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 Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 40, pp. 213–234, 2013
0160-7383/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Printed in Great Britain
www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.09.004

BUDDHISM AND TOURISM

PERCEPTIONS OF THE MONASTIC
COMMUNITY AT PU-TUO-SHAN, CHINA
Cora Un In Wong
Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau
Alison McIntosh
The University of Waikato, New Zealand
Chris Ryan
The University of Waikato, New Zealand
Received 30 November 2011; revised 1 June 2012; accepted for publication 13 September
2012

Abstract: While there exists a considerable body of literature on pilgrimages and religious
tourism, research on Buddhist pilgrimage sites remains scant. In particular, little has been
published about how tourism is perceived by the monks and nuns living at the Buddhist sites
that receive visitors. This article examines the Buddhist monks’ and nuns’ perceptions
towards tourism at Pu-Tuo-Shan, one of the Four Sacred Mountains of China, that during
the last decades has become the destination of increasing numbers of pilgrims and tourists.
Interviews with monks and nuns reveal how they perceive the presence of visitors in their
sacred land. The study also finds that the Buddhist worldview plays a significant role in shap-
ing their attitudes. Keywords: Buddhist, monasteries, pilgrims, Pu-Tuo-Shan. Ó 2012 Elsevier
Ltd. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
Despite a long scholarly tradition of looking at the host-guest rela-
tionship at religious or sacred sites (Pearce, Moscardo, & Ross, 1996;
Smith, 1992), the topic of how Buddhist monks and nuns perceive hav-
ing to accommodate tourism has not been the focus of previous
research. This paper examines the perceptions toward tourism of the
Buddhist monks and nuns residing at a major sacred site in China,
Pu-Tuo-Shan. Specifically, it investigates how the monks and nuns

Dr. Cora Un In Wong (Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong Ha, Macau, China.)
<cora@ift.edu.mo> Tel.: +853 85061227. She is lecturer at the Institute for Tourism Studies,
Macau. Her research centers on pilgrimages and religious tourism, cultural heritage
interpretation, post-colonialism, tourist travel experience, tourism impacts, visitor manage-
ment, tourist movement patterns. Dr. Alison McIntosh and Dr. Chris Ryan are: Professors of
Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

213
214 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

perceive the presence of visitors at their sacred space and home, who
they are, and the perceived impact that tourism has on their monastic
life. Previous research on other religions has indicated that tourism is
primarily perceived by religious hosts as a threat (Joseph & Kavoori,
2001; Raj & Morpeth, 2007). The findings reported in this paper
suggest that it is less the case at Pu-Tuo than indicated in the literature
for religions other than Buddhism. The findings also suggest that the
spirit of their religion plays a role in how the Buddhist monks and nuns
of Pu-Tuo deal with visitors.
The perceptions of Buddhist monks and nuns towards receiving vis-
itors and tourism are likely to be important considerations for the
operation and promotion of existing and future tourism projects devel-
oped at this, as well as at other Buddhist sacred sites. An understanding
of those perceptions can contribute to finding ways of sustaining the
sacredness of the Chinese Buddhist religious sites that have become
tourist attractions. Furthermore, how Buddhist monks and nuns
perceive tourism development, and the subsequent transformations
happening to the monasteries and to monastic life in China, is argu-
ably an important question to be addressed. Indeed, if the concerns
and expectations of the Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns are not
properly voiced and heard, conflicts may arise between the tourists,
the faithful, the civil authorities and the monastic communities, such
as when the Buddhist monks became dissatisfied with the tourism
development that took place at their Famen Monastery and rioted
(Li, 2009).
A qualitative research framework was adopted to reveal the percep-
tions of Buddhist monks and nuns towards receiving visitors and tour-
ism at Pu-Tuo. Interviews were conducted with members of the
monastic community and their results analyzed. The existence of both
a mundane and a Buddhist worldview is proposed to account for a
phenomenon that became apparent in the analysis: that the monastic
members do in turn take the one or the other view in perceiving tour-
ism. It also became clear that the tenets of the Buddhist faith have an
influence on the monks’ and nuns’ perceptions towards tourism and
receiving visitors at their sacred site.
A review of the religious tourism literature reveals that, while a few
academic studies investigate the host/guest relationship at sacred sites,
very few of those studies refer to the Buddhist religion. In addition, it is
generally the tourists’ side that is studied. Research topics that are com-
monly canvassed are the motivations of the visitors of sacred sites and
their behavior there (Bremer, 2004, 2006; Eliade, 1968; Gesler, 1996;
Morinis, 1983; Nolan & Nolan, 1992; Rinschede, 1992; Shackley,
2006; Turner, 1973). Another popular theme is the ‘pilgrims versus
tourists’ distinction (Cohen, 1979, 1992, 2002; Digance, 2003, 2006;
Fleischer, 2000; Kreiner & Kliot, 2000; Nolan & Nolan, 1989; Olsen,
2010; Pfaffenberger, 1983; Poria, Butler, & Airey, 2003; Smith, 1992).
Griffin (2007, p. 16) says that “pilgrimage is defined as journeying to
a sacred place or shrine as a devotee”. However, Bremer (2004,
2006) comments that it is today difficult to draw a clear dividing line
between pilgrims and tourists. Gupta (1999) comments that apart for
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 215

