Beishan stone carving

Beishan stone carving

The cliff sculptures of Beishan Mountain were first carved in the late Tang Dynasty and ended in the Southern Song Dynasty. The stone sculptures are located on Beishan Mountain, 2km north of Dazu district. With dafowan as the center, it covers guanyinpo, yingpanpo, foeryan and Beitasi in five places. It is more than 500 meters long. The rock is about 7 meters high and is carved along the cliff. From south to north, the shape is like a crescent moon, and the niche is like a beehive. There are more than 5000 statues. The statue is exquisite and skillful. Except for some steles, pagodas and shallow niches, the rest are well preserved.

Overview of Beishan

Beishan, formerly known as Longgang mountain, is 1.5km north of chenglonggang Town, Dazu District, with an altitude of 545.5m. The key protection area of Beishan cliff statues is 7.62 hectares, the general protection area is 21.82 hectares, and the construction control area is 28.15 hectares. The cliff statue of fowan in Beishan was excavated in 892-1162 (from the first year of Jingfu in Tang Dynasty to Shaoxing in Southern Song Dynasty). The cliff of the statue is about 300 meters long and 7-10 meters high. The niches are as dense as beehives. They are divided into South and North sections. They are numbered 290 (no.1-100 is the south section, and no.101-290 is the north section). Among them, there are 264 niches for statues, 1 Yin engraved picture and 8 Scripture buildings.

There are nearly ten thousand cliff statues in Beishan, which are mainly carved for praying for Buddha. There are 51 kinds of statues, mainly Buddhist Tantrism, accounting for more than half of the total. Secondly, there are three levels of religion, Pure Land Sect and so on. The subjects of these statues were very popular among the people at that time, and they were the product of Buddhism secularization, which was different from the early Chinese grottoes. Beishan statues are famous for their exquisite carving, exquisite craftsmanship and elegance. They show the development and changes of Chinese Folk Buddhist belief and grotto art style from the end of the 9th century to the middle of the 12th century (the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the two Song dynasties).

Historical development

At the end of the 9th century, there were 12 types of sculpture themes in the late Tang Dynasty, most of which were Guanyin and Guanyin, dizang niches, and Amitabha's escorting Guanyin and dizang. The statue is dignified and plump, with rich temperament, fine grain and thin clothes, which has the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. His representative works are No.5 vishan Heavenly King niche, No.9 Qianshou Guanyin niche, No.10 Sakyamuni niche, No.51 third Buddha niche and No.52 Amitabha niche. In particular, No. 245 guanwuliangshou Buddhist Scripture is rich in content and clear-cut, with "three saints of the west", "three grades and nine lives", "no resentment of life", "Sixteen views" and other music, heaven and man, pavilions and pavilions; 539 figures and 460 pieces of various artifacts, preserving various historical materials of images; it is second to none in the same kind of sculptures in China's grottoes.

The statues of the Five Dynasties in the middle of the 10th century accounted for more than one-third of the statues in Beishan, which was the largest area in China during this period and played an important role in connecting the preceding and the following. There are 18 kinds of themes of statues, including the changes of pharmacists' classics and the building of tuoluojing. Its artistic features are small and exquisite, changeable posture, natural and unrestrained expression, and increasingly colorful patterns, showing a transitional style from Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty. For example, the statue No. 53 of Buddha and Bodhisattva is not only full and simple in Tang Dynasty, but also has the slender body of Song Dynasty. Qianshou Guanyin (273) and its attendant (281), the pure land of Oriental pharmacist (281), become the same. The thin clothes are close to the body, which is quite Tang style, and the appearance is beautiful, which also looks like song engraving.

From the late 10th century to the middle of the 12th century, there were 21 kinds of statues in Song Dynasty, especially Guanyin, which was known as "the exhibition hall of Chinese Guanyin statues". The works of this period are more close to life, reflecting the aesthetic value of Song Dynasty. The statue has the characteristics of distinctive personality, graceful posture, well proportioned proportion and gorgeous dress. The most representative is the runner Sutra cave No. 136, which was built between 1142 and 1146. The statues in the cave reflect the inner peace with quiet facial depiction and show the noble identity with exquisite clothes. It is full of Chinese national characteristics with line shape and line surface. The wreaths cover the body, the streamers are all over the body, and the flowers are in clusters of beads. They are exquisite and clear with strong decorative flavor. Most of them are well preserved, just like new carvings. They are recognized as "a pearl on the crown of Chinese Grotto Art". Others, such as No. 125 Zhushou Guanyin, No. 113 and No. 133 Shuiyue Guanyin, No. 155 Kongque Mingwang grottoes, No. 177 Sizhou great shrine, No. 180 shisan Guanyin disguised grottoes, are all treasures of this period. The images, postures, personalities and expressions of these statues, as well as the pleats and ornaments, are thought-provoking; the combination of these statues is rich, the carving is exquisite, and the artistic conception of these statues is endless.

Among the cliff sculptures in Beishan, there are seven existing steles. Among them, the stele of Wei JunJing, which was carved in 895 ad, is of great value to supplement the history of Tang Dynasty; the stele of Zhao Yijian, which was carved in 1163-1189 ad, was written by Cai Jing, one of the four great calligraphers in Song Dynasty, and is a treasure of calligraphy art; the stele of ancient filial piety, which is twenty-two chapters, is called "only this moment in the world" by historians. In addition, there are 17 inscriptions, poems and 77 statues. The study of historical geography, religious belief, grottoes dating and historical figures is of great value.

