James Baquet

    jamesbaquet@gmail.com

    TOURISM is replete with superlatives. Sites are touted as the oldest, newest, biggest, smallest, and so on, all to attract tourist dollars.

    Tiantai Peak, I learned, is not the highest on Jiuhua Mountain. However, Tiantai Temple, located on the peak, is the highest temple on Jiuhua Mountain. It is also the primary focus of pilgrims to this Buddhist wonderland described as like “1,000 pearls scattered in fog.”

    It was a steep climb from Gubaijingtai to the top — so steep, in fact, that many travelers hired men to carry them up from the cable car station. But getting there is half the devotion, so up I struggled on my own two feet.

    Arriving at the top, I discovered that the main 10,000 Buddhas Hall was undergoing a new paint job. But the location alone was much of the attraction. Though the building is only a few decades old, the site is ancient, for here is where the Korean named Jin Qiao-jue built his hut when he came up the mountain to practice in 719.

    There is a cave at the base of the complex, now partially bricked in. Inside is a statue of Kshitigarbha (Dizang), patron bodhisattva of the mountain. There are also a few run-down auxiliary halls, and a good-sized space filled with quirky little spaces just under the main hall. And all around are distant views and seclusion — a stunning place to practice.

    On the more relaxing trip down, I stopped to appreciate the sight of the “roc (a mythical bird) listening to a sutra” before beginning the four- or five-kilometer knee-jarring descent to the bottom of the peak.