their devotional activities, pilgrims are not different from tourists as

they consume the same tourist facilities when at religious sites. In short,
outside of Buddhism, the concept of pilgrim has been widely explored
and debated.
A few works, though none concerned with Buddhism, discuss the
religious hosts’ perceptions (Digance, 2003, 2006; Joseph & Kavoori,
2001; Millman, 1988; Singh, 2004). Joseph and Kavoori (2001) com-
ment that the presence of tourists at a Hindu holy place always results
in an unbalanced relationship and argue that negative tourism impacts
burden the host religious community. Tourism at a religious site ap-
pears to be typically perceived as a threat by its religious community be-
cause it can corrupt local religious traditions and social values. Millman
(1988) reports the World Council of Churches’ growing concern for
the impact of tourism and leisure travel on churches and religious sites.
Religious hosts are also reported to perceive that decorum, safety
and security at religious places can be compromised by the presence
of tourists (Mathieson & Wall, 1982; Raj & Morpeth, 2007; Shackley,
2001, 2006). Singh (2005, p. 219) reports that ‘a strict code of conduct’
is imposed on tourists inside the Hindu shrines for rites and rituals,
sacrifices, meditation, donations, penance and worship. Nolan and
Nolan (1992, p. 73) comment that in order to solve the potential con-
flicts between tourists and pilgrims, administrators of religious sites
“may schedule important pilgrimage events during a time of the year
when relatively few tourists visit” and “have special areas set aside for
the devout”. Other strategies being adopted at religious and cultural
sites include charging admission fees, controlling tourist flow and hav-
ing restricted zones reserved for pilgrims to separate them from tour-
ists (Garrod, Fyall, & Leask, 2006; Shackley, 2001, 2002). In short,
the literature pertaining to religions other than Buddhism strongly
suggests that tourism is typically perceived by the religious hosts as
an activity against which the religious sites need to be protected.
Almost no published academic work inquires into how the Buddhist
monks and nuns perceive receiving visitors at their sacred sites. An
exception is Shackley (2001) who briefly addresses the subject. She
says: “The attitude of [Buddhist] monastic authorities to visitors is
ambiguous. Most welcome increased foreign attendance principally
for the chance of gaining cash contributions and the opportunity to
display local traditions and promote Buddhist principles” (Shackley,
2001, p. 112). The non-academic sources, such as newspaper and on-
line articles available tend to be anecdotal; either they emphasize
how Buddhism can create peace and a harmonious society or they offer
advice on how to apply Buddhist theory in one’s daily life (Shik, 2009;
Xue, 2006). A substantial gap is thus identified in the literature and it is
the aim of this paper to present how tourism is perceived and under-
stood in a Chinese Buddhist context. The next section gives an
introduction to the Buddhist pilgrimage and the sacred mountain of
Pu-Tuo, and is followed by a discussion of the research methodology
used. The research findings are then presented and discussed, and
conclusions and implications drawn.
216 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE AND PU-TUO-SHAN

In his lifetime, Buddha directed his disciples to form a Buddhist
monastic community, which was called the Sangha. The Sangha was en-
trusted with the mission to continue to preach the Buddha’s teaching
after his parinirvana (physical disappearance). In order to ensure that
lay people would continue to listen to the Sangha’s preaching, Buddha
told one of his ten disciples, the Venerable Ananda, to arrange for his
remains to be cremated and separated into eight parts and to enshrine
those into stupas (small pavilions). Members of the Sangha would sta-
tion near the stupas and would thereby have the opportunity to carry
out their preaching mission when lay people would come to pay rever-
ence to Buddha’s relics (Armstrong, 2000; Bhikkhu, 2007). To return,
pay reverence and receive Buddha’s teaching in this way is an early
form of the Buddhist pilgrimage and to absorb Buddha’s teaching un-
til one is fully enlightened is a process of Buddhalization, the process of
becoming a Buddha, an enlightened one (Too, 2003). Eventually,
monasteries were built near the stupas. The Buddhist monasteries sym-
bolically represent locations where the continuation of Buddha’s
teaching takes place and they become the symbol of Buddhism when
and where the religion plants its roots in a new place (Keyes, 1987,
p. 348).
Another form of Buddhist pilgrimage destination has an association
with apparitions of Buddhist Great Beings. Such sites became hallowed
as sacred sites and are important Buddhist pilgrimage destinations
(Naquin & Yu, 1992). This is the case of Pu-Tuo. Earthly apparitions
of Guan Yin, also known as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the deity to
which Pu-Tuo-Shan is exclusively dedicated, have been recorded in
Buddhist scriptures and are believed in by many Buddhists (Naquin &
Yu, 1992; L. X. Wang, 1999). It is important to note that today many reli-
gious and sacred sites in China are promoted as historical and cultural
sights worth visiting for secular reasons in addition to their religious
charisma. Zhang et al., 2007, p. 105 also note that monasteries and tem-
ples in China are not necessarily perceived by the Chinese Hans as holy,
but often simply as interesting destinations that are worth a visit and
provide a ‘sense of cultural depth’ (Zhang et al., 2007, p. 105).
Zhao (2009) and Laliberte (2011) comment that the religious heri-
tage of China has been used by the authorities to bolster their pursuit
of unity and harmony, to boost local economies and to reconstruct na-
tional collective identities. Ryan and Gu (2010) look critically at how
Buddhism is used politically to create the image of a harmonious soci-
ety and at how the Wu-Tai festival became commoditized. Zhao (2009)
reports how the Shao-Lin Monastery, renowned as the place of origin
of Chinese Kung-Fu, has become a magnet for tourists, to the extent
that very few of them even know about its religious significance as
the birthplace of the Chinese Chan Buddhism founded by Bodhidharma
1500 years ago. Those works generally document a recent phenome-
non that is taking place at many Chinese Buddhist sites, which today
are being increasingly used for generating goodwill, which is either
economic or political in nature.
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 217

