Journey to the West 2 (Wudangzhao) — A Trip to Ejina for the Populus Euphratica

Journey to the West 2 (Wudangzhao)

— A Trip to Ejina for the Populus Euphratica

Heading west, just to encounter the poplar that lives for a thousand years without dying, dies for a thousand years without falling, and falls for a thousand years without decaying.

The next morning, we set off at 7:30, heading towards Baotou via Hohhot. Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon was big and round—it must have been the 17th day of the eighth lunar month.

Beautiful scenery lined the road. Autumn had dyed the land into colorful patches: green trees, golden ripe crops, red houses, with the highway embedded in between. Rich colors impacted our vision.

Someone suddenly shouted, "Look, there's a white pagoda halfway up the mountain!" Sure enough, a small white pagoda was visible on the mountain, with a large temple at its foot. The car quickly passed by. According to the tour guide, this is Meidaizhao (in Mongolian, "Meidai" means Maitreya, and "Zhao" means temple), originally named Lingjue Temple, later renamed Shouling Temple. It is one of the important Tibetan Buddhist buildings in Inner Mongolia, a national key cultural heritage site, located on the north side of the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, about 50 km east of Baotou in Meidaizhao Village, Tumd Right Banner. Meidaizhao is built against the mountain and near the water, with a unique architectural style. It follows the Han Chinese style but blends Mongolian and Tibetan elements, forming a lama temple that "combines city and temple, where humans and Buddhists coexist." Covering an area of about 4,000 square meters, the temple contains many murals, such as those depicting Shakyamuni's history in the Mahavira Hall and scenes of Mongolian nobility worshiping Buddha, all well-preserved. Unfortunately, this site wasn't on our itinerary, so we had to leave it with regret.

We headed straight for Wudangzhao. In Mongolian, "Wudang" means "willow tree"; its original name was Badagar Zhao, and in Tibetan, "Badagar" means "white lotus." Construction began during the Kangxi reign (1662–1722) and was renovated in the 14th year of Qianlong (1749), when it was given the Chinese name Guangjue Temple. The first Living Buddha, Lobzang Jampel, built it following the model of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet (which I have visited, so it looked familiar). Through expansions during the reigns of Kangxi, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Guangxu, it gradually reached its present scale. Because it is built on the slope of a mountain called Aobao Mountain in the Wudang Valley, it is commonly known as Wudangzhao.

Wudangzhao faces south, built according to the terrain. It has over 2,500 halls, sutra halls, and monk quarters, covering more than 300 mu (about 20 hectares), rising layer by layer on a 1.5-kilometer-long slope. Its main color is white, with red and yellow decorating the roofs and window frames, creating a very bright and vivid palette. The temple is surrounded by mountains, shaded by ancient pines and cypresses, appearing majestic and impressive. It is a national key cultural heritage site and a 4A-level tourist attraction. Wudangzhao is as famous as the Potala Palace in Tibet, the Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai, and the Labrang Monastery in Gansu; it is one of the four great monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism in China and the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Inner Mongolia. Now I have visited all four of these famous Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, which feels quite fulfilling.

The main buildings of Wudangzhao consist of eight major sutra halls (six remain), three living Buddha residences, and a reliquary hall housing the stupas of successive living Buddhas of this monastery; there are also over sixty monk quarters and ancillary buildings. The scale is quite grand. The halls contain statues, murals, and thangkas (scroll paintings), each with its own characteristics: some have a ten-meter-high bronze statue of Shakyamuni, others a nine-meter-high bronze statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school, or statues of protective deities, or statues of White Tara and Green Tara. The three living Buddha residences are south of the Ahui Hall, with the Dongkuer Living Buddha's residence being particularly grand, built in the 49th year of Qianlong (1784) by the second Living Buddha, Rashi Nyima.

Wudangzhao is a renowned monastic university in Inner Mongolia. To promote Buddhism, it specifically established schools (Zhacang) for lamas to study scriptures and Buddhist philosophy. At its peak, the monastery housed over a thousand lamas.

Unfortunately, I have little knowledge of Buddhism, so I could only look on as an outsider. Still, I was awed by its grandeur.

That night, we stayed in Baotou.

We saw Meidaizhao from the bus.