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Description:
Creator's Description: The sacred mountain Wutai shan, located in Shanxi Province, China, is believed to be the earthly abode of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Mañjuśrī. While Wutai shan was a sacred site to Chinese Buddhists as far back as the fifth century, from the seventh century on, it became an international pilgrimage center, attracting Buddhist pilgrims from as far away as India, Kashmir, Tibet, Japan, and Korea. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Wutai shan had become especially important to Tibetans, Mongols, and Manchus, when Tibetan Buddhism was at its apex there and the mountain was a confluence of Himalayan cultures. The exhibition “Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain” (2007) introduced the nature of this transnational pilgrimage site dedicated to the embodiment of wisdom, Mañjuśrī, and explored the rich interrelationships between faith, politics, ethnicity, and identity which make the site unique. The accompanying introductory essay explores the history of Tibetan involvement on the mountain. (2011-12-31)
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