Pushou Temple nuns celebrate birthday of Manjusri Bodhisattva

The Pushou Temple, located in Wutai county, Shanxi province, is set to celebrate the birthday of Manjusri Bodhisattva on the fourth day of April of the lunar calendar, which falls on April 29, 2017.

The temple, against the Beitai Mountain in the north and close to the Great White Pagoda in the south, was built in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127－1279), and rebuilt in 1991. The Pushou Temple is one of the top ten Yellow Temples of the Wutai Mountain.

As the largest female Buddhist college in Asia, the Pushou Temple also has a tranquil environment and strict disciplines to follow.

More than 1,000 Buddhist nuns are involved with the temple, and their words and deeds must follow the dharma, abiding by 348 commandments. Nuns must rise at 3am every day, after going to bed at 10pm, and are required to chant, work and constantly learn about their roles in their positions. There is very little information leaked about the nuns into the outside community.

The birthday of Manjusri Bodhisattva is an important festival to those at the Pushou Temple. In 2016, proposed by Master Rurui, abbot of the temple, the day was set as the "World Wisdom Day".