In the course of the religious revival that started some thirty years
ago, the religious sites of China have been attracting an increasingly
large number of short-term visitors with or without religious motiva-
tion. There are four Buddhist Sacred Mountains in China and they
are the key Buddhist pilgrimage destinations of the country. They
are Wu-Tai, Jiu-Wa, E-Mei and Pu-Tuo (Eiki, 1987; Naquin & Yu,
1992; Z. Y. Wang, 2002). Pu-Tuo is by far the sacred mountain that re-
ceives the most visitors; in 2008, it received 5255,800 visitors, while the
other three sacred mountains each received fewer than three million
visitors (E-Mei-Shan Sightseeing Management Board, 2008; Jiu-
Wa-Shan Tourism Board, 2008; Wu-Tai-Shan Tourism Bureau, 2008;
Pu-Tuo Tourism Bureau, 2008). Unlike the other sacred mountains
of China, Pu-Tuo is easily accessible from major cities (see Figure 1),
a factor that undoubtedly contributes to its popularity with visitors.
Pu-Tuo-Shan is an island with an area of only 12.5 square kilometers
located close to the East coast of the Zhejiang province of China. Over
the centuries, it has received imperial recognition and patronage that
made the monasteries at Pu-Tuo rich historical and cultural assets (Bao
& Bai, 2008; Fang & Wang, 2005; Naquin & Yu, 1992). In 1982, to-
gether with another 43 sites in China, Pu-Tuo was put on the first list
of “Important National Sightseeing Sites of China”. Pu-Tuo was listed
by the authorities as an “AAAAA National Tourism Destination” in
2001 and its three most ancient monasteries (the Wei-Ji, the Fa-Yu
and the Pu-Ji monasteries) had already in 1983 been rated as important
monasteries of China (Fang, 1995; L. X. Wang, 1999). Pu-Tuo is
promoted by the local authorities as “not only a place for pilgrims to
go and worship Guan Yin (Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara), but also a place
for leisure travelers where the scenic beauty of the island and its
tourism infrastructure are available to accommodate the tastes of
non-religious visitors” (Xiang, 2006, p. 2). The monasteries at
Pu-Tuo are shown below in Figures 2 and 3.
From a religious perspective, Pu-Tuo is the most significant pilgrim-
age site for many Chinese Buddhists because it is dedicated to Bodhi-
sattva Avalokitesvara, who is the most popular divinity in China (Bao &
Bai, 2008; Too, 2003). Many alleged miracles and apparitions of the
divinity gave Pu-Tuo credence as an important efficacious pilgrimage
destination for many Buddhist believers. Today there are 28 Buddhist
monasteries, nunneries and shrines that have been restored and
opened to the public after 1979. Approximately 1100 monks and nuns
live in the sacred land and they constitute therefore a relatively large
monastic community (Fang, 1995; L. X. Wang, 1999). It is on the basis
of these considerations that Pu-Tuo was selected as the research site for
this investigation.

METHODOLOGY
As an exploratory and interpretive qualitative inquiry, thematic inter-
views were conducted with monks and nuns at Pu-Tuo in order to cap-
ture the embedded contextual meaning and thoughts of the
218 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

Figure 1. Map of Pu-Tuo-Shan, China

respondents (Patton, 2002; Silverman, 2005). The questions that

framed the interviews were developed to address the research
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 219

Figure 2. One of the oldest Buddhist monasteries of Pu-Tuo-Shan

Figure 3. Members of the Buddhist monastic order of Pu-Tuo-Shan who were

praying in an evening puja

objectives: to understand how the monks and nuns perceive the pres-
ence of visitors at their sacred space and home, and the perceived im-
pact that tourism has on their monastic life. The interview questions
were not deductively derived from any particular model or theory,
though the researchers’ prior theoretical understanding of the phe-
nomenon under study may have influenced the choice of questions
(Holliday, 2007; G. W. Ryan & Bernard, 2003). The subject of the re-
search revolved around two main concerns, namely (1) Who do you
think are the people who come to Pu-Tuo? (2) How do you perceive
having tourism and receiving visitors in your monastery/nunnery?
220 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

Table 1. Profile of the Buddhist monks and nuns interviewed at Pu-Tuo-Shan

Pseudonym Age Responsibility

Abbot Zhang Wu Late 40s He was an abbot who oversees a monastery which is
remotely located.
Abbot ZhongZhi Mid 30s He was an abbot of a large monastery and was also a
teacher at the Buddhist Institute.
Vice Abbot Xin Xia Late 30s He was overseeing one of the largest and oldest
monasteries.
Senior Monk Pu Huang Mid 30s He was overseeing one of the largest and oldest
monasteries.
Senior Monk Ng Zhang Mid 30s He was overseeing a monastery which is remotely
located.
Senior Monk Yuan Guang 40s He was overseeing a small monastery.
Monk Zhao Mun Late 70s He was tidying up the inner-hall of a monastery.
Monk Ming Xin Late 60s He was safeguarding the entrance-hall of a
monastery.
Monk Si Ding Mid 50s He was safeguarding the main hall of a medium scale
monastery.
Monk Lian Yi Mid 50s He was responsible to stay in the guest hall to help
register those who would like to arrange to have
pujas.
Monk Jing Fan Mid 40s He was safeguarding the main hall of a monastery.
Monk Jing Xiu Late 30s He was safeguarding the Guan-Yin Hall of a
monastery.
Monk Fa Miao Late 30s He was safeguarding the entrance-hall of a
monastery.
Monk Zhang Jie Mid 30s He was safeguarding the Guru-Hall of a monastery.
Monk Wei Xiu Mid 30s He was in charge of the meditation-hall of a
monastery.
Monk Jing Xuan 27 He was safeguarding the inside of an inner-hall in
one of the largest and oldest monasteries.
Monk Shan Wei Mid 20s He was safeguarding the main hall of a monastery
which is remotely located.
Monk Zhi Wei 24 He was safeguarding an inner-hall of one of the
largest and oldest monasteries.
Monk Zhan Miao 22 He was offering interpretation and guiding services
inside one of the largest and oldest monasteries.
A very old nun 80s She was resting in the sun. She has reached the age
of retirement and so she does not have any duty
inside the nunnery.
Nun Ming Yuan Late 60s She was safeguarding the main hall of a small
nunnery.
Nun Yin Yi Late 40s She was a teacher of the Buddhist Institute.
Nun Jing Yung Mid 30s She was safeguarding the Guan Yin Cave of a
nunnery which is much visited.
Nun Ding Jing Mid 20s She was safeguarding an inner-hall of a large
nunnery which is much visited.
Nun CheJiang Mid 20s She was safeguarding the Guan-Yin Hall of a large
nunnery.
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 221