Main stone carvings

Wei JunJing

Wei JunJing stele, located at the head of fowan, is No. 2. The monument is 260 cm high and 310 cm wide. It was written by Hu MI, the magistrate of shoujingnan County before Shi Lang, a military judge. It was set up in the second year of qianning (895 A.D.) of emperor Zhaozong of Tang Dynasty. The inscriptions are divided into two parts: the upper part is 53 lines, with 35 characters in the first line. The rest are 30 characters, 1440 characters in total, with a diameter of 3.5 cm; the lower part is 101 lines, with a diameter of 2 cm, with 2866 characters in total, with 145 titles of the general school.

The stele was not named, and the first and second executive offices were Wei JunJing, with the title of "doctor Jinziguang and green, inspector general of Sikong, commander of the military of Changzhou, governor of Changzhou, commander of the four prefectures of Chongchang, Puyu and Hezhou, commander of the Jingnan army, and also official censor, male founder of Shangzhu state and Fufeng County, 300 families of Wei JunJing in Shiyi." It is called "Wei JunJing stele" in history.

Vaisham King

This niche was engraved by Wei JunJing according to the book of the heavenly king of Pishan, and it is No. 5. Wei JunJing made this image to compare himself with the king of the Tang Dynasty.

Legend has it that Anxi city (now Kuqa County, Xinjiang) was besieged by Fanbing in the first year of Tianbao (742 A.D.), so please help. But the road is far away, and it is difficult to get help. Emperor Tang Ming asked monk Bukong to ask the northern vaisham heavenly king to help. At the same time, the "golden rat" bit off the enemy's bowstring and armor rope. The magic soldiers wore the golden armor, and the sound of beating drums shook 300 Li. The earth moved and the mountain collapsed, and the soldiers were defeated. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty heard that he played a great joy and saved all kinds of festivals. His state capital was located in the northwest of the city and yingzhai, and his statues were set up to support him. Since then, the statue of vaisham heavenly king has been regarded as a protective god by the military and can obtain "divine power", so Wei JunJing of Yongchang village has engraved it with him.

The vaisham heavenly king, also known as the king of the north, is the Dharma protector of Buddhism in the north. The northern Heavenly King carved in the middle of the niche is big and powerful, with a helmet on top, eyebrows erect and angry eyes wide open, which gives people a sense of awe and awe. The powerful men on both sides of the heavenly king grin and look ferocious. They are brave and unstoppable. These images are just like the valiant men of Tang Dynasty, which gives people a strong sense of beauty. On the left, the male and female waiters are handsome and elegant, virtuous and dignified, with close fitting clothes, smooth lines and skillful techniques.

Thousand-hand Bodhisattva

Guanyin Bodhisattva in fowan of Beishan is the most concentrated, the most and the most exquisite among Dazu stone carvings. People admire Guanyin and regard it as the "God of beauty". Therefore, there is a saying in fowan of Beishan that it is an art palace full of beauty. GuanShiYin is a free translation of Chu prose, also translated as "Guanzi", "guangshiyin", "guanshizi". It is recorded in the Lotus Sutra, Guanyin Bodhisattva's Pumen. "If there are hundreds of billions of people suffering from all kinds of sufferings, they will be liberated if they hear that they are Guanyin Bodhisattva and call them Guanyin Bodhisattva with one heart "Guanyin", in the Tang Dynasty, in order to avoid the taboo of Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the word "Shi" was often omitted, which is called "Guanyin" for short. This title has been used today. According to the ancient records of Brahmanism in India, as early as the seventh century BC, before Buddhism came into being, Tianzhu (today's India) already had "GuanShiYin", a pair of twin ponies. As the "good God" in Brahmanism, it symbolizes compassion, kindness and great divine power. In the third century BC, when Mahayana came into being, Guanyin, the "good God" in Brahmanism, was officially absorbed as a charitable Bodhisattva in Buddhism, named "horse head Guanyin". Around the first year of A.D., Ma Tou Guanyin was changed into a man's body. After Buddhism was introduced into China, Guanyin gradually became feminized due to the environment of the times, local conditions and customs, aesthetic consciousness, and psychological factors of belief, and it was basically shaped in the Song Dynasty. Guanyin in Dazu stone carvings are almost all female images.

Sakyamuni Shrine

Sakyamuni, whose real name is Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Nepal, India, almost at the same time as Confucius in the late spring and Autumn Period in China. He used to be the prince of King Jingfan in ancient India. After thinking about the real society, he became a monk in order to find the true meaning of life. After six years of practice, he finally realized Buddhism and founded Buddhism. The Chinese translation of "Buddha" as "awakened person" is the highest achievement of believers. The four holy truths of suffering, gathering, extermination and Tao and the theory of twelve causes are its most basic doctrines. Since Buddhism was introduced into China in the Han Dynasty, it has been integrated with Confucianism and Taoism in traditional culture, and thus become a Chinese tradition

Chinese PinYin : Bei Shan Shi Ke