Mount Putuo (Putuoshan)

One Of The Four Sacred Mountains Of Chinese Buddhism; National 5A Tourist Attraction · Zhoushan, Zhejiang

A small, green island in the Zhoushan Archipelago off the coast of Zhejiang, revered as one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Chinese Buddhism and the earthly home of Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion. Its sacred history is traced to 916, when the Japanese monk Egaku tried to carry a statue of Guanyin home from Mount Wutai; storms and, legend says, a sea of iron lotuses blocked his ship off the island until he left the statue behind, founding the shrine of the Guanyin Who Refused to Leave. Over the following centuries hundreds of temples and hermitages rose among the island's hills, beaches and sea caves. Three great monasteries remain at its heart: Puji Temple, the grand front temple beside a lotus pond; Fayu Temple, whose halls climb a wooded slope, one of them roofed with timbers said to come from a Ming palace in Nanjing; and Huiji Temple on Foding Peak, the island's summit, reached by cable car or a long pilgrim stairway. On a headland stands a 33-metre bronze statue of Nanhai Guanyin gazing out to sea, and the Chaoyin and Fanyin caves roar as waves surge in. Sandy beaches such as Hundred-Step and Thousand-Step Beach add a seaside air, while pilgrims crowd the island for Guanyin's three festival days each year.

Puji Temple, Putuoshan Island, Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China

Island open daily, roughly 6:30-21:50; fast boats from Zhujiajian about every 15 minutes, roughly 6:10-17:50. Temples open from early morning to late afternoon. Ferries stop in typhoons and fog.

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