Nineteen monks and six nuns were interviewed on the basis of

convenience sampling, with most being interviewed two or more times.
Respondents attached to large and small, centrally and remotely
located monasteries and nunneries were included. The respondents
had been living in Pu-Tuo from two to thirty years and their ages
ranged from 20 to over 80 years. The sample of respondents included
junior monks and nuns who are on-duty guarding the halls of the
monasteries and nunneries, monks who offer Buddhist interpretation
services in a monastery, monks/nuns who register the visitors wishing
to attend pujas (before-dawn religious ceremonies), teachers who
deliver Buddhist lectures to pilgrims and teach at the local Buddhist
Institute, as well as abbots and senior monks who oversee the monaster-
ies. The monks and nuns were thus “expert respondents” who were
well aware of who visits Pu-Tuo and have had many opportunities to
deal with, talk to, and to observe the behavior of visitors.
The interviews lasted for one hour on average, and were individually
conducted and audio-recorded. All names attributed here to respon-
dents are pseudonyms. A profile of the respondents is provided in
Table 1. The first author did her fieldwork in Pu-Tuo between May
2009 and February 2010. She established a good relationship and trust
with a number of the monks and nuns during exploratory visits in 2008
during which contacts were established but no actual interviews were
conducted. Subsequent success in data collection was possibly due to
those visits, which included stays in the monasteries and participation
in pujas that provided time and opportunities for the monastic com-
munity to observe the first author and for them to get familiar with
each other (Fetterman, 1989; Van Maanen, 1988). The first author
always paid genuine respect and appeared to represent no threat to
the monks and nuns, which helped in gaining their trust.
The fact that the first author is a Buddhist practitioner who respects
and understands well the Buddhist worldview, that her ethnicity is
Chinese and that she speaks Mandarin well certainly offered her an
advantage in conducting research in a Chinese Buddhist sacred site. That
she understands well the Buddhist culture and is able to have meaningful
discussions about Buddhism undoubtedly also contributed to establish-
ing a good rapport with the respondents; there is an implicit bonding
between Buddhists. No gender issue was noted, which is indeed in line
with the Buddhist spirit which emphasizes emptiness (Too, 2003).
Monks and nuns alike treated the first author as a fellow Buddhist and
were willing to share personal thoughts during the interviews.
Indeed, the first author’s religious identity and ethnicity qualified
her to act as an ‘insider’ who was able to experience empathy and gain
a deeper understanding of the perceptions of the respondents (Escalas
& Stern, 2003, p. 566). Yet, there were also moments when she oper-
ated as an ‘outsider’ to branch out as a researcher keen to detect issues
that are of relevance to the phenomena under study. From a reflexive
perspective, the ambiguities of her dual identities, i.e., as a Buddhist
practitioner and as a researcher, were noted from time to time by
the first author during her research process (see McIntosh, 2010;
Wong, 2011). Nevertheless if the ultimate aim is to gain rich insights
222 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

into the researched phenomenon and to secure the success of the

research, then to be an ‘insider’ certainly offers advantage for
obtaining an open and honest account of the respondents’ percep-
tions towards tourism. Though there is a degree of bias, the subjectivity
also allows for depth and richness of the study that a non-Buddhist re-
searcher may not be able to reach (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003).
Thematic analysis was used as the evaluation method of the collected
information. The initial unit of analysis was the individual contribution
of each respondent, including quotes from the in-depth interviews
(Coffey & Atkinson, 1996, p. 112); the first author’s handwritten notes
of non-verbal responses of the respondents, as well as unplanned intru-
sions or other events that took place during the interviews, were also
included. The research was hence based on reiterative patterns of
exploration, evolution, conclusion and re-confirmation of views within
a process of immersion into the world of the Buddhist monastic orders.
The richness of these first-hand experiences and impressions allowed
the first author to acquire a holistic and extensive base for data analysis
and interpretation (Holliday, 2007). Individual quotes in particular
were carefully studied; the analytical procedures of handling the qual-
itative data followed the suggestions of Marshall and Rossman (2006).
Statements of a similar nature across cases were identified and assigned
to existing or newly created categories. Categories of the same nature
were then assigned to the same theme. All categories and themes were
inductively derived from the collected evidence.

FINDINGS
The monks’ and nuns’ perceptions described below are based on
their experiences in dealing with visitors, in particular their daily inter-
actions and conversations with them as well as from observing visitors’
behavior, as recounted in the interviews. From the 25 monks’ and
nuns’ responses to the question: “Who do you think are the people
who visit Pu-Tuo?”, it became clear that they usually take two different
perspectives or worldviews, the ‘mundane’ (secular) one and the ‘Bud-
dhist’ (religious) one, and that, often, both perspectives are found in
their responses.

