The first Buddha in the world-Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha, also known as Lingyun Giant Buddha, is located on the side of Lingyun Temple on the east bank of

The first Buddha in the world-Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha, also known as Lingyun Giant Buddha, is located on the side of Lingyun Temple on the east bank of Minjiang River in Leshan, Sichuan, near the intersection of Dadu River, Qingyi River and Minjiang River. The giant Buddha is a seated statue of Maitreya, with a height of 7 1 m, and it is the largest cliff stone statue in China.

Leshan Giant Buddha was excavated in the first year of Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty (7 13) and completed in the 19th year of Zhenyuan (803), which lasted about 90 years.

The Giant Buddha is composed of Leshan Giant Buddha, Lingyun Mountain, Una, reclining Buddha and other scenic spots. It belongs to the national 5A-level tourist scenic spot and is a part of Emei Mountain-Leshan Giant Buddha, a world cultural and natural heritage.

20 18 10 8. The nine-bend plank road of the Giant Buddha has been fenced and isolated before construction. On April 65438, 2065438, the preliminary investigation on the rescue protection of the damaged area of Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan Province, which lasted for nearly half a year, ended, and Leshan Giant Buddha officially "cleared customs", and the Jiuqu plank road and the Buddha's foot sightseeing platform in the scenic spot were reopened. In February 2020, the scenic spot was announced to be open to medical workers free of charge: it was open to medical workers all over the country for one year (including the experience of "Night Tour of Lingyun Mountain" and "Night Tour of Sanjiang").

Chinese name

Leshan Giant Buddha

Foreign name

Leshan Giant Buddha

geographical position

Leshan City, Sichuan Province

Architectural history

Guleshan, where the three rivers meet, Minjiang River, Qingyijiang River and Dadu River meet at the foot of Lingyun Mountain. The water is quite fierce, and the boat series is often subverted. Every summer flood, the river rushes straight to the mountain wall, which often leads to the tragedy of shipwreck death. Haitong Zen master initiated it to reduce the water potential and benefit all beings, and recruited manpower and material resources to repair it.

The construction of the Buddha statue began in the early kaiyuan year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 7 13). When the Buddha reaches the shoulder, the monk Haitong dies. After Haitong's death, the project was once interrupted. Many years later, Zhang Qiu and Joan, the messengers of Jian Xichuan, donated money, and Haitong's apprentice led craftsmen to continue to build the Giant Buddha. Due to the huge project, the court ordered the payment of hemp salt tax, which made the project progress rapidly. When the Leshan Giant Buddha was repaired to the knee, the builders Zhang Qiu and Joan moved home to be the ministers of the Ministry of Housing, and the project stopped again. Forty years later, Wei Gao, the messenger of Jianchuan, donated money to continue the construction of Leshan Giant Buddha. After the efforts of three generations of craftsmen, it was completed in 90 years in the 19th year of Zhenyuan, Tang Dezong (AD 803).

Buddha statue structure

Basic appearance

The head of Leshan Giant Buddha is flush with the mountain, stepping on the river, touching his knees with his hands, and the Buddha's posture is symmetrical and solemn, sitting on the river near the mountain. The giant Buddha is 7 1m high, 14.7m high, 10m wide,102/bun, 7m long ears, 5.6m long nose, 5.6m long eyebrows, 3.3m long mouth and eyes, 3m high neck and 23m wide shoulders.

Leshan Giant Buddha

On the cliffs along the river on the left and right sides of the giant Buddha, there are two stone carvings of the protector king, which are as high as 16 meters, and together with the giant Buddha, they form the pattern of one Buddha and two kings. There are also hundreds of Buddhist niches and thousands of stone statues of heavenly kings, which are now gathered into a huge Buddhist stone carving art group. On the left side of the giant Buddha, along the "cave sky" is the starting point of Lingyun plank road excavated in modern times, with a total length of nearly 500 meters. On the right is the Jiuqu plank road, the building and sacrificial passage left by the excavation of the Great Buddha in the Tang Dynasty. After the Buddha statue is carved, there are seven pavilions (nine or thirteen floors), called "Giant Buddha Pavilion" and "Elephant Pavilion". The Buddha Pavilion was built and destroyed repeatedly, and the "Lingyun Pavilion" and "Tianning Pavilion" were rebuilt in the Song Dynasty. Humboldt Pavilion was built in Yuan Dynasty; The "Buddha shed" was built in the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, and the "Buddha pavilion" was built in the Qing Dynasty and was finally destroyed.

