Leshan Giant Buddha

4 Key excerpts on "Leshan Giant Buddha"

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  The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

  • Wu Hung(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  During the beginning of the Jiande era (572–578), the head frequently fell off. The Grand Minister and Prince of Qi came to investigate and ordered the head be reinstalled. But at night it fell off again, just as before. People tried many times and used various materials to make new heads, but all their efforts were in vain. Soon afterwards the Northern Zhou persecuted Buddhism, and this led to the regime’s demise four years later. Examining this event, intelligent people realized its previous signs [in the statue’s miraculous manifestations].

  But in spite of being abolished and abandoned, the image still stood fast. From the beginning of the Kaihuang reign (581–589) of the Sui dynasty, the Buddhist faith was greatly promoted; the Buddha image was elaborately embellished, and the temple was highly respected. In the fifth year of Daye (609), Emperor Yang visited this temple to pay his respects. With his generous donations the temple regained its glory and beauty. The emperor changed the name of the temple to the Temple of Spiritual Resonance (Gantong si), and ordered the stone image to be copied and transmitted [fig. 4.13 ]. But its precise measurement could never be achieved. Although people agree that it is roughly eighteen feet high, each attempt to measure it has produced a different result.8

  4.13   The legend of the Fanhe Buddha statue: copying the statue. Detail of mural from Cave 72 at Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Gansu province. Late Tang dynasty, ninth century.

  This account is a symbolic historical narrative from a retrospective point of view: the statue witnessed the fall of the Northern Wei, rejected the mandate of the Northern Zhou for its persecution of Buddhism, and finally celebrated the victory of the Sui and Tang empires. It is not difficult to see the political agenda implied in this record. Indeed, as a spokesman for early Tang Buddhism, Daoxuan was actively involved in politics and public affairs and developed close ties with the courts of Emperors Taizong and Gaozong (fig. 4.14 ).9 His works, characterized by a strong synthetic tendency, often transcended the old political boundaries of the North and the South. Several enormous encyclopedias that he and his colleagues compiled, including the Collected Records of Spiritual Response of the Three Jewels in China (Ji shenzhou sanbao gantong lu), An Extended Collection of Buddhist Writings (Guang hongming ji), and the Pearl Grove of the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin

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  Chinese Buddhism and Traditional Culture

  • Litian Fang(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  2 for prayer after the Northern Wei Dynasty was founded. The carving and decoration were splendid, leading the world, and were very spectacular. After the Northern Wei Dynasty, Liao and Jin Dynasties chiseled the largest scale of grottoes. The early five grottoes’ shapes were oval, with no back room. They were dominated by statues, and Buddha statues were tall. The outdoor Buddha statue in the twentieth grotto was in the posture of sitting, up to 13.7 meters high, with a plump face and broad shoulders, and the clothes were carved with beautiful flame patterns; it was the most magnificent and the representative of Yungang Grottoes. Later middle grottoes mostly had square shapes, with back rooms, and a large Buddha statue was carved in the middle. Walls, arches, and grotto tops were carved with small Buddha statues, Bodhisattva, Hercules, flying Apsaras, and other patterns, in a fine and beautiful style. The fifth and sixth grottoes and Wuhua Grotto of Yungang were colorful, rich, and magnificent, the essence of Yungang Grottoes art. The sitting Buddha in the center of the fifth grotto was dignified and magnifi-cent; it was 17 meters high and 15.8 meters wide, and the middle finger was 2.3 meters long and a foot was 4.6 meters long. It was the largest among all the Buddha statues. A two-layer pagoda pillar was carved in the back room of the sixth grotto, which was about 16 meters high, straight to the top of the grotto. The area of the pagoda pillar was 62 square meters, under which there was a four-layer niche, surrounded by carved Buddha statues, which was very beautiful. Statues in Wuhua Grotto such as Acting Bodhisattva and Maitreya Buddha had a rich and colorful art style that was very unique, and were valuable images for studying ancient art, music, and architecture.

  3 Longmen Grottoes

  Longmen Grottoes, also known as “Yique Grottoes”, are located on the two banks of the entrance of the Yi River, 13 kilometers south from Luoyang City. Here Xiangshan (Eastern Hill) and Longmen Mountain (Western Hill) stand facing each other, like a natural door in the distance, so they were called “Yique” in the ancient times. The landscape was magnificent. The famous, magnificent Longmen Grottoes are densely distributed on cliffs on both sides of the Yi River, dense like honeycombs, and 1,000 meters long from north to south.

