The Fanjingshan () or Mount Fanjing, located in

Tongren Tongren () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guizhou province, People's Republic of China, located within a tobacco planting and crop agricultural area. Tongren was known as Tongren Prefecture () until November 2011, when it was converted into ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

province, is the highest peak of the

Wuling Mountains The Wuling Mountains () are a mountain range located in Central China, running from Chongqing Municipality and East Guizhou to West Hunan. They are home to many ethnic groups, including as the Tujia, Han, Miao, Dong, and Bai. Wulingyuan T ...

in southeastern China, at an elevation of . The Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve was established in 1978 and designated a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Biosphere Reserve in 1986. Fanjingshan is a sacred mountain in

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...

, considered to be the

bodhimaṇḍa Bodhimaṇḍa (Sanskrit and Pali) or daochang () is a term used in Buddhism meaning the "position of awakening". According to Haribhadra, it is "a place used as a seat, where the essence of enlightenment is present". Bodhimaṇḍas are regular ...

of the Maitreya Buddha. It became a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 2018.

Name

The mountain's name "Fanjing" is an abbreviation of ''Fantian Jingtu'' (), or "Brahma's Pure Land". ''Fantian'' is the Chinese name for the Buddhist heavenly king

Brahmā Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp ...

, and ''Jingtu'' is Chinese for " pure land", the focus of

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...

Location and environment

Fanjingshan is located in

, Guizhou Province in southeastern China. It is the highest peak of the

. The elevation of its terrain ranges from above sea level. The Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve was established in 1978 and designated a UNESCO

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in 1986. The reserve covers a total area of and is a conservation area for primitive vegetation of the mid sub-tropic alpine region of eastern China. The mountain was designated a

in July 2018. Fanjingshan's relative isolation has ensured a high degree of biodiversity. Endemic species such as the rare Guizhou golden monkey ''(Rhinopithecus brelichi)'' and the Fanjingshan fir ''(Abies fanjingshanensis)'' occur only in a small region centering on Fanjingshan. Several endangered species, including the

Chinese giant salamander The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.forest musk deer, and Reeve's pheasant are also found in Fanjingshan. It is also home to the largest and most contiguous subtropical primeval beech forest. File:梵淨山風景.jpg, Fanjingshan File:Fanjingshan-new.jpg, The Mushroom Rock File:Stone steps, Mount Fanjing, Picture2.jpg, Stone Steps File:Jinding, Mount Fanjing, 31 March 2020e.jpg, Jinding

Buddhism

Fanjingshan is considered a sacred mountain of

, ranking just below the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism. It is considered the

(or ''daochang'')—a spot in which one reached enlightenment—of the Maitreya Buddha. The influence of Buddhism reached Fanjingshan by the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

at the latest, especially after Hou Hongren () constructed the Zangke Road () in 639 AD, which facilitated transport in the mountainous region, and local gazettes record the construction of several temples in the area. More temples were built during the ensuing

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

and Yuan dynasties. Buddhism greatly prospered during the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and Qing dynasties, when the cult of Tianguan Maitreya () became dominant in Fanjingshan. The

Bozhou rebellion The Bozhou rebellion () was a Miao uprising that occurred in Guizhou and spread to Sichuan and Huguang between 1589 and 1600 during the Ming dynasty. Events In 1589, the Bozhou Tusi region (Zunyi, Guizhou) erupted into inter-tribal warfare ...

in the late 16th century caused great damages to Fanjingshan's temples. After suppressing the rebellion, the

Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. "Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was th ...

ordered the monk Miaoxuan () to rebuild the Golden Peak and the Cheng'en Temple (). Many other temples were constructed in the area, ushering in the golden era for Buddhism in Fanjingshan. Most temples during the Ming and Qing dynasties belonged to the Pure Land and the Linji sects of Buddhism. In the turmoil that toppled the Qing dynasty, many temples were destroyed by marauding armies and bandits, and few monks remained in the Republic of China era. After further destructions during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, Buddhism has enjoyed a renaissance since the 1980s. Many old temples have been rebuilt and new ones constructed, including the Cheng'en Temple, Huguo Chan Temple (), Great Golden Buddha Temple (), and Longquan Temple (). In 2010, the Fanjingshan Buddhist Cultural Park was opened, with a Golden Hall that houses a statue of the Maitreya Buddha made with of gold and thousands of gems. It is said to be the largest gold Maitreya statue in the world. File:Buddhist temple on Red Clouds Golden Summit, Mount Fanjing, 31 March 2020h.jpg, Buddhist temple on Red Clouds Golden Summit File:A view over Cheng'en Temple, Mount Fanjing, 31 March 2020f.jpg, Cheng'en Temple fromMount Fanjing File:Dharma Hall, Cheng'en Temple, Mount Fanjing, 31 March 2020b.jpg, Dharma Hall, Cheng'en Temple

Recognition

Asteroid 215021 Fanjingshan, discovered by astronomers of the PMO NEO Survey Program in 2005, was named after the World Heritage Site. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019 (). A genus ('' Fanjingshania'') of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

chondrichthyan Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fishes'', which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. ...

discovered in Guizhou Province was named after Fanjingshan mountain.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buddhist sites in China Mountains of Guizhou Religion in Guizhou Sacred Mountains of China World Heritage Sites in China Pure Land Buddhism Maitreya