Stone curly hair

There are 105 1 buns on the top of the giant Buddha, which are counted with chalk when 1962 is in maintenance. From a distance, the bun is integrated with the head, but in fact it is embedded with stones one by one. The exposed part of the root of a single bun has obvious splicing cracks and no mortar bonding. The surface of the bun is plastered with two layers, the inner layer is lime, and the thickness of each layer is 5-15 mm. During the maintenance period of 199 1 year, three snail stones were found in the depression of the Buddha's right leg, of which two were relatively complete, 78 cm long, 3 1.5×3 1.5 cm at the top and 24×24 cm at the root.

Wooden ear

There is a hole about 25 cm deep inside the root of the earlobe of the right ear of the giant Buddha. Maintenance workers take out many broken objects from the hole and carefully examine the decaying wood mud. This confirms Fan Chengda's record in Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty that "the Buddha statue in the world is big, but its ears are still wooden". So there are three pieces of wood exposed inside, and the finished glyph is formed. It shows that the protruding bridge of the nose is also lined with wood and decorated with hammer ash. However, it is impossible to verify whether this was the case when Zhenyuan was completed in 19 years, and whether this technology was adopted by future generations to repair it.

drainage system

Leshan Giant Buddha has a very ingenious drainage system. There is a cleverly designed and concealed drainage system behind the ear and head of Leshan Giant Buddha, which plays an important role in protecting the Buddha. So that the Buddha statue will not be eroded by rain. Wang Shizhen, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem about Leshan Giant Buddha, "Spring flows in a bun from ancient Buddha". In the bun on the * * *18th floor above the head of the Giant Buddha, there is a horizontal drainage ditch on the 4th, 9th and18th floors respectively, which is decorated with hammer ash, so it can't be seen from afar. Collar and garment line also have pleated drainage ditch, and there is a left-handed disassembled face ditch in the front chest, which is connected with the back ditch of the right arm. Behind the ear, near the cliff, there is a cave with a length of 9. 15m, a width of1.25m and a height of 3.38m; There are two holes at both ends of the chest and back, which are not connected with each other. Right hole depth 16.5m, width 0.95m, height 1.35m, left hole depth 8. 1m, width 0.95m, height1.1m. These wonderful ditches and caves constitute a scientific drainage, moisture-proof and ventilation system, which has played an important role in protecting the giant Buddha and preventing erosive weathering for thousands of years. Due to the confluence of mountain springs, calcareous compounds with a thickness of about 5- 10 cm are condensed on the inner cliff walls of the two caves, while the cliff walls on the Buddha's body side are still red sand and relatively dry. Two caves, the walls of which are separated from each other are wet, and there is water at the bottom, and water keeps trickling out of the caves, so the chest of the giant Buddha is about 2 meters wide. Obviously, this is because the hole has not been penetrated. I wonder why the builder didn't get through!

Chest monument

According to Huang and Luo Hengheng, the person in charge of 1962 maintenance, a closed hidden hole was found in the chest of the giant Buddha. When I opened the hole, I saw it was full of scrap iron, worn lead skin, bricks and so on. In fact, Fengmen Stone is a chronicle of the reconstruction of Tianning Pavilion in Song Dynasty. After the completion of the Great Buddha in the Tang Dynasty, a wooden pavilion was built to protect it from the sun and rain. Judging from the numerous column bases and pile holes left by the knees, legs, arms, chest and instep of the giant Buddha, it is obvious that there used to be a giant Buddha pavilion here. Rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, it was called "Tianning Pavilion" and was later destroyed. But I don't know when and for what reason, the Tianning Pavilion Chronicle Monument Tang was embedded in the Buddha's chest. Maintenance personnel moved the monument to Haitong Cave for preservation, but it was destroyed in 1966.

design feature

Leshan Giant Buddha has a set of cleverly designed and concealed drainage system, which plays an important role in protecting the giant Buddha. In the bun of *** 18 on the head of the giant Buddha, there is a horizontal drainage ditch on the 4th, 9th and 18 floors respectively, and there is a ditch on the right chest to the left to connect with the ditch on the back of the right arm. Behind the ear, near the cliff, there are caves connected left and right; There is a hole at each end of the chest and back, but they don't drill through each other. These ditches and caves form a scientific drainage, moisture-proof and ventilation system to prevent the erosive weathering of the giant Buddha.

