Reasons for Leshan Giant Buddha’s eyes-closing incident

The reason for the incident of Leshan Giant Buddha closing his eyes

The reason for the incident of Leshan Giant Buddha closing his eyes is that the entire shape of Leshan Giant Buddha is otherworldly. The sitting posture of Leshan Giant Buddha has its feet hanging down naturally, which is similar to the Indian Buddha statues. The "lotus posture" is also different, because the giant Buddha was built to control water, which is the reason for the incident of Leshan Giant Buddha closing its eyes. Reason 1 for the Leshan Giant Buddha’s Eyes Closing Incident

When talking about Sichuan, many people will think of the beautiful natural and cultural scenery, and of course the tempting Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan attracts visitors from all over with its unique geographical location and long history. Sichuan has rich tourism resources, such as Sanxingdui, Mount Emei, Jiuzhai Huanglong, Leshan Giant Buddha, etc.

The Leshan Giant Buddha, also known as the Lingyun Giant Buddha, is located on the side of Lingyun Temple on the east bank of the Nanmin River in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, near the confluence of the Dadu River, Qingyi River and Minjiang River. The Big Buddha is a seated Maitreya Buddha with a height of 71 meters. It is the largest cliff-carved stone statue in China.

The Giant Buddha was excavated in the early years of the founding of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 713). Before the construction, Leshan was located at the confluence of three rivers. The water was dangerous, and ships often crashed and killed people. Monk Haitong, the eminent monk of Lingyun Temple, hopes to build the largest Miluo Buddha in the world to calm the raging river and protect the people. However, building such a giant Buddha was undoubtedly an arduous project based on the technology at the time, and it cost a lot of money.

The eminent monk Haitong went around to raise funds for this giant Buddha. Monk Haitong died when the Buddha statue was built to the shoulders. The construction of the Leshan Giant Buddha was also interrupted for a time. 40 years later, Wei Gao, the governor of Sichuan Province in Jiannan, donated his salary to allow the Giant Buddha to be rebuilt. The Leshan Giant Buddha took 90 years from start to completion. Strangely enough, since the completion of the Giant Buddha, the water at the confluence of the three rivers has still been rough, but since then there has not been a single shipwreck or fatality.

People have given the Leshan Giant Buddha a lot of mystery. Perhaps many people know the legend that the Giant Buddha once closed his eyes and shed tears. It is said that the Leshan Giant Buddha closed his eyes and shed tears in 1962, 1963 and 1976 respectively. In the natural disaster of 1963, tens of thousands of people died of starvation, and there were many corpses floating on Min Mountain. The Buddha couldn't bear to see this human tragedy, so he closed his eyes in pain and shed tears silently. In 1963, the disaster situation improved and the Buddha reopened its eyes.

In 1976, leaders Mao, Zhu and Wednesday all passed away. Hundreds of thousands were killed and injured in the Tangshan earthquake. The giant Buddha complained about the injustice and showed an angry look on his face. In fact, the reason why the Buddha statue closed its eyes is acid rain, or acidic sedimentation, which is a type of cement that can dissolve the hardened cement on the surface of non-metal building materials (concrete, mortar and lime-sand bricks), causing voids and cracks, resulting in a reduction in strength, thus Precipitation that damages buildings.

Acid rain can also cause building materials to become dirty and black, thus affecting the quality of urban appearance and urban landscape, so it is called the "black shell" effect. The closed eyes of the Buddha statue is a typical manifestation of the "black shell" effect of acid rain. The upper eyelids of the Buddha statue turn black and the skin falls off in many places, resulting in the visual effect of the Buddha statue having its eyes closed.

On October 8, 2018, the Jiuqu Plank Road in the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area began to be closed for construction. On April 26, 2019, the nearly half-year-long rescue and protection work on the damaged area of ??the Leshan Giant Buddha came to an end. The Leshan Giant Buddha showed its new look and announced its official "release".

The Lingyun Temple next to the Giant Buddha was founded in the early Tang Dynasty. In the early years of Kaiyuan (about 713), the Buddha statue was excavated and the temple was expanded.

Because Lingyun Temple was the largest "central temple" in Jiazhou in "Shangzhou" at that time, and its "work was exquisite", it was preserved. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, when Buddhist temples were more commonly renamed, It was once renamed Baoen Temple. Reason 2 for Leshan Giant Buddha’s Eyes Closing Incident

Leshan Giant Buddha is the world’s largest stone seated statue of Maitreya Buddha. Also known as the Lingyun Giant Buddha, it is located on the side of Lingyun Temple on the east bank of the Nanmin River in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, near the confluence of the Dadu River, Qingyi River and Minjiang River. The Giant Buddha is 71 meters high and is the largest cliff-carved statue in China.

The true official name of this giant Buddha built in the Tang Dynasty has always been a mystery. In fact, according to subsequent inspections by many experts, the real official name of this stone statue known as the "Leshan Giant Buddha" should be: Jiazhou Lingyun Temple Big Maitreya Stone Statue.

