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Sacred Buddhist Mountains in China
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Sunrise lights up a monastery on the mountain of
Wu Tai Shan
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The four sacred Buddhist mountains of China are believed
to be the homes of Boddhisattvas (enlightened beings who
have delayed their Nirvana to remain on earth and help
others find enlightenment). The mountains are Wu Tai
Shan to the north, Emei Shan to the west, the eastern
mountain Pu Tuo Shan and Jiu Hua Shan to the south.
These
places where earth and heaven are believed to touch,
over the centuries became places of pilgrimage for
Chinese Buddhists from all over the country. Great
monasteries built on their mountainsides became centres
of art and philosophy. Many of these monasteries were
dissolved during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
Yet now, as China’s mainstream religions are reviving,
the ones that remain are among the most important places
for propagating conservation programmes that fit with
local people’s fundamental beliefs.
All four
mountains are in beautiful areas, homes for rare and
endangered birds, animals and plant species. Yet because
they are sacred, paradoxically they suffer from the
ravages of tourism and pilgrimage as well as logging and
development. ARC and the China Buddhist Association,
which represents some 200 million Buddhists, are working
towards conservation on
Wu Tai Shan
to the north and
Emei Shan
to the west.
This project is run closely with
another project to protect and restore the five sacred
Daoist mountains of China.
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Presented on April 15 2006:
ARC's speech at First World Buddhist
Conference: in English
"There are many illusions. There is the illusion
that we can exploit this fragile world and not pay
the cost; there is the illusion that material
property is the only worthwhile goal; there is the
illusion that human communities can exist without
regard to the animals, plants, rocks, and rivers
which live beside them."
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April 15 2006:
ARC's speech at First World Buddhist
Conference: in Chinese
The original, Chinese language version of ARC's
presentation to Buddhists - on preserving species,
the environment, and on the emptiness of illusion
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Asia projects
ARC is working in India, China, Cambodia, Mongolia
and elsewhere, helping local faith communities
protect their environment
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