebcündambaQutuγtu, built next to a womb-cave called Eke-Yin Kebeli, “the Mother’s Belly.”147 Or the Monastery of the Caves (aγui-yin süme, Agui Miao, 阿貴廟), in Alašan Territory

(present-day Dengkou District).148 Isabelle Charleux, “Padmasambhava’s Travel to the North: The Pilgrimage to the Monastery of

the Caves and the Old Schools of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia,” Central Asiatic Journal 46, no. 2(2002): 168-232. In Tibet too, the ritual caves are linked with Rnying ma pa teachings and lore aboutPadmasambhava (eighth century). The Alkanay womb-cave is also linked to Padmasambhava.149 This is not completely true according to Kristopher Schipper (personal communication). There

exists for instance a Chinese womb-cave at Tianlong Shan, southwest of Taihuai, not far from WutaiShan (I thank Vincent Durand-Dastès for this information).150 A twelve-year-old boy crossed the mountain by the tunnel cave daily to reach the distant place

where he studied; on a rainy night his mother went to wait for him with an umbrella, saw a strangelight on the mountain, and her son suddenly appeared in front of her, with dry clothes on. He said thathe had gone through the cave with an old woman leading travelers. The mother saw the cave andunderstood that the old woman was Buddha’s mother saving people (Zhang, “Fomu Dong,” 35).


society, and attains enlightenment or obtains various spiritual powers.151 The VajraCave participates in both the Tibetan and the Chinese pilgrimage traditions (seethe Chinese Taoist grotto-heaven [dongtian,洞天]).152 It was worshipped from theseventh century and recognized as the home of Mañjuśrī. Since the Tang or maybethe Song dynasty, the entrance has never opened again, but pilgrims could visit aman-made grotto as well as the Banruo Monastery (Banruo Si, 般若寺) thatprotected it. The Jin’gang Ku was one of the residences of the Zhangjia Qutuγtubefore the construction of Zhenhai Si. The cave153 and the nearby ruined Pule Yuanare still important destinations for Mongol and Tibetan pilgrims.

A particular kind of tunnel-cave, the sea’s eye (haiyan, 海眼), connects withthe sea and can cause flooding if not blocked by a stūpa. AtWutai Shan, the ZhenhaiSi, “Monastery that Subdues the Ocean” – Luus-I Daruγsan Süme, “Monasterythat Subdues the Water Spirit” in Mongolian – is said to have been built after asea’s eye (haiyan) connecting with the Northern Sea caused sea water to flood anarea of more than a hundred kilometers around. The hole was blocked byMañjuśrīwith a cooking-pot, and later a stūpa was built to seal it closed.154 The sea’s eyemay reflect the complex subterraneanwater system under themountain: the watersof Sanquan Si were said to connect with the Black Dragon Pool (Heilong Chi,黑龍池) of the Northern Terrace;155 the water from Nārayāna Cave (Naluoyan,那羅延) flows to Fuping to the south and Fanzhi to the west.156A similar story is foundin Beijing: on Qionghua Dao (Beihai Park), where the emperor Shunzhi built aWhite stūpa in 1651, a well called sea’s eye was said to communicate with thesea.157 These legends reflect the Tibetan lore about the origin of the Köke NaγurLake,158 as well as the Tibeto-Nepalese legend explaining the draining byMañjuśrīof the lake that covered the Kathmandu Valley. In the Tibetan world, some caves

151 Stein, Grottes-matrices, 6-9; Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 120.152 Chinese grotto-heavens are celestial microcosms, places of initiation and refuge from civilization

(Franciscus Verellen, “The BeyondWithin: Grotto-Heavens (dongtian) in Taoist Ritual and Cosmology,”Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 8 [1995]: 265-90). On a similar cave in A mdo: Lawrence Epstein, and PengWenbin, “Ganja and Murdo: The Social Construction of Space at Two Pilgrimage Sites in EasternTibet,” Tibet Journal, Special Edition: Powerful Places and Spaces in Tibetan Religious Culture, 19,no. 2 (1994): 21-45.153 It was destroyed by canon fire and turned into a “holiday hideaway” for Lin Biao. An artificial

corridor leading to a semi-buried stūpa has been rebuilt.154 The dragon king of the northern or eastern sea was seduced by a pretty young girl who was

bathing in the sea’s eye (haiyan) spring; when he tried to kidnap her she asked for Mañjuśrī’s help.The furious dragon king provoked the flooding that was stopped by the Bodhisattva (Wei,Wutai Shandaoyou, 128-34; Zhou Zhuying, “Zhenhai Si de jianzhu yu caisu yishu,”Wutai Shan yanjiu [2003, no.4]: 15-22).155 Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 196-97.156 Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 115, 117.157 L. C. Arlington, and William Lewisohn, In Search of Old Peking (Hong Kong, Oxford & New