The Mundane and the Buddhist Worldviews

The mundane perspective is a way of understanding social phenom-
ena through one’s cognitive construction of reality in an ordinary social
situation. The Buddhist perspective is for a Buddhist the worldview
from which phenomena are understood from the perspective of Bud-
dhism (Bhikkhu, 2007; Karmapa, 2008). One sees and acts according
to the norms, values and understandings of the social reality in which
one has been brought up and in which one lives. Yet, for a Buddhist,
the normative guidance of the religion stresses that all sentient beings
(i.e. in Buddhist cosmology all those who sense and feel and live in
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 223

the realm of reincarnation) are equal and that all are made exclusively
of the same Four Elements (soil, fire, water, and wind—the four basic
elements of all tangible things), regardless of obvious dissimilarities.
Most respondents were aware of their role adoption as a Buddhist and
so, in addition to giving a mundane response, they also responded from
the Buddhist perspective that a Buddhist monk or nun is supposed to
take. Yet it is important to note that not all the respondents consciously
practiced role adoption ‘as a monk or a nun’ when they responded
from their Buddhist worldview. It is argued that when the generalized
‘self’ of a monk or a nun has been largely ‘Buddhalized’ (highly enlight-
ened) through the socialization and transformation induced by Bud-
dhist training and education, praying and meditating, he/she may
think automatically from a Buddhist point of view (Karmapa, 2008, p.
99) without actually adopting a role because the ‘self’ of a monk or
nun, at that phase, is almost congruent with the identity of a Buddhist.
Nevertheless, one cannot assume that all respondents had achieved the
same high level of enlightenment at the time they were interviewed. If it
were the case that all had been completely ‘Buddhalized’, then their re-
sponses would no longer at any time have been driven by the mundane
perspective. It is likely the case that there are varying levels of enlighten-
ment among the respondents and, perhaps, some may still be far from
having reached a high level of enlightenment.
The alternation of the mundane and the Buddhist perspectives or
worldviews was apparent in almost all of the interviews. What is more,
the respondents often made it clear whether they were presently adopt-
ing the one perspective or the other when expressing themselves. Nun
Ding Jing said: “From my understanding as a Buddhist, they (visitors) are
not different from each other; all humans are equal and there is no
need to classify them into categories”. She then continued, “from the
secular world’s perspective, you find people who believe in Buddhism
and people who do not. Those who believe in Buddhism, again you
can classify them into different categories according to their level of
knowledge of Buddhism”. Monk Yuan Guang’s reply also exhibits the
duality of worldviews:
“On the basis of their behavior at the monastery, then you have tour-
ists and Xiankes (literally burners of incense sticks). . . . Yet from the
Buddhist understanding, they are all the same, no matter if they
are Xiankes or tourists. They all have good seeds, so they can come
to Pu-Tuo. It is because they all believe in Buddhism and in the
Bodhisattva that they come to Pu-Tuo . . . The nature of the origin of
all the sentient beings is all the same”.
Clearly, when monks and nuns make distinctions among visitors,
they are seeing them from the mundane perspective. Monk Ng Zhang
says “ . . . from the observation of their behavior and their purposes in
visiting Pu-Tuo, you can classify visitors in different groups, such as
Xiankes, Jushis and sightseeing tourists”. Another monk, Monk Zhang
Jie commented likewise and provided a terminology for the different
categories of visitors, as well as the criteria that distinguish them:
224 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

“ . . . tourists (觀光客) are those who come here with sightseeing as

their main purpose; some may believe in Buddhism to a certain
degree, so they may purchase a few incense sticks when here . . . you
can call those Shinshis (信士), meaning those who believe in Bud-
dhism. The Xiankes (香客) are those who are devoted in their belief
in Buddhism, so they bring their own incense sticks to Pu-Tuo,
together with other gifts to offer as tribute to the Bodhi-
sattva . . . Another type is called Jushis (居士); they do not simply
believe, they also learn. Jushis usually come here to attend pujas . . .
they are here to redeem themselves from their bad karmas, to clear
their minds, to attend Buddhist lectures and to participate in pujas.
They are quite different from the others”.
It is noteworthy that all the respondents used the same terminology,
such as the words ‘tourist’, ‘Shinshi’, ‘Xianke’, ‘Jushi’, to describe the
different types of visitors through their mundane perspective. Their
responses suggest that they considered that only the Jushis are real
Buddhists and they often contrasted them to the Xiankes, whom they
perceive as people who are obsessively interested in burning incense
sticks, making wishes (hsu yuan) or fulfilling their previous vows (huan
yuan), (see Turner, 1973), while the Jushis come for the purpose of
learning Buddhism. Nun Ding Jing noted:
“The Xiankes come over to burn incense; they make vows that if their
wishes are fulfilled, they will come back again. Such an act, you can
interpret as a business deal . . . as making a deal with the Great Being.
Their actions are different from the ones of those who perceive Pu-
Tuo as a place to get close to the Bodhisattva, to learn Buddhism,
different from the ones of some Jushis who organize pilgrimages to
Pu-Tuo. The latter attend pujas; they do the every-three-steps-one-
kneels for penance and to eliminate their arrogance and bad karmas;
they arrange to attend Buddhist lectures from the monasteries. What
they do will not be done by those who only want to come to Pu-Tuo to
make a deal, to hsu yuan and huan yuan to the Great Being”.
Monk Pu Huang expressed his experience with different kinds of
visitors in a more judgmental way:
“The Xiankes do their worshiping in their own ways which are not
proper Buddhist rites, but more a kind of folklore ritual. They do
not listen much to us and they do not care if their behavior interferes
with the Buddhist practices of others. For example, they will talk
loudly and be noisy even at times when we are praying inside the hall.
The Jushis are different. They are more respectful to the monastic
members and they listen to our advice. Some even take the initiative
to approach us and ask us something about Buddhist theories. Those
who come in a pilgrimage group will sometimes ask us to arrange
Buddhist lectures for them”.
There is, among the 25 interviews, only one exception to an alterna-
tion of the two worldviews: an old nun in her 80’s, living in a small nun-
nery located in a remote area of Pu-Tuo who adopted the Buddhist
worldview in everything she saw and said.
“There is no difference and there is no need to differentiate. It is just
the matter of who learns Buddhism first; some believe in Buddhism
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 225

