Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province has been a significant site of Chinese Buddhism throughout its two millennia of religious history. The mountain landscape, legends, the apparitions of the residing bodhisattva, monastic community and architecture are subjects of several anthological hagiographies and gazetteers of the mountain, the earliest dated to 680. The conception of Mount Wutai as the abode of Manjusri the bodhisattva of wisdom, was formed in the sixth century. Interest in the sacred mountain also extended to the art and architecture associated with it. The images of Manjusri, particularly the idea of a true image of the bodhisattva and the depiction of the mountain in prints, paintings and wall paintings have been well studied. The surroundings of Wutai include two wooden buildings with the main structure and sculpture dating from the late eighth and mid-ninth centuries. They are the earliest wooden constructions extant in China. The sacred mountain is thus ideal for the study of an important aspect of Chinese Buddhism.
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