York: Oxford University Press, 1987 [Peking: Vetch, 1935]).158 Katia Buffetrille, “The Blue Lake of A-mdo and its Island: Legends and Pilgrimage Guide,” in

Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays, edited by Toni Huber(Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1999), 105-24.


are worshipped because their extended galleries, passages and underground riverssuggest access to the underworld of the Nāga.159

Figure 36: Footprints of Mañjuśrī, Zaoyu Pool.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

When on a Tibetan pilgrimage to anatural site, the five senses are all broughtinto play. Tibetan pilgrimage “is about adirect (and observable) physical, sensoryrelationship of person and place throughseeing (in both the sense of directencounter and ‘reading’ and interpretingthe landscape, and so forth), touching (bycontacting the place), positioning (bodyin relation to place), consuming/tasting(by ingesting place substance), collecting(substances of the place), exchanging(place substancewith personal substance/possessions), vocalizing (prayers addressedto the place or specific formulas), and even in some cases listening (for soundsproduced by the place).”160 The womb-cave involves touching and positioning; theprostrations connect the whole body with the sacred ground. The pilgrims touchthe stūpa and statues with their forehead, and vigorously massage with their handsMañjuśrī’s footprint at the Zaoyu Chi.

The pilgrims –Mongol, Tibetan, and Chinese alike – also practiced “collecting”holy water. Wutai Shan boasts more than twenty sacred springs and ponds, suchas the tasting spring trickling from the Avalokiteśvara Cave,161 the sacred water(foshui, 佛水) of the Pool Reflecting the Moonlight (Mingyue Chi, 明月池), orGuanhai Si, south-east of Zhenhai Si that pilgrims came to drink and collect duringthe sixth month festival,162 and the water of Baisha Quan of Zunsheng Si that curesa hundred different illnesses. The sacred water of the Banruo Spring (Banruo Quan,般若泉) was used to bathe the statues on the eighth day of the fourth month, thefestival of Śākyamuni’s birthday; it is said that the Manchu emperors and greatbla mas only drank this water when they stayed at Wutai Shan. Pilgrims broughtback home bottles of this water, which made a precious gift to their friends. AtBaishui Pond (Baishui Chi,白水池), not far from Jin’gang Ku, the milky waterwas used to wash one’s eyes.163 The ice of Wannian Bing (萬年冰) called by theMongols “the ice that never melts” was collected by Mongol pilgrims who wouldtake away a piece “to work cures on their sick friends at home.”164

159 See examples in Robert B. Ekvall, and James F. Downs, Tibetan Pilgrimage (Tokyo: Institutefor the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1987); N. J. Allen, “‘And the Lake DrainedAway’: An Essay in Himalayan Comparative Mythology,” inMandala and Landscape, ed. AlexanderMacdonald (New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 1997): 435-51.160 Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain, 38.161 Laozang Danba, Qingliang Shan xin zhi; Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 63.162 Wei, Wutai Shan daoyou, 135-36.163 Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 114.164 Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 147.


Figure 38: Monk from Bla brang Monastery (Amdo) giving holy water to a pilgrim from Amdo,Puleyuan. Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Figure 37: The sacred spring of the PoolReflecting the Moonlight. Photo by IsabelleCharleux.

Pilgrims also collected earth and dust, for instance at the “Rock with a Bull’sHeart” (Niuxin Shi,牛心石): the pilgrims rubbed the stone and collected the dustwhich served as a cure-all medicine;165 in a torrent above the Baiyun Si, sand foundin a stone, called “śarīra-golden sand” (jinsha shelizi,金沙舍利子) was collectedand used as medicine.166 The bark of the sacred tree at the Wulang Miao is peeledto serve as medicine. Everything that grew on the mountain was filled with spiritualpower, such as the miraculous grass, flowers and water of the excellent pasturesof Dailuo Ding and Southern Terrace that attracted herders who came to fatten upor cure their animals before selling them.