In 1989, the scientific research project "Preliminary Research on the Management of Leshan Giant Buddha" which lasted more than two years was officially launched. During this period, when using a variety of modern scientific and technological means to conduct a full-body "see-through" physical examination of the Leshan Giant Buddha, it was discovered that there was a huge cliff monument on the cliff on the right side of the cave near the river, which is the "Record of the Maitreya Stone Statue of Lingyun Temple in Jiazhou". "monument.

According to actual measurement, the monument is 6.6 meters high, equivalent to the height of a two-story building; the monument is 3.84 meters wide; the area is 25.08 square meters. The discovery of this cliff stele is of great historical significance: it not only directly determines the true official name of this stone statue, it is also the only reliable first-hand direct document available to study the "World Cultural Heritage" Leshan Giant Buddha.

The religious connotation of Buddha statues:

In the Buddhist culture of Han Dynasty in China, the changes in the statues of Maitreya Buddha are great. The first stage was from India. The second stage is Maitreya Maitreya, an ancient Buddha with "Chinese characteristics"; the third stage is Maitreya Budai. The Leshan Giant Buddha is an ancient Maitreya Buddha with "Chinese characteristics".

According to the "Maitreya Sutra", the Maitreya Buddha statue has "thirty-two characteristics and eighty good qualities", which requires that his five senses, head, hands, feet and body have different characteristics. Characteristics of the average person.

The entire shape of the Leshan Giant Buddha is extraordinary. The bun on its head, broad shoulders, high and long eyebrows, and straight nostrils are all the "broad shoulders" of Indian Buddha statues built in accordance with the provisions of Buddhist scriptures. "Slender waist" disappeared from the Buddha, replaced by strong shoulders and plump breasts, reflecting the Tang Dynasty's fashion of advocating fat beauty.

The sitting posture of the Leshan Giant Buddha is with its feet hanging down naturally. This is also different from the "lotus posture" of the Indian Buddha statues, because the Giant Buddha was built to control water. This stable and stable sitting posture The style can give boaters the courage and determination to overcome rapids and shoals. Reason 3 for the Leshan Giant Buddha's Eyes Closing Incident

The Leshan Giant Buddha was excavated in the first year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (713) and completed in the 19th year of Zhenyuan (803), which took about 90 years. Based on the time since its completion, this Buddha statue is 1,215 years old. During these 1,215 years, the Buddha was exposed for more than 700 years.

Initially, builders built a giant building called the Daxiang Pavilion to protect the Giant Buddha. In the "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River" of the Southern Song Dynasty, you can see the palace where the Giant Buddha used to be. However, Daxiang Pavilion was destroyed during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Without the protection from wind, rain and light, the Buddha is exposed to wind, rain and vegetation erosion all year round.

Why does the Leshan Giant Buddha have a painted face? An important reason is biological diseases, mainly caused by lichens, moss and other biological algae and mold. There is abundant rainfall in the area and the seasonal growth of plants is obvious. When rainfall is abundant, lichen and moss will turn green. When the temperature drops, they will enter a dormant period or die, and the head of the Buddha will turn black. Although later generations installed a protective layer on the head and chest of the Buddha during repairs, after wind and rain, a very small amount of soil will still be attached to the protective layer, but even this millimeter-level soil is enough for bryophytes. Survive.

In addition to the painted face, the Leshan Giant Buddha also closed its eyes and shed tears in 1962, 1963, 1976, and 2000. In this regard, there are similar explanations such as spiritual manifestations among the people. But from a scientific perspective, the real reason why the Buddha closed his eyes and shed tears is the result of acid rain caused by air pollution. Due to the extensive use of fossil fuels and industrial construction, air pollution has increased year by year. Moreover, the air humidity in the Sichuan Basin is relatively high, and acid rain deposition has become more serious. Due to severe acid rain corrosion caused by air pollution, people will see tear-like water marks under the eyes of the Buddha. After cleaning, this phenomenon can be solved.

The Leshan Giant Buddha is 71 meters high and sits at the confluence of three rivers. Its entire body is carved along the natural mountain of Lingyun Mountain. However, the soil structure of Lingyun Mountain is not exactly the same. There are 30-50 cm thick mudstone layers mixed between different sandstone layers, resulting in inconsistent water seepage and drainage. The ancient craftsmen who built the Buddha built drainage channels and drainage corridors on the ears and chest of the Buddha. However, because sandstone has strong water permeability and mudstone has weak water permeability, accumulated water cannot penetrate the shell and be discharged. Coupled with factors such as temperature differences and humidity differences, rocks bulge or crack.

Therefore, how to protect the Giant Buddha has become a major scientific research topic in environmental protection and architecture. According to historical records, it can be verified that the Buddha has been repaired 14 times. However, just like the prevention and treatment of human diseases, the policy of prevention first and "treatment" as a supplement should also be adopted for the Buddha. Currently, more than 30 world heritage sites in my country are suffering from air pollution damage. Mount Emei, Mount Tai, Mount Huang, Mount Wuyi, etc. are all surrounded by acid rain and other harmful gas pollution. Reducing pollution not only protects ourselves, but also protects China's world heritage.