Scent culture of Mount Wutai Buddhism

A show of Buddhist incense ritual, which is part of the Chinese Zen culture, was staged in Mount Wutai of Shanxi province on March 29.

The show was practiced in the Golden Lotus Hotel of the mountain by a Buddhist scent master from Zhongshan Musen Eaglewood Company in Guangdong province. The company has built a strategic business tie with Mount Wutai to promote Buddhist incense culture.

The company, together with the hotel, will also put on an exhibition of Buddhist scents at the hotel's scent cultural center, to show the growing process of eaglewood – also called "the king of scents" - and other plants to make Buddhist scents, various scent samples, the tools used in incense ritual, and the medicinal values of the plants. There will also be regular ritual performances at the exhibition.

The hotel is themed on Zen culture and has organized a number of events to show the Buddhist culture from a wide range of aspects, and through this scent exhibition, it hopes to enrich Wutai tourists' lore of the origins between eaglewood and Buddhism.

Chinese scents have a long history for use in sacrificial rites for gods and ancestors, but, to really appreciate them, people need to activate a sense of sight, touch, and smell. In oriental culture, scents can put people in a good mood, and treat ailments and the rituals, along with the tea ceremony and flower arranging, were popular among royalty in the past.