Other common features of Tibetan sacred mountains found at Wutai Shaninclude the footprints and handprints of deities (a footprint of Mañjuśrī at ZaoyuChi; Śākyamuni’s footprints at Tayuan Si; prints of Mañjuśrī’s hands and feet atJin’gang Ku);167 legends about the submission of local deities trapped underground(Longquan Si, five hundred dragons subdued by Mañjuśrī on the mountain); thepresence of many medicinal plants – however these are all shared by the entireBuddhist world.

Besides the visit to famous monasteries and bla mas, the Tibetan and Mongolpilgrims also performed Tibetan and Mongolian rituals and practices such as thewomb cave ritual, and the collecting of natural products. They had visions ofTibetan deities or saints and added new legends and stories to the alreadymany-layered past of Wutai Shan. We do not know how and when these Tibetanand Mongolian features were brought to Wutai Shan, but we can assume that boththe bla mas, overcoming their disdain for these popular practices to please andattract the Mongols and Tibetans, and the pilgrims themselves who already knewand practiced them in Tibetan and Mongolian pilgrimage sites, imported them toWutai Shan. The high-ranking bla mas who traveled between Tibet, Wutai Shan,

165 Where a bull demon king converted to Buddhism and killed himself at this place, and was changedinto a stone (Lao, “Dao Wutai Shan,” 102).166 Gao, Ming Shan youfang, 119.167 Jiang, Wutai Shan jiyou, 24.


and Inner Mongolia probably played a role in this transmission. Rolf Stein thinksMongolian lay people and monks who visited Wutai Shan may have imported therebirth ritual fromWutai Shan toMongolia.168But theMongolian womb-cavemayhave been used from time immemorial: the bla mas could have imported, fromTibet or from Wutai Shan a new interpretation of this practice. On the other hand,the transmission of this fertility ritual of Earth worship is more likely to haveoccurred from Mongolia to Wutai Shan.

Mongolian Pilgrimages Related to the Wutai Shan PilgrimageIn order to understand how Tibetan and Mongolian practices were transplanted toWutai Shan, it can be useful to mention some popular Mongol pilgrimages whichare related to Wutai Shan. The Monastery of Padmasambhava in Inner Mongoliapresents many of the characteristic features of Tibetan pilgrimage sites: legendsabout Padmasambhava who tamed the local deity and meditated in caves, awomb-cave, a tunnel-passage allegedly leading to Central Tibet in one day’s walk,visions of miracles, water and earth collecting.169 In addition, the Monastery ofPadmasambhava’s womb-cave is known to be a “relative,” actually, the “daughter,”of Wutai Shan’s Mother’s Womb. A learned Tibetan historian, Nyi ma rdo rje(twentieth century), told Raoul Birnbaum that “it is inappropriate to enter themother cave [at Wutai Shan] if one previously has entered the daughter cave” [atMonastery of the Caves (aγui-yin süme, Agui Miao,阿貴廟)?].170 It seems to bea question of precedence: one must visit the mother at Wutai Shan before visitingthe Mongol “daughter.”

Figure 39: Gilubar Monastery, Baγarin LeftBanner, Chifeng Municipality, Inner Mongolia.Photo by Isabelle Charleux.

Gilubar Juu, a renowned pilgrimagesite in Eastern Inner Mongolia during theQing dynasty, was called “Little WutaiShan.”171Gilubar Juuwas founded around1770 by the Second ’Jam dbyangs bzhadpa (1728-91) of Bla brang Monastery inA mdo on the site of an old Liao dynastyrock monastery. Besides the three cavesthat still enshrine Liao dynasty images ofBuddha and Bodhisattva, is an Eke-YinUmai, a “Mother’s Womb.”

Considering the success ofWutai Shanin the Qing dynasty, these local pilgrimages probably could not replace the greatpilgrimage to Wutai Shan for Mongol laymen and monks. At present we do not

168 Stein, Grottes-matrices, 3.169 Charleux, “Padmasambhava’s Travel to the North.”170 Birnbaum, “Secret Halls,” 138, n. 70.171 Or Gilubar-Un Aγui, also called Aru Juu (Houzhao Miao, 後召廟), in Baγarin Left Banner,

Chifeng Municipality (Chifeng Shi,赤峰市). For the history of this monastery: Charleux, Temples etmonastères, CD-rom 136.


