Mt. Wutai is located in the northeastern part of Wutai County, Shanxi Province. Together with Mt. Emei in Sichuan Province, Mt. Putuo in Zhejiang Province, Mt. Jiuhua in Anhui Province, they are called the four most well-known Buddhist mountains in China. Mt. Wutai is believed to be the palace where the highly revered Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom, once lived and taught Buddhism. They are also very famous tourist attractions.

Mt. Wutai consists of five peaks, with each peak top as flat as a platform, hence comes its name Mountain with Five Platforms. It is also the highest point in altitude in Northern China.

Legend has it that originally Mt. Wutai was called Mt. Wufeng or Mountain with Five-Peaks. The weather was rather harsh then, extremely cold in Winter, and baking hot in Summer. Spring also came with sandstorms. Living here, peasants could hardly carry on with their farm work. When the Buddha Manjusri saw this, he decided to help change the climate here. 

He knew the Dragon King in the East Sea had a giant treasure stone called rest dragon stone which could make the weather less harsh. Dressed as a monk, he went to borrow it.

However, the dragon King was unwilling to lend the stone to him. He said his children needed to rest on the stone. The Manjusri explained how the people in Mt. Wutain area needed the stone. The Dragon King finally reluctantly agreed that if the guest had enough strength to take the stone away, the stone then would be his. The Buhdda turned the stone into a very small pebble and put it into his sleeve and took it to Mt. Wutai.

When he returned Mt. Wutai was baking in the hot Summer Sun. He put the stone in a valley and instantly the valley became very cool. The valley was thus called Cool Valley. A monastery was built and named Coolness Monastery. From then on Mt. Wutai was also called Mt. Coolness.

Mt. Wutai is now one of the national level scenic spots and a famous Summer resort with mild weather in Summer and cool, and pleasant days throughout the year.

There are now 42 ancient temples still intact on the Mountian. Nanchan Temple and the Foguang Temple are the oldest, built during the Tang Dynasty with a history of some 1200 years. They are believed to be the earliest wood-structured temples in China.