Dazu Rock Carvings

IN the history of Chinese grotto art, the old Ba and Shu Prefectures in southwest China hold a special position.

The area covered by the Ba and Shu Prefectures is now known as Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. In ancient times, these prefectures had a highly developed economy and culture and were the first areas in China influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. Over a long span of time, from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581) through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), grottoes and stone statues were widely constructed in more than 50 counties in Ba and Shu, and today, more than 200 grottoes can still be seen. The grottoes in Ba and Shu are as great as the Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province, and the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi Province.

Of all the grottoes in Ba and Shu, the Dazu Grottoes are the largest. Their content is the richest, and their works of art show the most skill. They are praised as the Home of Stone Sculptures and the Treasure House of Grotto Art.

The Dazu Grottoes are in Dazu County, 165 kilometers from the Chongqing metropolitan area. The grottoes spread across more than 40 sites and contain over 50,000 stone sculptures, carved from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) through the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The most splendid and representative grottoes are located on Beishan (Northern) Mountain and Baoding (Treasure Peak) Mountain.

Beishan Mountain, also known as Longgang (Dragon Mound) in ancient times, is two kilometers from the Dazu County seat. In the late years of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Junjing, governor of Changzhou Prefecture, set up a separatist regime in eastern Sichuan and built Yongchang Village on Beishan Mountain to station troops and store grain. In 892, Wei commissioned the first Buddhist carvings in the village, on Xicui Cliff.

Afterwards, many local gentries, government officials, and Buddhist monks and nuns financed Buddhist carvings. From the late Tang Dynasty through the reign of the Song Emperor Gaozong (1127-1131), 10,000 sculptures of Buddhist figures were carved in varied styles there.

Grotto 136 is the best preserved of the grottoes on Beishan Mountain, and the carvings in the grotto are the best of the Song Dynasty. The statues of Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy) and the reliefs of bodhisattvas all have an amiable look, different from the profound look of the Buddhist statues inside the Yungang Grottoes. The most important statues are Manjusri (the Bodhisattva of Wisdom) riding a roaring lion and Samantabhadra (the Bodhisattva of Universal Kindness) riding a white elephant, both depicting the triumph of virture over evil.

The greatest treasure of all on Beishan Mountain is a statue of Guanyin carved in the Song Dynasty. In the earliest carvings in China, Guanyin was a man, perfectly dressed and sitting properly, looking dignified and respectable. In the late years of the Tang Dynasty, the image of Guanyin was changed into that of a woman of earthly beauty.

The most famous carving on Beishan Mountain is the three-quarter-frontal relief Guanyin Holding a String of Beads in Her Hand, also known as Charming Guanyin. The figure, about one meter high, has a beautiful full, round face with a shy smile, and her left hand holds her right wrist below her chest. In her right hand is a string of beads. Wearing an ornamented crown and standing barefoot on a lotus flower, the exquisitely dressed Guanyin looks like a girl with a graceful and attractive posture yearning for a happy life. The figure has been called the Oriental Venus.

The Grotto of the Incarnations of Ksitigarbha, from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), contains four images of Ksitigarbha, well proportioned and vividly shaped and sculptured.

The carvings on Beishan Mountain are indeed exquisite, beautiful, and vivid, and the carvings on Baoding Mountain are imposing.

Baoding Mountain is 15 kilometers northeast of the Dazu County seat. Zhao Zhifeng, a famous monk of the Song Dynasty, oversaw the carving of the Buddhist images on the mountain 800 years ago. After 70 years of effort, more than 10,000 figures were sculptured along a U-shaped stretch of cliffs 500 meters long with the Dafowan (Great Buddha Bay) in the center. The carvings inside the grottoes and on the cliff faces are magnificent.

One of the most remarkable sculptures in the middle section of Dafowan is Sleeping Buddha on Beiya (Northern Cliff). The sculpture, 31 meters long, depicts Buddha entering Nirvana. Buddha has a kindly and peaceful face with eyes slightly opened.

The Birth of Buddha, also known as Nine Dragons Bathing the Prince, is a rare masterpiece of sculpture. Here, the heads of nine dragons protrude from the cliff face, and a stream of spring water flows down from the mouth of the middle head to bathe baby Buddha sitting in a basin below.

The highest niche at Dafowan contains three statues of saints from the Huayen sect of Buddhism: Vairocana stands in the middle with Manjusri and Samantabhadra standing by his left and right sides. Each statue is seven meters high. The stone pagoda that Samantabhadra holds in his palm weighs 500 kilograms.

The Thousand-Armed Goddess of Mercy is another masterpiece of sculpture on Baoding Mountain. Carved on an 88-square-meter cliff face, the Goddess of Mercy is 7.6 meters high and has 1,007 hands with an eye in each palm. The arms in various postures extend left, right, and up, like the spreading tail of a peacock.

Baoding Mountain also has many sculptures vividly depicting scenes from everyday life.

The sculptures of the Dazu Grottoes are a shining pearl among the ancient stone sculptures of China. The Dazu Grottoes were listed as a World Heritage Site on December 1, 1999, at the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), held in Marrakesh, Morocco.