know if these local pilgrimages first developed as a surrogate pilgrimage forWutaiShan, or if they developed completely independently up to the time when a learnedcleric saw correspondences and asserted a connection between the two. The GilubarJuu could have just been called “Little Wutai Shan” because its festival attractedalmost as many pilgrims as the Chinese mountain. Similarly, the Sine Usun Juuin Ordos (Otuγ Banner), founded in the late eighteenth century, was compared inlocal songs with Wutai Shan.172 A mountain in the Left Qaγucid Banner of InnerMongolia was called Wutai Shan because several miracles happened there and itwas recognized as a holy place.173 This would be comparable to the title of “theTibet of China” given to Wutai Shan, or the “Tibet of the East” given to the CaγanDiyanci-Yin Keyid, a major pilgrimage site in the Eastern Tümed Banner (now inFuxin District, Liaoning Province). If bla mas wanted to promote a local pilgrimageand attract devout Mongols, it was in their interest to compare their monastery toWutai Shan. In the same way, Mongol monastic guide-books naturally emphasizethe holiness of a site by saying that worshipping this particular monastery isequivalent to worshipping all the other places.174

ConclusionWutai Shan was a complete holy site, gathering together in the same place variousnatural features such as caves, rocks and springs, a stūpa enshrining a relic ofŚākyamuni, prestigious monasteries, stūpa and icons, and at certain times, highreincarnated bla mas – whereas most of the Tibetan and Mongolian pilgrimagesites presented less variety. Its layered past and its pan-Asian character, its particularpromotion since the Yuan dynasty, and the importance of Mañjuśrī for MongolsmadeWutai Shan a unique pilgrimage site. The proximity to theMongolian borderand the good pastures and trade opportunities also turned Wutai Shan into animportant centre in the pastoral economy of the Sino-Mongolian frontier. ForMongols, Wutai Shan could therefore compete with the great Tibetan pilgrimagesites, that, comparatively speaking, attracted more monks than Wutai Shan,175 yetperhaps a smaller variety of social groups. Besides, the “national” and localMongolian pilgrimages – Yeke Kuriye, Erdeni Juu, important monasteries and

172 Antoine Mostaert, cicm., ed., Textes oraux ordos (Peking: Université catholique de Pékin, 1937,Monumenta Serica, Monograph Series, 1), 141.173 AleksejMatveevič Pozdneev,Mongolia and theMongols 2, trans. fromRussian byW. Dougherty

(Bloomington: Mouton & Co., 1977 [Saint-Petersburg: 1896-1898]), 277.174 Such as the guide-book of the Yeke Juu or Vang-Un Гoul-Un Juu, an important pilgrimage site

in Ordos: S. Narasun and Temürbaγatur, eds., Ordus-un süme keyid, Mongγul ündüsüten-ü sümekeyid-ün bürin ciγulγa 5 (Hailar: Öbür Mongγul-un soyul-un keblel-ün qoriya, 2000), 371-91.175 The monasteries of Dga’ ldan, ’Bras spungs (Sgo mang college), Bla brang, Sku ’bum, Dgon

lung byams pa gling had strong links with Mongol monasteries, which was not the case for the WutaiShan monasteries. For traveling monks, Wutai Shan was only one stop in their pilgrimage circuitsincluding Amdo, Central Tibet, Urga, and sometimes India. As shown by Paul Nietupski for the monksof Bla brang (Paul K. Nietupski, “Bla brang Monastery and Wutai Shan,” Journal of the InternationalAssociation of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 [December 2011], http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5718), themotivationsof Mongol monks in visiting Wutai Shan were probably more political than spiritual, although thisquestion certainly deserves further study.



reincarnations – must not be underestimated, but could not completely replace thejourney to Wutai Shan.

Among the motivations of Mongol laymen undertaking the pilgrimage, the willto bury a relative there seems to be the main element that distinguishes the WutaiShan pilgrimage from other Tibetan and Mongolian pilgrimages. We have noMongol travelogues that could help us understand from an insider’s view whatWutai Shan represented for ordinary Mongol pilgrims and we must contentourselves with exterior witnesses and stone inscriptions. But the few sources Igathered seem to show that the Mongols saw Wutai Shan as a sacred Tibetanmountain and stressed the importance of the womb cave ritual as one of the majormoments of their journey. The will to bury a loved one, but also the desire to bepurified of their sins and be reborn in this life, made the pilgrimage to the WutaiShan holy land a journey between death and (a better) rebirth.

