AmStramGram
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Messages
- 258
In many cultures, mountains stood as liminal places, as borders between heaven and earth. For most of mankind's history, they remained on the margins of civilisation, most people preferring to settle in the valleys below, cautiously avoiding the barren summits. Astonishingly, many famous peaks were not climbed before the advent of alpinism in the late 18th century. No wonder then than many mountains came to be envisioned as sacred places, axis mundi or residences of the gods. In Mesopotamia, a flat land, temples were even built as miniature mountains (the ziggourat).
Nowadays, most of these places can be visited. And actually, many became places of pilgrimage. Before I developped back and knee problems, I purposedly visited a series of "sacred" mountains around the world, from Mount Olympus in northern Greece, to mount Wudang in China. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the iconic Mount Kailash in Tibet ... Maybe I'll succeed in another life ... Anyway, I am sure plenty of you, fortean travelers, have visited such places. So it may be worthwile to create a specific thread on this topic.
I'll start by sharing my experiences about the strange places of Emeishan (Lofty Eyebrow Mountain), in Sichuan, China (PRC).
Mount Emei is a 3 000 m peak rising through the clouds of Western China, close to the ancient Tibetan frontier. Loosely shaped like an "eyebrow", e.g a right triangle, it became a place of retreat for taoist ermits, and later on for buddhist monks. It is nowadays considered as one of the main Buddhist Sacred mountains of China, and it is associated with the divine figure of the boddhisattva Samanthabadra.
Typical of Chinese sacred mountains, stone stairs have been carved into the mountain from the ground level, right up to the summit. Along the way to the mountain top, dozens of buddhist temples have been built, and mount Emei still hosts a lively community of monks. As it is still a place of pilgrimage (and tourism), each monastery has its religious shop, selling CDs (for religious chants), rosaries, sacred texts or simply souvenirs, and you can hear recorded chants in most temples (this had some unexpected impacts on my life, but that's another story). When I visited the place in 1998, climbing the mountain was a kind of total sensorial experience, mixing sound (music), visual and olfactive stimulations. It maybe different nowadays, as China changed significantly in 20 years. Not always for the best ... In some places, the development of mass tourism has been especially destructive.
Now for the "fortean" side of the place :
The better known weirdness of mount Emei is the so-called "buddha light" of the summit. Under some specific conditions, the mountain top gives rise to a "Broken spectre" phenomenon. The climber sees his shadow reflected upon the sea of clouds, surrounded by a rainbow hallow. I did not have the priviledge of witnessing this phenomenon, but it is a rather common sight there. Unfortunately, many pilgrims interpreted this as an evidence they were close to enlightment or that they were called to take birth in a Buddha-land, a kind of buddhist paradise. So plenty of people are said to have jumped into the void in order to hasten this foretold apotheosis. Needless to say, they did not survive the ordeal.
The second weirdness of the moutain is related to its inhabitants. It has been a Buddhist place for centuries. As a result, wild animals have been protected and even nourrished by the resident monks, who considered hunting as evil and cultivated "compassion". Then came the tourists, with their shiny cell phones and tasty lunches. So the local monkeys, who had learned not to feat man, jumped on the opportunity. They started to assault the passerby like highwaymen, to steal their belongings. Emei shan monkeys can be very agressive. So beware ! In 1998, I was told they had pushed a resisting traveller down from a cliff ... During my trip, remembering that one of my teachers had once told me that showing one's teeth could lower monkey agressivity (I never checked if it was true), I attempted to calm the monkeys by displaying them my gums, Joker style ... Don't know if this trick saved me or if the monkeys were just amazed by my unusual Western appearance, but they let me pass through. A few minutes later, as I was resting on a stone, I heard some shouts below. They had attacked a young Chinese couple and stolen their backpack full of sweets !
The last and weirdest place on the mountain would be the Jiulaodong, or "Nine old men's Cave". At about two thirds of the climb, there is a dark cave, littered with bat's fecal matter and guano, where pilgrims crowd. After walking down the bowels of the earth, one reaches a subterranean hall lightened by countless red candles and saturated with incense smell. There locals worship ... Well, I don't know exactly what they worship, but it is not the Buddha ! According to a fellow traveller, it was the place of rest of nine old wise men who died when the cave crumbled. Originally, the cave was supposed to lead to the summit of the mountain (a very unlikely theory !) but it crumbled, sealing the nine old men into the cave. In 1998, it was probably one the weirdest place I ever saw.
To visit mount Emei, you may go to Chengdu or Chongqing, in Sichuan, and take the train to Emei. Make sure you have at least three to four days to tour around the place as the ascent takes time, if you don't cheat. Sleeping in monasteries on the way up was part of the experience in 1998. I foundly remember how strange it was to struggle against constipation in a temple's "hanging toilets", seeing the clouds and the great void immediately below my arse, and hearing a monk coming close to the doorless toilet ...
