Baoguo Monastery

Baoguo Monastery was built in 1615,located beloe the Phoenix Terrace.The founder was a Daoist Priest called Ming Guang who vowed to build a monastery that would contain the figures of Confucians,Buddhism and Daoism.His purpose was to collect sufficient donations for the construction of monasteries.

One day ,while walking along a road,Ming Guangcame across Xu Liangyan, a top Sichuan official in charge of the army,goverment and criminal affairs. Xu made a substantial donation,and even made Emei county goveror supervise the monastery construction. The monstery was completed next year,and memorial tablets were placed in the hall for worship. These included Bodhisattva Puxian, Daoist Guang Chengzi and Confucian scholar Lu Tong .The mane of the monastery was Hui Zong Hall, with Hui Zong Memorial Archway set up in front the monastery.

Later Ming Guang converted to Buddhism. During his lifetime he wrote and annotated over 200 scriptures.In 1702 Qing Emperor Kang Xi gave the monastery a new name“Baoguo Monastery”, Bao guo means “dedicating oneself to the service of one's country”. During the Anti_Japanese War(1937_1945) Feng Yuxiang , a well_known general wrote on a horizontal board an inscription beside the name of the Gateway to Mt.Emei. Below the Bell Tower in the monastery is a tablet dedicated to Honored Shang who obtained th title of Ganlin Minister in the Han dynasty.The original tablet is no longer in existence ,but the present tablet has been engraved in accordance with the rubbing from the inscription. However,it still remains as a unique example of tablet engraving in the country.

The Ancestor's Hall is on the left and Buddhist Doctrine Hall on the right of the Great Buddha Hall. Wing rooms include rooms facing west or north and Wuguan Hall. Zhiyuan Hall is on the left at the back of the Great Buuddha Hall,which is the largest Buddhist Lecture Room among the monasteries, convering a floor space of about 1,000 square meters. Behind the great Buddha Hall stands the Seven Buddhas' Hall, containing seven Buddhas. Bhddhist dortrines say that Sakyamuni had six Buddhist images before he entered Nirvana.The Buddhist figures have been molded based on the traditional“sand deprivation” technique.Craftsmen intertwined the sand mold patterns with ramie and other lightweight materials. Then,after the figures designs had been finished,they removed the sand,and the hollowed figures remained,light and durable . Even though each gilded figure is six zhang in length(a nuit of zhangis 31/4 m) ,one is able,by hand ,to rise each figure above the head.Inside the hall, there is a set of eight carved wooden scrolls hanging scrolls hanging on the wall,which has been considered as a treasure of the monastery.

On the Phoenix Fortress,out side the monastery is “Shengji Evening Bell”Pavilion,there is a bronze bell in it.The bell is regarded as the King of Bells in the Sichuan area.It is called the Eight Diagrams Beronze Bell.Originally,it was located in Shengji Monastery,2.5km south of Emei county center. Shengji Monastery was able to regarded as the largest monastery at the entrance to the mountain. The bell ringing ritual occurred 24 times in the lunar Chinese calendar year, talking place on the first and the fifteenth evening of each lunar month.In the evening,after 9 o'clock, the monks walked up to the tower with their lanterns,and then chanted Buddhist scriptures commonly called “the Bell Sentences”. Each sentence consists of four Chinese characters. At the beginning of the scripture chanting the monks rang the bell once for each four-character sentence.This was called the slow ringing.Then the bells were rung for each sentence consisting of only one Chinese charater.Then the bell ringing accelerated even more as the monks chanted each one_character sentence faster and faster.This was called the quick ringing. The slow and quick ringing were repeated three times, to a total ringing of 108 times. Each bell ringing series lasted one minute and 50 seconds.Its sound was loud and deafening nearby,but clear and melodious at a greater distance. The sound of the bell traved even up to the Golden Summit in the late and quite evenings.In 1958, the Shengji Monastery was destoryed,and the bell was moved to the current pavilion outside the Baoguo Monastery.