Whatever the role of the Manchu emperors and the Buddhist institution increating and promoting the pilgrimage toWutai Shan amongMongols, the pilgrimscame and invented a lived pilgrimage that was in some parts adopted by the Chinesepilgrims themselves. They linked the pratices and rituals they performed at WutaiShan with their local pilgrimages in Mongolia, be they Buddhist, Buddhicized, orpopular/shamanist.


GlossaryNote: The glossary is organized into sections according to the main language ofeach entry. The first section contains Tibetan words organized in Tibetanalphabetical order. Columns of information for all entries are listed in this order:THL Extended Wylie transliteration of the term, THL Phonetic rendering of theterm, the English translation, the Sanskrit equivalent, the Chinese equivalent, otherequivalents such as Mongolian or Latin, associated dates, and the type of term.

Ka

TypeDatesOtherEnglishPhoneticsWylie

MonasteryChi. Yuanzhao SiMon. TegüsGeyigülügci Süme

Küntu KhyappéLhakhang

kun tu khyab pa’i lhakhang

TermMon. γarcaγguide-bookkarchakdkar chag

OrganizationKagyüpabka’ brgyud pa

MonasteryKumbumsku ’bum

Ga


MonasteryGandendga’ ldan

OrganizationGelukpadge lugs pa

MonasteryGönlung Jampa Lingdgon lung byams pagling

Personnineteenthcentury

Mon. JiamsuGyamtsorgya mtsho

MonasteryGomangsgo mang

Nga


Person1601-87Chi. AwangLaozang

Ngawang Lozangngag dbang blo bzang

Ca


PlaceChonéco ne

PersonChi. ZhangjiaChangjalcang skya

Cha


RitualCham’cham

Ja


Person1728-91Jamyang Zhepa’jam dbyangs bzhadpa

Nya


Persontwentiethcentury

Nyima Dorjényi ma rdo rje


http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/ewts/

http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/phonetics/

OrganizationNyingmaparnying ma pa

Ta


MonasteryTerdromgter sgrom

Tha


Termtangkathang ka

Da


Termhigh monasticdiploma

dorampardo rams pa

Na


MonasteryChi. Guangren SiMon. Örüsiyel-iBadaraγuluγciSüme

Nupchok Kündü Lingnub phyogs kun ’dusgling

PersonSan. Šuddana Chi.ShancaiMon. Šuhhnaa

Norzangnor bzang

Pha


Termnarrow pathtranglamphrang lam

Person1235-80Pakpa Lama’phags pa bla ma

Ba


Termintermediate statebetween death andrebirth

bardobar do

MonasteryChi. Cifu SiMon. BuyanIbegegci Süme

byams dge gling

MonasteryLabrangbla brang

TermChi. la maMon. blama

lamabla ma

Personseventeenthcentury

Mon. LobsangDanjin

Lozang Tenjinblo bzang bstan ’jin

Person1632-84Chi. LaozangDanba

Lozang Tenpablo bzang bstan pa


Lozang Zangpoblo bzang bzang po

MonasteryDrigung Til’bri gung mthil

Ma


Termhell pathnyellamdmyal lam


Tsa


PersonTsongkhapatsong kha pa

Tsha


Person1683-1706?Tsangyang Gyamtsotshangs dbyangs rgyamtsho

Ra


TextRiwo DangsilKarchak JukmaTsangpa

ri bo dwangs bsil dkarchagmjugs ma tshang pa

Person1717-86Rölpé Dorjérol pa’i rdo rje

A


PlaceAmdoa mdo

PlaceAmnyé Machena myes rma chen

Sanskrit

TypeDatesSanskritEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Personca.332-304BCE

Aśoka

Buddhist deityAvalokiteśvara

Buddhist deityBodhisattva

Buddhist deityBuddha

Buddhist deityDharmapāla

Termgarbhadhātumaṇḑala

womb-worldmaṇḑala

PlaceHalase-māratika

PlaceKailāsaKailash

PlaceKāthmānduKathmandu

Termmaṇḑala

Buddhist deityMañjuśrī

Buddhist deityNāga

Buddhist deityNārayāna (Chi.Naluoyan)

Personeighthcentury

Padmasambhava

PersonRāhu(la)

