Mount Wutai Buddhists offer prayers for the New Year

The Great Master of Buddhism giving sutras to prayers on Mount Wutai, Jan 1 [Photo/wutaishan.city.sohu.com]

On the first day of this year, Buddhists from all over the country came to the Mount Wutai, Shanxi province, to turn over a new leaf listening to Buddhist sutras delivered by masters living in the mountain's temples.

Changshan, a Great Master and president of the Wutai Buddhist Association, could be seen preaching to about 100 visitors from the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi and Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, on Dailuo Peak, as part of a Buddhist ritual. And, in spite of the cold weather, the preaching made the followers warm and more confident about life, according to one visitor named Li, who explained that he and some companions had set off for the mountain while it was still dark outside, and snowy, but saw it as a symbol of overcoming challenges and giving them perseverance in life.

The New Year ritual is a tradition on Mount Wutai, where similar activities take place at all 70 of the temples, which have around 1,500 Buddhists permanently living there to read scriptures and pray for a peaceful world in their separate temples.