Edit :
Map of mount Emei : https://www.chinadiscovery.com/china-maps/mt.-emei-scenic-tourist-map.html
Jiulaodong is just below the number 7 on this map.
And if my memory is correct, the "hanging toilets" were at Xixiangchi temple (number 10)
Nowadays, most of these places can be visited. And actually, many became places of pilgrimage. Before I developped back and knee problems, I purposedly visited a series of "sacred" mountains around the world, from Mount Olympus in northern Greece, to mount Wudang in China. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the iconic Mount Kailash in Tibet ... Maybe I'll succeed in another life ... Anyway, I am sure plenty of you, fortean travelers, have visited such places. So it may be worthwile to create a specific thread on this topic.
I'll start by sharing my experiences about the strange places of Emeishan (Lofty Eyebrow Mountain), in Sichuan, China (PRC).
Mount Emei is a 3 000 m peak rising through the clouds of Western China, close to the ancient Tibetan frontier. Loosely shaped like an "eyebrow", e.g a right triangle, it became a place of retreat for taoist ermits, and later on for buddhist monks. It is nowadays considered as one of the main Buddhist Sacred mountains of China, and it is associated with the divine figure of the boddhisattva Samanthabadra.
Typical of Chinese sacred mountains, stone stairs have been carved into the mountain from the ground level, right up to the summit. Along the way to the mountain top, dozens of buddhist temples have been built, and mount Emei still hosts a lively community of monks. As it is still a place of pilgrimage (and tourism), each monastery has its religious shop, selling CDs (for religious chants), rosaries, sacred texts or simply souvenirs, and you can hear recorded chants in most temples (this had some unexpected impacts on my life, but that's another story). When I visited the place in 1998, climbing the mountain was a kind of total sensorial experience, mixing sound (music), visual and olfactive stimulations. It maybe different nowadays, as China changed significantly in 20 years. Not always for the best ... In some places, the development of mass tourism has been especially destructive.
Now for the "fortean" side of the place :
The better known weirdness of mount Emei is the so-called "buddha light" of the summit. Under some specific conditions, the mountain top gives rise to a "Broken spectre" phenomenon. The climber sees his shadow reflected upon the sea of clouds, surrounded by a rainbow hallow. I did not have the priviledge of witnessing this phenomenon, but it is a rather common sight there. Unfortunately, many pilgrims interpreted this as an evidence they were close to enlightment or that they were called to take birth in a Buddha-land, a kind of buddhist paradise. So plenty of people are said to have jumped into the void in order to hasten this foretold apotheosis. Needless to say, they did not survive the ordeal.
The second weirdness of the moutain is related to its inhabitants. It has been a Buddhist place for centuries. As a result, wild animals have been protected and even nourrished by the resident monks, who considered hunting as evil and cultivated "compassion". Then came the tourists, with their shiny cell phones and tasty lunches. So the local monkeys, who had learned not to feat man, jumped on the opportunity. They started to assault the passerby like highwaymen, to steal their belongings. Emei shan monkeys can be very agressive. So beware ! In 1998, I was told they had pushed a resisting traveller down from a cliff ... During my trip, remembering that one of my teachers had once told me that showing one's teeth could lower monkey agressivity (I never checked if it was true), I attempted to calm the monkeys by displaying them my gums, Joker style ... Don't know if this trick saved me or if the monkeys were just amazed by my unusual Western appearance, but they let me pass through. A few minutes later, as I was resting on a stone, I heard some shouts below. They had attacked a young Chinese couple and stolen their backpack full of sweets !
The last and weirdest place on the mountain would be the Jiulaodong, or "Nine old men's Cave". At about two thirds of the climb, there is a dark cave, littered with bat's fecal matter and guano, where pilgrims crowd. After walking down the bowels of the earth, one reaches a subterranean hall lightened by countless red candles and saturated with incense smell. There locals worship ... Well, I don't know exactly what they worship, but it is not the Buddha ! According to a fellow traveller, it was the place of rest of nine old wise men who died when the cave crumbled. Originally, the cave was supposed to lead to the summit of the mountain (a very unlikely theory !) but it crumbled, sealing the nine old men into the cave. In 1998, it was probably one the weirdest place I ever saw.
To visit mount Emei, you may go to Chengdu or Chongqing, in Sichuan, and take the train to Emei. Make sure you have at least three to four days to tour around the place as the ascent takes time, if you don't cheat. Sleeping in monasteries on the way up was part of the experience in 1998. I foundly remember how strange it was to struggle against constipation in a temple's "hanging toilets", seeing the clouds and the great void immediately below my arse, and hearing a monk coming close to the doorless toilet ...
Edit :
Map of mount Emei : https://www.chinadiscovery.com/china-maps/mt.-emei-scenic-tourist-map.html
Jiulaodong is just below the number 7 on this map.
And if my memory is correct, the "hanging toilets" were at Xixiangchi temple (number 10)
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