PersonsixthcenturyBCE

Śākyamuni

Termstūpa śarīrarelic stūpa

Termsiddha

Termstūpa

Buddhist deityTārā


Buddhist deityVairocana

Termvajra

Chinese

TypeDatesChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PlaceBaisha Quan

PlaceBaishui ChiBaishui Pond

MonasteryBaiyun Si

PlaceBanruo QuanPrajñāpāramitāSpring

MonasteryBanruo SiBanruo Monastery

PlaceBaotou

PlaceBeihai


Beiyue

Personeighteenthcentury

Chahan Deliji

PlaceChang’an

PlaceChifeng ShiChifengMunicipality

Termchao jinpilgrimage to theemperor

Termchi0.32 meters

TextChongxiu baotabeiji

Stone Inscriptionfor the Restorationof the PreciousStūpa

TextChongxiu TayuanSi sheli baotabeiwen

Stone Inscriptionfor the Restorationof the PreciousŚarīra Stūpa ofTayuanSi

Termdachaogreat pilgrimage

MonasteryDa Wenshu Si

PlaceDabai Cun

PlaceDatong

MonasteryDailuo Ding

PlaceDaizhou

Personsixteenthcentury

Daofang

PlaceDengkou

Termdongtiangrotto-heaven

MonasteryFalei Si

Termfansengforeign monk

PlaceFanzhi XianFanzhi District

ValleyFenglin GuFenglin Valley

PlaceFengzhen XianFengzhen District


Termfoshuibuddha water

PlaceFomu DongMon. Eke-yin Aγui

Cave of the Motherof Buddha (Tārā)

PlaceFuping

PlaceFuxin

MonasteryGuanhai Si

Buddhist deityGuanyin

PlaceGuanyin DongMon. Qomsimbodisadua-yin Aγui

AvalokiteśvaraCave

MonasteryGuangzong Si

PlaceGuo XianGuo District

Termhaiyansea’s eye

PlaceHenan

PlaceHeilongchiBlack Dragon Pool

Termhuang yi sengmonk in yellowrobe

Personr. 1522-66Jiajing

Personr.1796-1820

Jiaqing

MonasteryJingang KuVajra Cave

MonasteryJin’ge Si

Termjinsha sheliziśarīra-golden sand

Termkaihua xianfoblooming lotusrevealing theBuddha

Personr.1662-1722

Kangxi

Termlimeasure ofdistance; one li isseventy-fivemeters

PlaceLiaoning

TextLifanyuan zeli

MonasteryLingying Si

MonasteryLongquan Si

PlaceLongsheng Zhuang

MonasteryLuohou SiMon. Raqu-yinSüme

Monastery ofRāhu(la)

