Anyue: A Road To Stone Wonders
Updated: 2007-09-03 08:59
On the northern slope are grottos containing respectively three well-preserved statues -- one of Sakyamuni and two of Guanyin, which are over 7 meters tall each, exquisitely carved and magnificent. Besides, the niche-grottos of the "Three Sages of the West," "the Scenes of Naraka," "Kubera," and "Combination of Three Religions" also display the superb craftsmanship of ancient Chinese sculptors.
The "Statue of Amitabha" is about 7 meters tall, wearing an edged kasaya (distinctive attire of Buddhist priests) with hair in buns. His smiling face is tilted to the right, looking down at the other Buddha in the lower right of the grotto, who is looking back at him.
The "Lotus-Flower-Hand Guanyin" is 6.5 meters tall. She wears a crown with a sitting Buddha in the center. Holding a budding lotus in her hands, the smiling Guanyin is kindly looking at a girl to her lower left.
The "Vase-Holding Guanyin" is 7 meters tall. Her shape is similar to the Lotus-Flower-Hand Guanyin, but her hair is of shoulder length. She wears more jewelry with bead earrings in her ears. She holds a vase in her left hand and a sprig of willow in her right hand.
Thousand-Buddha Camp
Located on the steep Mount Dayun in Jiadao Village, Yueyang Town, the Thousand-Buddha Camp is 3 kilometers northwest of Anyue County. It includes 105 niche-grottos with about 3,000 statues, 7 cliff bas-reliefs, 3 Tang Dynasty tablets, and 26 inscriptions. Started in 593, they were mostly created in the Tang and Song dynasties.
Of the 7 bas-reliefs, the tallest is 4.6 meters and the smallest, just 0.8 meters. The biggest niche-grotto is 6.4 meters wide, 6 meters tall, and 3.3 meters deep. There are 14 statues about 3-6 meters tall, with the tallest, "Sakyamuni," 6.2 meters.
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."