earlier and some will do it later. As long as they come, they have made
a good tie and planted a good seed in their life; soon they will become
Buddhists too. Everyone is good; we are all the same”.
The other monks and nuns interviewed, in addition to the mundane
perspective, also used their Buddhist one to describe visitors. They
then typically expressed the view that there are no differences between
people, as they are all sentient beings carrying Buddhist seeds. A ‘Bud-
dhist seed’ is a metaphor for the Buddha-nature that every sentient
being possesses, and it is meant to give everyone the potential to be-
come, eventually, fully enlightened, that is, a Buddha (Too, 2003, p.
257). Thus there is no difference among visitors. Abbot Zhang Wu,
when asked if he saw that there were different types of visitors at Pu-
Tuo, replied first from the mundane worldview and again classified
them into tourists, Shinshis, Xiankes and Jushis and said, “The differ-
ences between them are at the level of what you can observe, some-
thing that you can see with your eyes”. He continued his comments,
but now switching to the Buddhist worldview:
“But you can also say that they all are the same, that there is no differ-
ence. It is because everyone is equal; they all have the same Buddhist’s
seeds. The seeds of some germinate earlier, in this life-time, so they
believe and they learn faster in this life-time while the seeds of others
are hidden and may sprout in the future. It is just a matter of time but
this is something that your eyes cannot see. In other words, from the
secular perspective, there are different types of visitors in terms of
what they do, but from the Buddhist perspective, they are all the
same; there are no differences”.
It is worth noting that in the interviews, the monks and nuns gave to
the concept of pilgrim a meaning other than the one found in the Wes-
tern literature (Pavicic, Alfirevic, & Batarelo, 2007; Vukonic, 1996). In
the literature dealing with religions other than Buddhism, the category
‘pilgrim’ is essentially homogeneous (Nolan & Nolan, 1992; Pavicic
et al., 2007; Smith, 1992), with a few exceptions taking note of the
diversity of religious motivations among pilgrims (Eade, 1992; Kreiner
& Kliot, 2000; Shackley, 2001). Even though there exists in this litera-
ture a few references to a distinction of this nature, no specific names
are given to the different types of pilgrims; all religious visitors are still
referred to as pilgrims. It is rare that one can find an analogue to the
Xiankes; even though a few studies refer to ‘religious prayers/worship-
ers’ (Digance, 2006; Shackley, 2001; Vukonic, 2006). In previous stud-
ies, there exists a lack of detailed characterization. The traditional
distinction pilgrim/tourist would leave the people the monks and nuns
call Xiankes in a limbo, for instance, as, while they are not recognized
as pilgrims, they are also obviously not leisure or cultural tourists and
they are very religiously motivated.
Although all who are Buddhist believers are religiously motivated to
visit Pu-Tuo, and both Xiankes and Jushis experience some sacred time
when there, not all are perceived as Buddhist pilgrims by the respon-
dents. From the mundane perspective, the Jushis and the Xiankes
are seen as distinct groups because the religious needs they satisfy in
226 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

Pu-Tuo are of a different nature. The Xiankes are seen as religiously

motivated visitors very dedicated to worshiping but rather ignorant of
Buddhism and not interested in learning; as the quotes indicate, the
respondents tend to perceive them as early initiates in the process of
dharma and seeking nirvana. A genuine desire to learn seems to be
perceived by the monks and nuns as a necessary reason for undertak-
ing a pilgrimage and to be a higher pursuit than trying to obtain aus-
piciousness through performing folkloric worship rites. As a result,
through the mundane lens of the monks and nuns of Pu-Tuo, a visitor
is both a Buddhist and a pilgrim if and only if he/she is a Jushi. Neither
during the conduct of the interviews nor in the analysis was it apparent
that the nuns’ perceptions were different from the monks’.

Reconciling the Two Worldviews

The mundane perspective was often qualified to various degrees. In-
deed, several respondents cautioned that their mundane classification
of visitors should not be taken in a rigid and absolute sense because a
person’s identity can change over time. Nun Yin Yi who is a teacher at
the Buddhist Institute explained:
“You have to understand that such [visitor] classification is done on a
general basis because an individual’s identity can shift when that indi-
vidual acquires more knowledge of Buddhism and you have to under-
stand that a so-called ‘identity’ is in fact just a name”.
Monk Ng Zhang articulated the reason why, from a Buddhist perspec-
tive, a person’s identity at Pu-Tuo is not fixed. He commented: “Even if
in the beginning, tourists who know nothing or very little about Bud-
dhism may burn incense just for fun, try to pray and most likely they
pray for themselves only . . . when times goes by, [their] Buddhist seed
will grow, the nature of desires will expand beyond their own well-
being to eventually encompass all sentient beings . . . they will eventually
move from the elementary stage of believing in Buddhism and praying
for obtaining something to the stage of learning from the Buddha and
looking for self-enlightenment. By then they are no longer just tourists;
they are real Buddhists”.
Those responses suggest that although monks and nuns can at times
adopt the same mundane perspective as anyone else, they do not view
their own mundane visitor classification in a rigid way; to the contrary,
they emphasize the dynamics in anyone’s identity and the fact that this
identity can be changed at any time if this person’s understanding of
Buddhism increases. The concept of ‘Buddhist’s seed’ and of its germi-
nation and growth over time is used by the respondents to explain that
there are people with various degree of awareness of their potential
Buddhahood and with different levels of understanding of Buddhism.
Drawing on the above findings, Figure 4 presents a model of the
mundane and Buddhist worldviews and classifies visitors on the basis
of the monk’s and nuns’ responses. It represents the relationship be-
tween the visitors’ identity as perceived by a monastic monk or nun
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 227