Termluoma dahuigreat horse andmule fair

PlaceMimo YanMimo Cliff

Dynasty1522-67Ming

MonasteryMingyue ChiPool Reflecting theMoonlight

MonasteryNaluoyan KuNārayāna Cave

TextNamo AmituofoHomage to BuddhaAmitābha


PlaceNanshan SiSouthern MountainMonastery

PlaceNiuxin ShiRock with a Bull’sHeart

MonasteryPuen Si

MonasteryPuji Si

MonasteryPule Yuan

MonasteryPuning Si

MonasteryPusa DingMon.Bodisadua-yinOrgil

Bodhisattva’s PeakMonastery

MonasteryPushou Si


Qilengbutimuji

PlaceQianfo DongCave of theThousand Buddhas

Personr. 1736-95Qianlong

Dynasty1644-1911Qing

TextQing shiluVeritable Recordsof the Qing Dynasty

TextQingliang Shanbeiji

stone inscription ofQingliang Shan

TextQingliang Shan jiRecord ofQingliang Shan

MonasteryQingliang Si

PlaceQionghua Dao


Quji Da LamaMon. Corji DaLama

MonasterySanquan Si

PlaceShaanxi

MonasteryShancai Dong

PlaceShandong

PlaceShanxi

MonasteryShifang Tang

Personr. 1644-61Shunzhi

PlaceSi da ming shanFour Grand andFamous Mountains

MonasteryTayuan SiMon. SuburγanSüme

PlaceTaihuai

PlaceTaihuai Zhen

PlaceTaiping JieTaiping Street

PlaceTianlong Shan

Termtuotai huanguget rid of thecharnel envelopeand change bones


PlaceWannianbingTen thousand-yearice

TextWenshu taofanMañjuśrī begs forfood

MonasteryWudang Zhao

MonasteryWulang Miao

PlaceWutai Shan

PlaceWutai

PlaceWutai XianWutai District

PlaceXi’an

MonasteryXitian Si

MonasteryXiantong SiMon. ГayiqamsiγtuTegüs Süme

Termxiao chaotaismall pilgrimage tothe terraces

PlaceXinding

Person602-64Xuanzang

BuildingYansui Ge

PlaceYangbaiyu CunYangbaiyu Village

PlaceYanglin JieYanglin Street

PlaceYingfang JieYingfang Street

PlaceYing XianYing District

MonasteryYonghe Gong

Personr.1403-1424

Yongle

TextYongyuan liufangrememberedthrough eternity

Termyuan

MonasteryZaoyu Chi

MonasteryZhenhai SiMon. Luus-iDaruγsan Süme

Monastery thatsubdues the Ocean

MonasteryZhenrong Yuan

PlaceZhili

TermZhonghua WeizangTibet of China

MonasteryZhulin Si

MonasteryZunsheng Si

TextQinding Lifanyuanzeli

The ImperiallyCommissionedRegulations of theCourt of ColonialDependencies

Other


PlaceMon. Abaγa

TermSan. adhiṣṭhānaMon. adis

charm


MonasteryMon. Aγui YekeOnul-tu Süme

MonasteryChi. Agui MiaoMon. Aγui-yinSüme

Monastery of theCaves

PlaceMon. Alašan

PersonNep. Anige

PersonNep. Arniko


Mon. Babu

TermMon. badarciblam-a

wandering monk

MonasteryMon. BadγarCoyiling Süme

PlaceMon. Baγarin

TermMon. beyileprince of the thirdrank

ClanMon. Borjigid

TermSan. punyaMon. buyan

merit

PersonMon. CaγanDiyanci Qutuγtu

MonasteryMon. CaγanDiyanci-yin Keyid

PlaceMon. Caqar

Persond. 1671Mon. CaqarDiyanci

TempleMon. CoγcinDugang

TermMon. da blamaabbot

PersonMon. Dalai Lama

Person1803-56Mon. Danjinrabjai(Danzan Rajvaa)

PlaceMon. Dariγangγa

Person1884-64Mon. DiluwaQutuγtu

TermMon. ekemother

PlaceMon. Eke-yin AγuiMother’s Cave

PlaceMon. Eke-yinKebeli

Mother’s Belly

PlaceMon. Eke-yin UmaiMother’s Womb

TermMon. ekiorigin

MonasteryMon. Erdeni Juu

Non-Buddhistdeity

Mon. Etügen EkeMother Earth

PersonMon. jasaγruling prince

MonasteryMon. Gilubar Juu

MonasteryMon. Gilubar-unAγui


MonasteryChi.HouzhaoMiaoMon. Aru Juu

PersonMon. jasaγ dablama

Head ruling lama

PersonChi. ZhayinMon. Jaya BandidaQutu tu

PlaceMon. Kesigten

PlaceMon. Köke NaγurKokonor

PlaceMon. Kökeqota

Persond. 1252Mon. Isi Qatun

PersonMon. Esi Qatun

PersonMon. JebcündambaQutuγtu

PlaceMon. KhövsgölAimag

MonasteryMon. LobuncinbuSüme

Monastery ofPadmasambhava


Mon.Γalsangdondub


Chi.NamujiliwangqinggeMon.Namjilvangcuγ

PersonMon. NoyanQutuγtu

PlaceMon. OrdusOrdos

PlaceMon. ÖrgügeUrga

PlaceMon. Otuγ

PlaceMon. Övörkhangai

Name genericMon. Qaγucid

Name genericMon. Qalqa

MonasteryMon. Qamar-unKeyid

Name genericMon. Qaracin

Person1215-94Mon. Qubilai Qan

PlaceMon. Secen QanAyimaγ

MonasteryMon. Sine UsunJuu

Persond. 1252Mon. SorqaqtaniBegi

PlaceMon. Sünid

TermMon. tayijinoble

MonasteryMon. Tövgön khiid

Name genericMon. TorγuudTorgut

Name genericMon. Tümed

MonasteryMon. Udan Juu


TextMon.Uta-yin tabunaγulan-u orusil

A Guide to the FiveMountains ofWutai: Ornamentfor the Ears of theDevotees

süsüg-ten-ü cikincimeg orusiba

PersonMon. Vang

MonasteryMon. Vang-unГoul-un Juu

MonasteryMon. Yeke Juu

MonasteryMon. Yeke Küriye


Chi. YundengMon. Yonden


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Mongol pilgrimages to Wutaishan in the late Qing Dynasty

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