Why is Mount Emeishan special?
Located in Sichuan province of Western China, Mount Emei, at 3,099 meters (10,167 ft), is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. The mountain is renowned for its sweeping cliffs, high reaching peaks, gurgling springs, towering ancient trees and sweet scented flowers and it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Mount Emeishan Highlights
Chinese people have given Mount Emei many names in order to describe its beauty including “Fairy Mountain and Buddhist Kingdom”, “Botanical Kingdom”, “Paradise of Animals” and “Geological Museum”.
Gold Summit
The Gold Summit is an extravagance of natural wonders and Buddhism spiritualism, comprising of four marvelous spectacles of Sunrise, Cloud Sea, Buddhist Light and Sacred Lamp.
Sunrise
The sunrise is very varied, but optimally begins with the ground and sky being in the same dark purple, soon showing rosy clouds, followed by a bright purple arc and then a semicircle where the sun is coming up.
Clouds Sea
When the sky is clearly blue, white clouds rise slowly among the mountains. Just in a moment, vast clouds sea appears above the horizon like a snowy white woolen blanket, smooth, clean and thick.
Buddhist Light
In the afternoon, at the foot of the Sheshen Rock, every place is full of pure white clouds. Then an aura with the color of red, orange, yellow, green, black, blue and purple extends within a radius of around one or two meters.
Sacred Lamp
In the dark nights of Gold Summit, occasionally, you can see a point of fluorescence flowing between the valleys, then changing into numerous step by step.
Wan Fo Ding
Literally meaning ten thousand Buddha summit, Wan Fo Ding is the highest peak of Mount Emei with an altitude of 3,099 meters. With great varieties of plants and animals this is a wonderful place to enjoy primitive and natural beauty as well as a splendid bird’s-eye view of the whole mountain.
Golden Buddha
With a total height of 48 meters and weight of 660 tons, the four-side ten-direction Golden Buddha statue of Puxian on the Golden Summit of Mount Emei is the highest golden Buddha in the world and the first artistic design of ten-direction statue of Puxian.
Elephant’s Bathing Pool
Enjoying a height of 2,070 altitudes, the Elephant’s Bathing Temple is said to be the best place on this mountain to appreciate moonlit scene for it is very spacious at the front and the moonlit scene is really wonderful set off by the forests.
Legend has it that the Bodhisattva Samantanhadra once washed his elephant in this hexagon pool before heading up to the temple at the peak of the mountain and thus the Elephant's Bathing Pool was born.
Baoguo Temple
At the foot of the Mount Emei, the Baoguo Temple is the largest temple on this mountain and the starting point for taking a tour as well.
First built here during the Ming Dynasty, this temple is constructed on a slope, with four halls built on top of one another. There are various religious relics and calligraphic exhibits on display.
Wannian Temple
Also referred to by its English translated name “Long Life Temple”, Wannian Temple is one of the eight largest temples on this mountain. Like many of Mount Emei temples, Wannian Temple contains a statue of the Bodhissattva Puxian (also known as Samantabhadra).
Monkeys
Mount Emei is also a paradise for monkeys. Here visitors will likely see dozens of monkeys who can often be viewed taking food from tourists. Local merchants sell nuts for tourists to feed the monkeys.