|
Anyue: A Road To Stone Wonders
There are statues of "Sakyamuni Preaching the Law," "Maitreya," "the
Transformation Texts of the Buddha of Medicine," "the Three Sages of the West,"
"Thousand-hand Guanyin" and "Rajas" as well as others. Of all these, the statue
of "One Buddha With Four Bodhisattvas," though ruined from weathering, still
shows the fine craftsmanship of stone carving. Besides, the statues in the
grotto of the Buddha of Medicine such as the "Nine Violent Deaths" and the
"Twelve Great Aspirations" are rarely seen in other places.
Xuanmiao Temple
Xuanmiao Temple, located on Mount Jisheng in Yuanda Town, is about 20
kilometers northwest of the Thousand-Buddha Camp. It has 79 niche-grottos
housing about 1,300 statues and 13 stele inscriptions, all made during the
prosperous eras in the Tang Dynasty.
Xuanmiao Temple boasts the largest number of the earliest Daoist statues,
including the "Three Purities," "Tianzun, Laojun," "Truth Man," and the
"Warriors."
Sleeping-Buddha Temple
The Sleeping-Buddha Temple is located in Bamiao Village
about 40 kilometers from the county seat of Anyue.
Construction of the Sleeping-Buddha Temple started in the Tang Dynasty and
lasted to the period of the Five Dynasties. It boasts 139 grottos housing 1,600
statues carved along 500 meters of cliffs. The most magnificent site is the
"Nirvana of the Left-Reclining Sakyamuni," the world's largest left-reclining
Buddha.
This huge statue was carved out of a cliff 5 meters high on the northern
slope of the temple. The Buddha is 23 meters long; his head alone is 3 meters
long. With his feet pointed west, the Buddha faces south, with a lotus flower
pillow supporting his head. He has a high nose and deep-set eyes, half closed to
give him a solemn expression. He wears a thin kasaya, with hands stretched out
horizontally and feet bared.
Besides, there are also 15 grottos of 22 kinds of stone-inscribed sutras with
more than 400,000 words, which are of important value for the study of sutra
editions. On January 13,1985, the cliff bas-reliefs of the Sleeping-Buddha
Temple were listed by the State
Council as one of the 3rd group of the state-protected major units of
cultural relics.
|
|