Reclining Buddha courtyard

Reclining Buddha courtyard

Wofo courtyard is located in WOFO Town, 25 kilometers north of Anyue County, Sichuan Province. The mountain here is winding, the lake is full of green bamboo, and the scenery is elegant and quiet. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a large-scale Reclining Buddha Hall. Although the temple has been destroyed, there are 1613 cliff statues, 15 caves of stone scriptures, and dozens of inscriptions, inscriptions, scriptures, and images of exotic animals on the 1 km long Wofo Valley and the 20 meter high cliff on both sides. The statue area is 865 meters long, with 142 niches.

Reclining Buddha

Among the cliff sculptures in the reclining Buddha's courtyard, Sakyamuni's nirvana is the most spectacular. Like a giant, Sakyamuni lies on the cliff to the left,

The body is 23 meters long, the head is 3 meters long, the shoulder is 3.1 meters wide, the back is north to the south, the head is East and the foot is west, the hands are flat, the eyes are closed like sleeping. He has a long and slender body, wears a cassock, and has a curved eyebrow. At the back of the top of the head of the reclining Buddha, a half body ring eye strongman is carved, with his upper body bare and his left hand clenching his fist, as a guard; a disciple of Zen sitting on his waist, facing the wall and bowing his back, as a wait; a strongman standing in front of his bare feet, powerful and vigorous, as a guard. The whole picture is exquisitely carved and the lines are refined, which vividly shows the transcendent fantasy state of Sakyamuni nirvana. Above the reclining Buddha, there is a group of statues of Sakyamuni who said "Nirvana" before. Sitting in the middle of the statue, Sakyamuni is divided into two layers on both sides to serve the nine disciples, two Bodhisattvas and the eight heavenly dragons. Their expressions are different, which not only sets off the solemn scene of their respectful listening to the Buddha Dharma, but also shows the majestic scene of protecting the Buddha Dharma.

The stone wall under the left arm of the reclining Buddha is engraved with the travel notes of Liu Yifeng and his cousin yongjuan (joining the army in Puzhou). In the cliff opposite to the reclining Buddha, there are dense niches for cliff statues of the Tang Dynasty, mostly flat topped and rectangular. For example, 34 niches, 1.5 meters high, contain four standing statues of Guanyin, dizang, Rizhao and Yueyue, all 1.1 meters high. Although they are seriously weathered, they can still be identified. Its statue is rare.

value

The stone sculptures of the reclining Buddha courtyard are especially famous for their unique composition, novel conception and exquisite carving of "Sakyamuni Nirvana" (Reclining Buddha). It is the largest stone sculpture of reclining Buddha in Tang Dynasty in China. It is the only "Nirvana" lying on the left flank in China. It is the earliest and most complete Reclining Buddha statue in China, comparable to Leshan Buddha, the world's largest Maitreya sitting Buddha It has high aesthetic value and historical research value. The whole statue is made up of three groups of statues, which take up more than 300 square meters of the whole cliff surface. The above group of statues is the picture before Sakyamuni's nirvana, and the middle group is the reclining Buddha statue of "Sakyamuni's nirvana" in Tang Dynasty. The reclining Buddha lies on the south side and back to the north side of the cliff. It is 23 meters long, with curved eyebrows and open chest. It is contrary to the Buddhist scriptures of "lying on the right side of the North Head" and "lying on the right side of the North Head" and "lying on both feet tired of the hands on the pillow". The next group of statues is the story of Buddhist scriptures.

Reclining Buddha courtyard

On the 20 meter high cliffs on both sides of the one kilometer long Wofo Valley, there are a large number of cliff carved statues and Buddhist scriptures carved in the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty. The statue area is 865 meters long and there are 142 niches. There are 1613 stone statues, 15 Buddhist scriptures, and dozens of inscriptions, inscriptions, scriptures, and images of exotic animals. Cliff statues are dominated by Zen Buddhism, with 57 themes. The figures, utensils, animals, etc. in the statues are vivid, vivid, with a myriad of moods and a natural look. They are among the best works in the heyday of stone carving art in the middle of China. The scenic spots are: Sakyamuni, Nirvana Sutra, three body Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, thousand Buddha, thousand hand Avalokitesvara, sutra, stone Buddhist scriptures, etc.

There are 55 Sutra niches excavated on the 800 meter long cliff of two rocks in wofogou, including 43 caves which have already been formed or completed, and one empty Sutra cave. There are 15 caves with well preserved scriptures. The area of Buddhist scriptures is 152 square meters, and the font is 1-2 cm large. It is engraved on the left, middle and right walls of the cave. Most of the characters are Tang Kai. There are more than 20 kinds of scriptures with 700000 words, which are clear and recognizable. From Shi Jingtai's "preface to classics" on the left wall of cave 46, we know that "preface to all classics" comes from "dajingai temple in Tokyo (Luoyang) of the Tang Dynasty". The main Sutra items include preface to all Sutras of dajingai temple in Tokyo, Tang Dynasty, Buddhist name Sutra, Daban Nirvana Sutra, Prajna paramita Sutra, Buddha top Zunsheng Dharma Sutra, Tansan Tibetan Sutra, Miao FA Lotus Sutra, etc. There are some inscriptions on scriptures, such as "the 15th year of Kaiyuan", "the 17th year of Kaiyuan", "the 23rd year of Kaiyuan". Among them, "the 11th year of Kaiyuan", "the 21st year of Kaiyuan monk Xuanying book" and other handwriting is still relatively clear. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the reclining Buddha and the stone carved Buddhist scriptures are the masterpieces of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Although the reclining Buddha Temple has disappeared for a long time, from the scale of stone statues and stone Buddhist scriptures, we can infer the glory of the reclining Buddha Temple and the prosperity of economy and culture in gupu Prefecture at that time.

development

On January 13, 1988, it was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The era of cliff sculptures and Scripture engraving in WOFO Temple began before the 11th year of Kaiyuan (723) of Tang Dynasty. The large-scale statues and scriptures engraving in Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty declined gradually from Song Dynasty. It was created by the eminent monk Xuanying in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the later monks and customs.

Address: wofogou, BAMIAO Township, 25 km north of Anyue County

Longitude: 99.085813064937

Latitude: 32.0981304993

Chinese PinYin : Wo Fo Yuan