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  Beijing - A Concise History

  • Stephen G. Haw(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The Yong He Gong is the principal temple of Tibetan Buddhism in Beijing. It was through this temple that the Qing government handled its relations with the Tibetan Buddhist faith in China. It is situated just within the former Inner City of Beijing, on the south side of what is now the second ring road. It has three highly colourful arches (pai fang) at its entrance. Beyond these, a path leads across an area planted with flowers and trees (including ginkgos) to a gate. The Yong He Gong is laid out very much on the normal pattern of a Chinese Buddhist Temple, in a series of courtyards (all facing south) with the main halls at their northern sides and subsidiary side halls. The positions of bell and drum towers and the functions of most of the main halls are mirrored in Buddhist temples throughout China. The first courtyard of the temple contains a drum tower (on the left) and bell tower (on the right) and pavilions housing inscribed slabs of stone. On the north side of the courtyard is the Hall of the Heavenly Kings (Lokapala). Statues of the four kings (one for each of the four main directions) stand at the sides of the hall, with a ‘laughing Buddha’ at the centre. He represents an incarnation of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, who laughs because he knows the great happiness that is to come. Behind him is a statue of Wei Tuo (Skanda), a defender of Buddhism, who is regarded as a protector of Buddhist temples. Beyond this hall, a large square stone stele dating from 1792 is inscribed with a history of Tibetan Buddhism in four languages (Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian). The large hall beyond it, the main hall of the temple, houses three statues of Buddha (past, present and future) and, at the sides, statues of the eighteen luohan or arhats, the first disciples of the historical Buddha (the Chinese, however, added two to the original sixteen). In front of the hall is a bronze model of Mount Sumeru, a Buddhist depiction of the world and the regions below and above it, with the Buddhist paradise at the top. Beyond the main hall is a smaller hall containing a further three Buddhas, with the Buddha of Longevity in the middle. A further courtyard leads to the Hall of the Wheel of the Law (Fa Lun Dian), housing a large bronze statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa (‘Yellow Hat’) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which is now the main sect. This hall also contains Buddhist sutras, wall paintings of the life of Buddha and a representation of the ‘mountain of 500 arhats’ carved in wood with small statues of the arhats in various metals. The most impressive statue in this temple is housed in the large hall at its northern end, the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Blessings (Wan Fu Ge). It is a huge wooden statue of Maitreya, said to have been carved from a single tree-trunk. It is 26 m (29 yd) high in all, though 8 m (9 yd) of it are below ground.

  The Temple of the Source of the Law (Fa Yuan Si)

  This is the oldest temple in Beijing city. It was founded in AD 645, during the Tang dynasty, and first completed in 696. It was built to commemorate the soldiers who had died in the Tang emperor’s campaigns against the kingdom of Gaoli in Korea and was originally called the Min Zhong Temple. None of the original buildings has survived, however. In 882 it burned down. After rebuilding, it was again destroyed by an earthquake in 1057. It was extensively rebuilt during the Ming dynasty and again under the Qing in 1733, when it was given its present name. There are some very fine objects associated with Buddhism displayed in the halls of the temple, including Beijing’s largest Ming dynasty carved wooden Reclining Buddha, a statue of Buddha dating from 672 and a collection of Buddhist books from as early as the Tang dynasty.

  The White Dagoba Temple (Bai Ta Si)

  The correct name of this temple is the Temple of the Wonderful Response (Miao Ying Si). It is situated west of Bei Hai, to the north of the Avenue Inside Fucheng Gate (Fucheng Men Nei Da Jie), in a small lane. The large white dagoba from which it gets its common name is a rare relic of the building of Dadu under Khubilai Khan and dates from the 1270s. The whole structure is about 60 m (66 yd) high. In one of the halls of the temple, there is an exhibition of objects found during restoration of the dagoba in 1978.

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  History of Indian and Eastern Architecture

  • James Fergusson(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Perlego

    (Publisher)

  They are not rock-cut temples in the sense in which the term is understood in India, being neither residences nor chaitya halls. On the left, on the face of the rock, is a figure of Buddha, seated in the usual cross-legged conventional attitude, 16 ft. in height, and backed by a throne of exceeding richness: perhaps the most elaborate specimen of its class known to exist anywhere. Next to this is a cell, with two pillars in front, on the back wall of which is another seated figure of Buddha, but certainly of a more modern aspect than that last described; that appearance may, however, be owing to whitewash and paint, which have been most liberally applied to it. Beyond this is a figure of Buddha, standing in the open air; and still further to the right another of him, lying down in the conventional attitude of his attaining Nirvana. This figure is 45 ft. long, while the standing one is only 25 ft. high. [245] These Nirvana figures are rare in India, but there is one in the most modern cave at Ajunta, No. 26, and others in the latest caves at Nassick and Salsette. None of these, however, so far as I know, ever attained in India such dimensions as these. In another century or two they might have done so, but the attainment of such colossal proportions is a sure sign of their being very modern. In front of the Gal Vihara stands the principal religious group of [Image unavailable.] 105. The Jayta Wana Rama—Ruins of Pollonarua. (From Tennent’s ‘Christianity in Ceylon.’) the city, consisting first of the Jayta Wana Rama Temple, 170 ft. long by 70 ft. wide (Woodcut No. 105), containing an erect statue of Buddha 58 ft. in height. On one side of it is the Kiri dagoba—on the right of the woodcut—with two smaller topes, standing on raised platforms, the whole space measuring 577 ft. by 500 ft., and was apparently at one time entirely filled with objects of religious adoration. The whole certainly belongs to the age of Prakrama-Bahu

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