ABSTRACT
Mount Putuo 普陀has had a great impact on the society in the Yangtze Delta ever since its rise as the abode of Guanyin in the Five Dynasties. In the Ming-Qing period, pilgrimages to Guanyin became the mainstream of pilgrimages in peak seasons in the Yangtze Delta. Different scales of pilgrimage space formed obviously complementary structures. Within these structures, Mount Putuo and Mount Tianzhu 天竺in Hangzhou 杭州 dominate the highest level of pilgrimage sites, since their influence covers at least the entire realm of the Yangtze Delta, and extends to the whole of China and South Asia. The secondary level of pilgrimage sites refers to some regional famous mountains, such as Mount Taiping in Suzhou 蘇州, whose influences are limited to the area of Jiangsu Province. The third subordinate level of pilgrimage sites includes some abodes of Guanyin in different areas with limited local influences. All of these Buddhist sacred sites, in different spatial scales, have formed a three-dimensional layered structure.
