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131 CHAPTER FIVE Reconfiguring the Center The language of “center” is preeminently political and only secondarily cosmological. —Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place In 766, Amoghavajra (705–74), the master of the Esoteric Buddhism (Mijiao) school at court, petitioned the emperor Daizong (r. 762–79) in a memorandum to support the building of a monastery, called Monastery of the Golden Pavilion (Jin’gesi), at Mount Wutai: On the twenty-fourth year of the Kaiyuan reign [736], a monk Daoyi from Quzhou went to Mount Wutai and observed a [virtual] monastery of Mañjuśrī’s holy traces, named Cloister of the Golden Pavilion [Jin’ge Yuan]. It had thirteen halls to accommodate monks, the number of which was said to have been about ten thousand. Its towers and halls and gates and pavilions were all made of gold. Daoyi then submitted a copy of the plan [of the monastery] to the court. Everyone under Heaven [had since] wished to see Jin’ge Monastery completed—for who would not wish this? [Suzong (r. 756–62), the late emperor, thus] ordered Daohuan, a monk from Zezhou, to send supplies daily to the mountains. [As I] admire [the marvel] the Chan master Daoyi experienced, I vowed to build Jin’ge Monastery accordingly for the sake of the nation. The number of buildings in the monastery will be the same as was seen [in Daoyi’s vision]. . . . [Now] there are five official plaques at Mount Wutai, [granted to] Qingliang, Huayan, Foguang, and Yuhua—four [monasteries] that have been completed—and Jin’ge, the only one that has not. As [Jin’ge Monastery ] was built after holy traces, who would not regard [this project] with great reverence?1 This official record is important on several counts, and complicates the history of Mount Wutai during the second half of the eighth century . First, like Zhulin Monastery, Jin’ge Monastery was built after a vision—that is, it was first a “virtual monastery” (huasi) and was subsequently built in reality. But unlike Zhulin Monastery, commissioned by Fazhao, Jin’ge Monastery was sponsored by the powerful master Amoghavajra, who, accorded a series of high ranks and honors including the title “master of the state” (guoshi), served the emperor directly as the most influential Buddhist figure of his times at court.2 Jin’ge Monastery was thus the first to have been built entirely with imperial RECONFIGURING THE CENTER 132 funds. During the Tang, the imperial patronage of Mount Wutai had taken either of two forms—devotional offerings or conferrals of status—but had stopped short of constructing a whole monastery. Even when limited to offerings and recognition by the state, two ends were accomplished: the spiritual practice and religious reputation of a given monastery were endorsed and privileged by the imperial authority, while the monastery in return provided the court with a point of access to the sacred site.3 The direct involvement of the state in constructing Jin’ge Monastery thus no doubt guaranteed the monastery national prominence, which was also testified in the magnificently constructed main image hall described in the dynastic history as follows: “Its roof tiles were made of copper and covered with gold leaf that shone over the hills and valleys [of Mount Wutai].”4 More important, however, this rather unusual form of imperial sponsorship of Jin’ge Monastery was also meant to alter the conception of Mount Wutai by instituting a new center. Among the five monasteries that received an official name plaque (si’e) recorded in the memorandum were Qingliang Monastery, Huayan Monastery, and Foguang Monastery—the best known and reputable monasteries that had a long-standing history at the sacred site. The remaining two, Jin’ge Monastery, discussed here, and Yuhua Monastery, whose building projects were approved by the throne in 758, were new constructions.5 The number of monasteries selected to receive the imperial patronage is not without significance, for five carried symbolic meaning in the esoteric, tantric practice promoted by Amoghavajra. The numerology was also expressed topographically at the sacred site. One year after the earlier memorial in 767, Amoghavajra requested the ordination of twenty-one monks, who would constantly recite sutras at each of the five designated monasteries to ensure the prosperity and protection of the nation.6 The five designated monasteries were the ones named in Amoghavajra’s 766 memorandum, with one exception: Dali Fahua Monastery, also founded after a huasi account, replaced Foguang Monastery .7 This seemingly minor substitution was of paramount significance in the...

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