Tiantaishan Mountain

Tiantaishan, about 100km/60mi south of Ningbo, lays claim to being the birthplace of the Buddhistic Tiantai School.

On the slopes of Tiantaishan there are a number of Buddhist monuments to be found. The most famous is Guoqing Si Monastery, dating from the year 598. In 805 the Tiantai School even began to be promulgated in Japan by a Japanese monk who had undertaken a pilgrimage to Tiantaishan the year before. The monastery possesses 14 halls and many works of art of incalculable value, including stone tablets, stone inscriptions and votive plaques. In the main hall a bronze statue of Shakyamuni (6.8m/22ft high; weighing 13 tonnes) from the Ming era (1368-1644) is held in great veneration. The 18 carved wooden sculptures from the 1