Figure 4. A Model of the Mundane and Buddhist Worldviews

and two factors: (1) the level of devotion to and understanding of Bud-
dhism as inferred from the monks’ and nuns’ observations and, (2) the
level of their Buddhist’s seed’s germination (development) as inter-
preted in a Buddhist way.
The arrow on the left hand side represents the visitors’ level of Bud-
dhist devotion and understanding, which are the distinguishing, obser-
vable factors from the mundane worldview of the monks and nuns
when identifying different types of visitors through the observation
of their behavior and activities. The arrow on the right hand side signi-
fies the level of Buddhist’s seed germination (development) which per-
tains to the Buddhist worldview of looking at differences among
visitors.
The bottom layer represents non-religious people, who, when visit-
ing Pu-Tuo, are perceived as leisure or cultural tourists, or, according
to the Buddhist worldview of the monks and nuns, ‘future Buddhists’
for they will become Buddhists in the future. These visitors have sight-
seeing as their primary interest, are not yet aware of their need for Bud-
dhism, and indeed may say they do not believe in it. This type of visitor
is believed by monks and nuns to have Buddhist’s seeds that will germi-
nate in the future. The second layer represents the Shinshis who are
still primarily tourists but who are perceived to somewhat believe in
Buddhism and whom the monks and nuns call Buddhist believers.
The third layer is referred to by monks and nuns as another type of
Shinshis who are commonly called Xiankes. They are perceived as
being much more devoted to worshiping the Bodhisattva than in living
as Buddhists. They are regarded as having a lower level of understand-
ing of Buddhism than those who come to Pu-Tuo “to learn Buddhism”,
“to seek enlightenment”, “to redeem themselves from their bad
karmas”, which are activities perceived to be performed by the visitors
in the top layer. Monks and nuns call them Jushis, which means
228 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

‘Buddhist practitioners’ (as opposed to ‘Buddhist worshipers’, such as

the Xiankes).
The pyramidal shape of the representation is meant to symbolize
that the gradual process of the devotion to and understanding of
Buddhism will eventually lead an individual’s Buddhist nature to
progress from the sleeping mode pertaining to a future Buddhist, to
a more awakened mode pertaining to a Buddhist practitioner. The
pyramid is narrower at the top because the number of people who pro-
gress from one level to a higher one gets smaller as one goes up. It is
because few humans are aware of the need to let go of desires and seek
ultimate omniscience and freedom. According to both the first
author’s observations and the monks’ and nuns’ comments, at
Pu-Tuo, the Buddhist practitioners are indeed considerably outnum-
bered by the other type of visitors.
Furthermore, such a taxonomy should not be taken in a rigid sense
because anyone’s Buddhist’s seed may germinate at any time and thus
the boundary between layers are represented by dotted lines to symbol-
ize the lack of a clear delineations. The figure shows that there are ob-
servable levels of devotion and understanding of Buddhism and that to
each level corresponds one of the categories identified by the monks
and nuns when taking their mundane perspective. The mundane view
is thus not devoid of religious consideration; yet it is still a mundane
view, as the different groups are identified pragmatically according
to their activities and behavior viewed in relation to Buddhism.

Getting Personal
The extent to which a monastic respondent has been ‘buddhalized’
was also found to influence how he/she perceives receiving visitors
and tourism at the personal level. Overall, the monks and nuns’ per-
ceptions of having visitors at Pu-Tuo varied and, according to them,
it has to do with their own enlightenment level. While the majority
of respondents talked positively of having visitors at Pu-Tuo, there were
a few who expressed negative feelings; they found them “annoying”,
“irritating”, “a burden to our monastic lives”.
Monk Fa Miao commented: “If I could choose, I would prefer not to
get into contact with visitors and it is better to spend time to learn Bud-
dhism”. Monk Jing Xiu noted: “I would prefer not to have too much
contact with them, because if you have too much of it, you will feel an-
noyed. In particular, some of them believe in Buddhism in a blind way,
which is not correct, and they do not listen to your advice nor do they
comply with the regulations of the monastery”. Those who commented
negatively about having visitors referred mostly to their misbehavior
and to them not listening to advice. Nun Jing Yung and Nun Ding Jing
concurred that the misconduct of some visitors and their refusal to
follow advice do “interrupt (their) daily practice” and can be “a burden
on (their) monastic life”. Monk Ming Xin said: “When safeguarding
the halls, you have more interactions with visitors; it can be quite
annoying when they misbehave and you have to tell them not to do this
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 229

