This paper examines the role that the writing and rewriting of the past played in the creation of Mount Wutai (Wutai shan 五臺山) as a sacred Buddhist place. During the seventh century, Mount Wutai emerged as the center of devotion to the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Wenshu pusa 文殊菩薩) and, as this study shows, the telling and retelling of stories about the site’s early history facilitated this process. Using accounts of one Mount Wutai temple’s founding as a case study—the Prince Who Torched His Body Temple (Wangzi shaoshen si 王子燒身寺)—the article draws attention both to the suppleness of the past and the connection between the miraculous and the material in places assigned religious significance.
