Traversing the “Pilgrimage Square” of Northern China in the 19th Century

Travel and pilgrimage was a common part of a monk’s career in Buddhist China. In the early 19th century the Buddhist monk Ruhai Xiancheng 如海顯承 wrote a guide to China’s pilgrimage routes. Written around 1826, Canxue zhijin 參學知津 “Knowing the Paths of Pilgrimage,” gives a station by station description of 56 pilgrimage routes across China, many converging on famous mountains and urban centers. I suggest that the pilgrimage routes in the North can be conceptualized as a rough “pilgrimage square”, its sides measuring between 400 and 600 km. It is bounded in the northeast by the capital Beijing 北京 and its surrounding monasteries, and in the northwest by Mount Wutai 五臺山 and Mount Heng 衡山. In the southwest corner, there is Mount Hua 華山, the Shaolin Monastery 少林寺, and Mount Song 嵩山. The southeast consists of Qufu 曲阜 (the birthplace of Confucius) and Mount Tai 泰山, both of which were extremely popular pilgrimage sites in late imperial China. The chapter includes descriptions of the various routes defining the square, an edition and translation of Route No.1 (from Beijing to Mt. Wutai), and some observations about the walking speed of monastic travelers.