and not to do that. Also we have less time to do the things that we want
to do”.
Those monks and nuns who hold negative views appear to look at
the issue more from their mundane than from their Buddhist world-
view, as the latter emphasizes emptiness and compassion. Nevertheless,
the analysis of the interview data suggests that not all monks and nuns
are so minded. Several suggested that the more ‘enlightened’ a monas-
tic member is, the better prepared he/she is to receive visitors and the
more likely to perceive tourism positively. Monk Pu-Huang
commented:
“It is not possible to argue that there is no physical intrusion but what
matter is whether the intrusions reach your mind or not. The pres-
ence of visitors certainly results in intrusions but whether those can
affect monks or not will vary; it all depends on their own Buddhist
training and on how much they have realized from Buddhism”.
The majority of respondents acknowledged that there were ‘intru-
sions’ and ‘disturbances’ caused by some visitors; yet they also com-
mented from their Buddhist perspective that the external
disturbances had no effect on their Buddhist mindset. Monk Jing
Fan noted: “Having more visitors come to the monastery will of course
make it more crowded, but people just come in and leave . . . this has no
effect on my personal Buddhist practice . . . our life will not change
according to the number of visitors. To practice [Buddhism], it does
not really matter where you are sitting or how many people there are”.
Monk Yuan Guang made a similar comment to the effect that a real
monk’s inner serenity should not be affected by the external environ-
ment or else “if you become a monk in name only and dress like a
monk, without practicing the Buddhist way and thinking as a Buddhist
should think, you are only physically present in the monastery; you are
not a monk”.
The above responses suggest that the monks and nuns take the view
that the degree to which challenges brought about by tourism can af-
fect them depends on how much they have understood Buddhism
and been able to put into practice. The interviews also reveal that
the majority of respondents perceive tourism positively because they
see it as a channel to allow more people to know about Buddhism even
at the cost of affecting their monastic life. They comment that to let
and help people learn Buddhism is what a Buddhist should do. Both
Nun Yin Yi and Nun Ming Yuan said clearly that although tourism
brings inconveniences and interruptions to their life, it also allows
more people to come to make good ties with Buddhism.
“Having visitors come, even though they cause disturbances and affect
our monastic lives, as well as the environment we are living in, allows
us to offer them a chance to learn Buddhism, a chance to get close to
the Great Being. This is a very good thing to do, to be compassionate;
this is what a Buddhist ought to do” (Nun Yin Yi).
“Having visitors come to Pu-Tuo will provide them with a chance to
make good knots and plant good seeds in this life-time . . . So, tourism
is a medium to let people have a chance to get closer to Buddhism.
230 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234

But at the individual level, having many [visitors] is sometimes incon-

venient and disturbing to our monastic lives, but this is something
inevitable. We use what we learned from Buddhism to overcome
the challenges. At the same time, if there are more people who
believe in Buddhism because of the visits they pay to Pu-Tuo, we
are also doing something good (She smiled)” (Nun Ming Yuan).

CONCLUSION
This paper reports on the perceptions of the monks and nuns of a
major Buddhist destination towards receiving visitors and tourism. It
is found that when looking at visitors from their mundane perspective
or worldview, the monks and nuns of Pu-Tuo show a high degree of
consistency; they all see four categories of visitors that they identify
using the same terminology; each category is consistently characterized
by the relationship of its members to Buddhism. These four categories
are leisure tourists or future Buddhists; Shinshis or Buddhist believers;
Xiankes or devout Buddhist worshipers; and lastly the Jushis or Bud-
dhist practitioners. The word ‘pilgrim’ is in the literature generally
used as a generic term to describe anyone who is religiously motivated
to journey to his/her sacred site to experience some sacred time. The
monks and nuns of Pu-Tuo, when taking a mundane perspective, in
contrast all clearly distinguish between two kinds of such religious vis-
itors, the devout Buddhist worshipers (Xiankes) and the Buddhist prac-
titioners (Jushis). Only the latter are seen by the monks and nuns as
deserving the designation of ‘Buddhist pilgrim’.
When taking the Buddhist perspective or worldview, the monastic
respondents are also consistent with each other and they tend to view
everyone as a Buddhist with various degrees of self-realization of their
Buddhist nature. From that perspective, all visitors are pilgrims be-
cause all are Buddhists, if not now, then in the future. As such, the Bud-
dhist worldview potentially broadens the interpretation of the concept
of pilgrim. From the Buddhist understanding, it does not exclude
those who are not attached to the religion at the moment, but anyone
can possibly become very much inspired at the religious/sacred site
and thus suddenly or gradually change from being an atheist to becom-
ing an adherent to the religion. In the Buddhist worldview, pilgrims
and tourists are not placed at the two opposite extremities of a spec-
trum (Cohen, 1992; Smith, 1992), but they are both the identities of
anyone who journeys to a religious site, at least in the case of Pu-Tuo.
In this study, the Buddhist worldview is found to provide guidance to
the monastic community on how they perceive receiving visitors in
their sacred land. Though they acknowledge the existence of distur-
bances created by visitors, the majority of the respondents perceived
tourism positively, and they viewed it as a channel that allows people
to learn about Buddhism while fulfilling the key Buddhist role of help-
ing others find nirvana. Such a finding contrasts with previous studies
which describe tourism as detrimental to the sanctity of religious/
 C.U.I. Wong et al. / Annals of Tourism Research 40 (2013) 213–234 231

sacred places and as being perceived negatively as a threat by the reli-

gious hosts.
The findings reported in this article also suggest that, at least in a
Buddhist context, the religious hosts’ perceptions towards tourism vary
on the basis of their depth of faith; some profess that their Buddhist
training makes their minds immune to the disturbances that they have
to endure. Others are candid about the fact that they find that the vis-
itors disturb their monastic life but they tend to acknowledge that it is
the result of their own lack of Buddhist serenity. It seems that the more
enlightened, in the Buddhist sense, the monks and nuns are, the better
they are mentally prepared to welcome visitors. Such a finding is
important for future research as it suggests that it is valuable in reli-
gious tourism research to take note of the spirit of a particular religion
to understand how religious hosts perceive and deal with tourism
development at their religious sacred sites and homes.

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Submitted 1 December 2011. Final version 1 June 2012. Accepted 13 September 2012.
Refereed anonymously. Coordinating Editor: Irena Ateljevic, PhD.

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