Golden Summit

Golden Summit

Guide   The Mount Emei Buddha’s Halo, also known as the Mount Emei Sacred Light, appears at the Golden Summit. When sunlight shines from behind the observer onto the vast sea of clouds, the deeper cloud layers reflect the light, which is then diffracted and scattered by droplets or mist particles in the shallower cloud layers, forming a huge, colorful ring of light. Standing on the Cliff of Self-Sacrifice at the Golden Summit and looking down, you can see this iridescent halo floating above the sea of clouds, with your own shadow inside the ring. Your shadow moves with you and never leaves. No matter how many people there are, each person sees only their own shadow, and “the halo moves with the person, and the person’s shadow remains within the ring.” This is the astonishing Mount Emei Buddha’s Halo. The best time to visit Mount Emei to see the Buddha’s Halo is between December and March.

Highlights   The Ten Directions Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Statue at the Golden Summit: The statue is made of bronze, stands 48 meters tall, covers an area of 1,256 square meters, and weighs approximately 600 tons in total. On the Sumeru pedestal stands a six-tusked auspicious elephant. The first level on the elephant’s back features four heads and two bodies of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva; the second level has four heads of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva; and the top level shows the front and back faces of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Inside the statue is a 484-square-meter Buddhist shrine, housing a bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, surrounded by white marble-carved Buddha statues. When the sun’s glow shines on the top of the Buddha statue, countless rays of auspicious light reflect off the golden figure, adorning the sea of clouds with a magnificent golden rim, leaving worshippers no choice but to kneel in reverence and awe. When the sun’s rays hit the summit of the statue, innumerable rays of auspicious light radiate from the golden Buddha, gilding the edges of the sea of clouds, causing all believers to kneel in worship.

Introduction   The main peak of Mount Emei is the Golden Summit, but the Golden Summit commonly referred to by people is not just this mountain peak. It mainly denotes the Huazang Temple and the famous Golden Hall within the temple. Huazang Temple, fully named “Yongming Huazang Temple,” is located at the main peak of Mount Emei’s Golden Summit, at an altitude of 3,077 meters. The Golden Hall is one of the halls of Huazang Temple, situated at the highest position, and is integrated with the Huazang Temple.

Tips   In the early years of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (around 1377 AD), the National Preceptor Baotan came to Mount Emei by imperial order to renovate the temples. Due to the high altitude and strong winds, Qi San Sheng, the Commander-in-Chief of Yunnan, donated funds to cover the roof with iron tiles, hence it became commonly known as the Iron Tile Hall. In the 29th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1601 AD), Miao Feng (a monk from Mount Wutai in Shanxi) and Monk Weimi came here to worship Samantabhadra and vowed to cast three large gilded statues of the Bodhisattvas, covering them with copper halls on famous mountains. After several years, they successively cast three copper halls: one on Mount Emei, one on Mount Wutai, and one on Mount Putuo. In the autumn of the 43rd year of the Wanli reign (1615 AD), they were transported to Mount Emei for assembly. At the highest point behind the Iron Tile Hall on Da’e Mountain, the Copper Hall of the Bodhisattva of Universal Worthy’s Vow King was constructed. The copper hall is 2.5 zhang (approximately 8.3 meters) tall, 1.44 zhang (approximately 4.8 meters) wide, and 1.35 zhang (approximately 4.5 meters) deep, and is called the “Golden Hall” or “Golden Summit.” Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun, inscribed the horizontal plaque reading “Yongming Huazang Temple.” Later, from the 16th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1890 AD) to 1972, Huazang Temple suffered several major fires. Currently, only the Ming Dynasty “copper stele,” “copper doors,” and Qing Dynasty “copper elephant” remain, which are rare and precious Buddhist relics on Mount Emei.

  Meishan, Sichuan