introduce
Dazu Rock Carvings is the general term for Moyan carvings (grottoes) with Buddhist themes in Dazu District, Chongqing City, including Baoding Mountain, Beishan Mountain, Nanshan Mountain, Shimen Mountain, Shizhuan Mountain, etc. Here you can enjoy the well-preserved The art of stone carving statues in the Tang and Song dynasties. So far, there are as many as 75 stone carvings and more than 50,000 statues announced as cultural relics protection units. The statues of Dazu Rock Carvings were first built in the early Tang Dynasty. After the end of Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, they flourished in the Song Dynasty and lasted for more than a thousand years. A magnificent page in the middle of the 13th century.
Dazu Rock Carvings are rooted in the fertile soil of the long-standing Bashu culture. On the basis of absorbing and melting the essence of grotto art in the early stage, they introduce the old and bring forth the new, and open up a new world of grotto art. With distinctive nationalization, secularization and life-oriented characteristics, it has become a model of grotto art with Chinese style.
Dazu Rock Carvings are representative works of late Chinese grotto art, together with Dunhuang, Yungang, Longmen and other grottoes, they constitute a complete history of Chinese grotto art. The Dazu Rock Carvings show from different aspects the major development and changes in Chinese grotto art style and folk religious beliefs from the 9th century to the middle of the 13th century. Historical, artistic, scientific and appreciation value. On December 1, 1999, the Dazu Rock Carvings were included in the "World Heritage List" by UNESCO as a cultural heritage.
Baodingshan and Beishan stone carvings are more concentrated
Among the group of stone carvings, Baodingshan Stone Carvings and Beishan Stone Carvings are more concentrated. Baoding Mountain and Beishan Stone Carvings sell tickets separately, or you can buy a joint ticket, and the distance between the two is more than ten kilometers. The remaining three scenic spots in the group of stone carvings are relatively remote or not yet open to the public.
Baoding Mountain Stone Carvings
The Baodingshan Grottoes are located on Baodingshan, 15 kilometers northeast of Dazu City, centered on the Big and Small Fowan Bays, and were excavated by the monk Zhao Zhifeng during the Chunxi to Chunyou period (1174-1252 AD) of the Southern Song Dynasty. Dafo Bay is a "U"-shaped mountain bay. The cliff face of the statue is about 500 meters long and 8-25 meters high. The statues are carved on the cliffs on the east, south and north sides.
The statues in the Baodingshan Grottoes show many characteristics that are different from the early Chinese grottoes: First, the statues in the Baodingshan Grottoes are rare large-scale Buddhist Esoteric Buddhist temples in China, which have continued the history of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism for nearly 400 years. Second, the expression form of Baodingshan Grotto statues is unique in the grotto art. The themes of the thousands of statues in Dafo Bay are not repeated, and the niches have not only the internal connection in doctrine, but also the interconnection in form, forming an organic whole, which is quite like a magnificent historical scroll painting. All the statues are rich in pictures and texts, and most of the engraved scriptures are different from the Tibetan scriptures. Most of them are Buddhist stone inscriptions outside Tibet that have not been included in the Tibetan scriptures of previous dynasties. They have important academic value for the study of Buddhist classics. Thirdly, the statues focus on expounding philosophy, integrating the basic teachings of Buddhism with Chinese Confucian ethics, Confucianism, and Taoist theories. Fourth, the Baodingshan Grotto statues can be regarded as a model of nationalization and life-oriented Chinese grotto art in terms of content and form. The reverence for Confucian filial piety and the exaggeration of secular life make it an art treasure house with rich traditional Chinese cultural characteristics, marking that the grotto art originated in India has completed the process of Sinicization. Fifth, the statues in the Baodingshan Grottoes are the culmination of grotto art, with creative development in many aspects. It is based on the principle of being able to subdue people's hearts, so as to stimulate believers' devout belief in Buddhism. And integrate scientific principles into artistic modeling, its imagery, decoration, layout, drainage, lighting, support, perspective, etc., all pay great attention to the beauty of form and artistic conception.
In addition, there are still 16 steles, 44 inscriptions, travel notes, and poems, and 49 repair and decoration notes among the statues in the Baodingshan Grottoes. Among them, the stele "Biography of Tang Liu Benzun" carved between 1174 and 1252 A.D., and the "Reopening Baoding Stone Stele" written by Liu Tianren in 1425 A.D. are of great academic value for the study of the history of Baodingshan Grottoes and the history of Chinese Tantric Buddhism. .
Beishan Stone Carvings
The Beishan Grottoes are located on the top of the Beishan Mountain (commonly known as Fowan), 1.5 kilometers north of the main city of Dazu District. Wei Junjing, the governor of Changzhou in the late Tang Dynasty, and the commander of Changpu, Yuhe and Sizhou, first excavated it in the first year of Tang Jingfu (892). The gentry, scholars, monks and nuns were successively built, and it was not until the end of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1162) that it took on the existing scale.
The statues in the Beishan Grottoes are built on the rocks. The cliff faces of the statues are about 300 meters long and 7-10 meters high, shaped like a crescent moon. The niches are as dense as a beehive, divided into two sections, the south and the north, and are collectively numbered as No. 290. Among them, there are 264 niches with nearly 10,000 statues, 1 inscribed picture, and 8 sutra buildings. The statues in Beishan Grottoes are mainly carved for secular Buddhist prayers, with rich themes, and Tantric statues are the main ones, accounting for more than half of the total.
There are 12 types of statues in the Beishan Grottoes in the late Tang Dynasty, most of which are Avalokitesvara and Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha niches, and Amitabha's attendant Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha. The statues in the late Tang Dynasty are dignified and plump, with a vigorous temperament, fine and dense clothing patterns, and thin clothing that fits the body, which has the legacy of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The statues of the Five Dynasties accounted for more than one-third of the Beishan Grottoes, with 18 themes, and new contents such as the Pharmacist Sutra and the Dharani Sutra appeared. It was the area with the most statues in this period in China. The statues of the Five Dynasties are small and exquisite, with changeable body shapes, natural and unrestrained expressions, and gradually more colorful clothing, presenting a transitional style from Tang to Song.
There are 21 themes of Song Dynasty statues in Beishan Grottoes, especially Avalokitesvara, which is known as the "Chinese Avalokitesvara Statue Exhibition Hall". The figures in the statues of the Song Dynasty have distinct personalities, elegant postures, well-proportioned proportions, gorgeous clothes, and are full of decorative beauty.
There are 7 existing steles in Beishan Grottoes. Among them, the "Wei Junjing Monument" carved in 895 AD is of great value in supplementing the history of the Tang Dynasty; the "Zhao Yijian Gong Shendao Stele" carved between 1163 and 1189 AD was written by Cai Jing, one of the four great calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. It is a treasure of calligraphy art; the twenty-two chapters of "Ancient Wen Xiaojing Stele" are called "the only moment in the world" by historians.
The mountain grottoes are world-renowned for their exquisite elegance, distinctive characteristics of the times, exquisite carvings, exquisite craftsmanship, and well-preserved. They also integrate works from the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Song Dynasty, showing the development of grotto art in various periods from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. With different styles and developments, it is known as the "Tang and Song Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall".
opening hours
08:30-18:00 throughout the year (stop ticket sales at 16:00, last admission at 17:00); Beishan Stone Carving Night Tour: 19:30-23:00 every night, ticket sales stop at 21:00, 21:30 Stop ticket checking;
