Abstract
Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province, China, is the most important holy land of Guanyin in East Asia. Landscape sacralization is a key modality by which sacred meaning is constructed. This paper takes several examples—the Tidal Sound Cave (“chaoyin dong” 潮音洞), the Well of the Immortal Mei (“Meixian jing” 梅仙井), the Well of Ge Hong (“Ge Hong jing” 葛洪井), the Well of the Immortal (“xianren jing” 仙人井), and Duangu Pier (“Duan Gu daotou” 短姑道頭)—to analyze the three types of processes of sacralization. The Tidal Sound Cave is a re-construction of the founding myths; Well of the Immortal Mei, the Well of Ge Hong and the Well of the Immortal reflect harmony between local legends of Daoist immortals and the sacred Buddhist site; and the Duangu Pier accomplished its sanctification process in the course of local pilgrimage activities. By sorting out the mechanism and process of landscape sanctification and exploring the generation and renewal of landscape meaning, we can observe the logic of the construction of this sacred site.
Highlights
Mount Putuo, an island in the east of Zhejiang Province, China, is an important pilgrimage site of Guanyin in the East Asian cultural circle and is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains (“sida mingshan” 四大名山) in China, along with Mount Wutai in Shanxi, Mount Emei in Sichuan, and Mount Jiuhua in Anhui
Historical literature dates the legends of Mount Putuo to the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and earlier, but it was in 1080 that the monastery on the island was officially recognized and called Baotuo Guanyin Temple 寶陀觀音寺
Some miracle stories that occurred on various sites may replay in later generations with similar stories about different people, resulting in several centers of inspiration; other sites are considered to be associated with legends because of their naturally unique topographies or how space is experienced
Summary
Mount Putuo, an island in the east of Zhejiang Province, China, is an important pilgrimage site of Guanyin in the East Asian cultural circle and is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains (“sida mingshan” 四大名山) in China, along with Mount Wutai in Shanxi, Mount Emei in Sichuan, and Mount Jiuhua in Anhui. It appeared in the first gazetteer of Mount Putuo, Butuoluojia shan zhuan 補陀洛迦山傳 (1361) The monk in this story burned his ten fingers, one after another, in front of the Tidal Sound Cave, and he saw Guanyin and was awarded precious stones Spaces developed at different times with specific significance to serve the status and function of Mount Putuo: the Dragon Palace, built at the entrance of the Tidal Sound Cave during the Song and Ming dynasties for rituals to pray for rain; the “Tie Wa Dian”, built during the maritime embargo period of the Hongwu era; and the Undulation Pavilion (“Dan Dan Ting” 澹澹亭), built in 1980 for tourists to rest and view the sea. These three types of spatial sacralization contributed to the gradual transformation of the Tidal Sound Cave from a single natural cliff cave into a relatively complete landscape group
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