Overview
It was slightly earlier than the Leshan Great Buddha. Different from the Leshan Great Buddha, the Thousand Buddha Rock Cliffside Statues was carved spontaneously by the folk. Hence, it has more abundant and varied content and more colorful artistic image. The Thousand-Buddha Cliff has over 4 thousands Buddha sculptures, and over 2 thousands of them are well preserved.
History
The Thousand Buddha Cliffside Statuesare on the wall of the cliff that is about 420 metres long and about 40 metres high, whose scale is the largest among the grottoes in Sichuan Province. The grottoes and shrines there are arranged layer upon layer, which reach 13 layers at most. It was recorded on a stone tablet built in the fourth year (1854) of the Xianfeng rein in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that there used to be altogether more than 17,000 statues on the cliff. However in 1935, about half of the statues were destroyed when the cliff was blown up to make for the Chuanshan Road. Now, there only exist more than 400 shrines and grottoes, and more than 7,000 statues. According tothe History of Guangyuan County, there are 27 segments of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), 5 segments of the Five Dynasties Period (907-960), 26 segments of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), 26 segments of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), 8 segments of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1911), and 41 segments without exact record of date. Besides these, there are one more hundred inscriptions and Cliffside stone carvings of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties.
What to See
Dayun Cave
It is lying in the centre of the Thousand-Buddha Cliff, is 3.8 metres high, 3.6 metres wide and 10.6 metres long. In the right middle of the cave, there is a standing statue of the Maitreya Buddha (Laughing Buddha), with broad shoulder, fat body, round face, and curved eyebrows.
Big Buddha Cave
The Buddhas in the Big Buddha Cave and the Three-Sage Shrine, with small eyes and thin lips, look fine and delicate. The attendants, with prominent foreheads and deep Nasolabial folds, seem simple and elegant.
Lotus Cave
The Lotus Cave was named after a lotus with a diameter of 1.2 metres in the right middle of the sunk panel. People in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) painted peonies around the lotus, and the seedpod of lotus was painted as Bagua Taiji (the Diagram of the Eight Trigrams and Cosmological Scheme) of Taoism.
Information
Location: East bank of Jialing River, 4 kilometers north of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province
Opening Time: 08:00-18:30
Ticket Price: CNY50; Free ticket policy: free for children under 1.2 meters and seniors over 65 years old.
Time for visiting: 2-3 hours