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Anyue: A Road To Stone Wonders
The southern slopes of Mount Yunju contain sculptures
from the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, depicting scenes from the
"Buddhist Hell," "Sixteen Arhats," "Thousand Buddhas," and "Guanyin" (the
Goddess of Mercy), and so on.
On the northern slope are grottos containing respectively three
well-preserved statues -- one of Sakyamuni and two of Guanyin, which are over 7
meters tall each, exquisitely carved and magnificent. Besides, the niche-grottos
of the "Three Sages of the West," "the Scenes of Naraka," "Kubera," and
"Combination of Three Religions" also display the superb craftsmanship of
ancient Chinese sculptors.
The "Statue of Amitabha" is about 7 meters tall, wearing an edged kasaya
(distinctive attire of Buddhist priests) with hair in buns. His smiling face is
tilted to the right, looking down at the other Buddha in the lower right of the
grotto, who is looking back at him.
The "Lotus-Flower-Hand Guanyin" is 6.5 meters tall. She wears a crown with a
sitting Buddha in the center. Holding a budding lotus in her hands, the smiling
Guanyin is kindly looking at a girl to her lower left.
The "Vase-Holding Guanyin" is 7 meters tall. Her shape is similar to the
Lotus-Flower-Hand Guanyin, but her hair is of shoulder length. She wears more
jewelry with bead earrings in her ears. She holds a vase in her left hand and a
sprig of willow in her right hand.
Thousand-Buddha Camp
Located on the steep Mount Dayun in Jiadao Village, Yueyang
Town, the Thousand-Buddha Camp is 3 kilometers northwest of Anyue County. It
includes 105 niche-grottos with about 3,000 statues, 7 cliff bas-reliefs, 3 Tang
Dynasty tablets, and 26 inscriptions. Started in 593, they were mostly created
in the Tang and Song dynasties.
Of the 7 bas-reliefs, the tallest is 4.6 meters and the smallest, just 0.8
meters. The biggest niche-grotto is 6.4 meters wide, 6 meters tall, and 3.3
meters deep. There are 14 statues about 3-6 meters tall, with the tallest,
"Sakyamuni," 6.2 meters.
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