Leshan Giant Buddha Landscape

You can directly reach the bottom of the giant Buddha along the prismatic cloud plank road on the left side of the giant Buddha. Look up at the giant Buddha here and you will feel the height of the sky. There is a nine-curve ancient plank road on the right side of the statue. The plank road was dug along the right cliff of the Buddha statue, which was extremely steep and tortuous for nine times before reaching the top of the plank road. This is the right side of the giant Buddha's head, which is the top of Lingyun Mountain. Here you can see the carving art of the giant Buddha's head. There are 102 1 hairs on the top of the giant Buddha. From a distance, the bun is integrated with the head, but in fact it is embedded with stones one by one.

There is a hole about 25 cm deep inside the root of the lobe of the right ear of the giant Buddha, and the Buddha's ear is 7 meters long. It is not made of original rock, but made of wooden columns and decorated with hammer ash. A hole was also found at the lower end of the Buddha's nose, revealing three pieces of wood and a finished glyph. It shows that the protruding bridge of the nose is also lined with wood and decorated with hammer ash.

There is a closed hidden hole in the chest of the giant Buddha. Fengmen Stone is a chronicle of the reconstruction of Tianning Pavilion in Song Dynasty. The hole is filled with scrap iron, worn lead skin, bricks, etc. It is said that after the completion of the Buddha in the Tang Dynasty, a wooden pavilion was built to protect it from the sun and rain. From the many pillars and pile holes left on the edge, legs, arms, chest and instep of the giant Buddha, it can be clearly seen that there was once a giant Buddha pavilion. Rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, it was called "Tianning Pavilion" and was later destroyed. Defenders moved the monument to Shihai Cave for preservation, but it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Official name

"Leshan Giant Buddha" is the general name of this giant Buddha located in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. The real official name of this giant Buddha built in the Tang Dynasty has always been a mystery. In fact, according to many experts' research, the real official name of this stone statue called "Leshan Giant Buddha" should be: the stone statue of Maitreya Buddha in Lingyun Temple, Jiazhou.

1989, the scientific research project of "Pre-research on the governance of Leshan Giant Buddha" which lasted for more than two years was officially launched. In the meantime, when inspecting the Leshan Giant Buddha by various modern scientific and technological means, it was found that there was a huge cliff monument on the cliff on the right side of the Linjiang side of the Giant Buddha Cave, that is, the stone statue of Maitreya Buddha in Lingyun Temple in Jiazhou. According to the actual measurement, the monument is 6.6 meters high, which is 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 monument is of great historical significance: it not only directly determines the real official name of this stone carving statue, but also is the only reliable first-hand direct document to study Leshan Giant Buddha as a "world cultural heritage".

preservation of cultural relics

In the long years, Leshan Giant Buddha is still inevitably damaged by various kinds, including natural and man-made. It has been maintained in various dynasties. For hundreds of years since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the giant Buddha has been eroded by natural wind and rain, so that the Buddha's body is riddled with holes and unrecognizable.

Leshan Giant Buddha 1962

1962: The government allocated special funds for the comprehensive maintenance of Buddha statues.

1Feb. 982: It was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

1990: the head of the giant Buddha was completely restored with government funds. At the same time, some supporting facilities and service facilities were added.

199665438+February: Emei Mountain-Leshan Giant Buddha was approved by UNESCO as "World Cultural and Natural Heritage" and included in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List.

June 20 10: the protection of the giant Buddha was officially launched, and the experts of cultural relics protection began the preliminary investigation. In 20 10, the management committee made a systematic physical examination of the giant Buddha, determined and formulated a maintenance plan, and reported it to National Cultural Heritage Administration and UNESCO. After approval, the restoration work was officially implemented on 20 1 1.

20 1 1: the reconstruction project of the giant Buddha mainly includes five aspects: repairing the attachments on the top of the giant Buddha's head, growing grass on the top of the head, black flowers on the face and nose, water seepage in the chest, peeling skin on hands and feet, and strengthening the rock mass on the left side of the giant Buddha.

20 1 1: Giant Buddha, which consists of Leshan Giant Buddha and its surrounding scenic spots, was awarded the title of national 5A-level tourist scenic spot.

From October 8, 20 181to February 4, 20 19, the preliminary investigation work of rescue protection will be carried out for the cracked and damaged area of Leshan Giant Buddha. 6543810.8, the nine-bend plank road of the giant Buddha was closed before construction started.

From October 8, 20 18 10 to February 4, 20 19, preliminary investigation and survey will be carried out for the rescue protection of the cracked and damaged area in the chest and abdomen of Leshan Giant Buddha, and the body of the giant Buddha will be partially or completely covered. From 20 18, 10, after 66 days of intense construction, nearly 2000 6-meter-long steel pipes were used to build scaffolding, with a total weight of 45 tons. The total length of steel pipes adds up to 1 1700 meters, and the protective net around the scaffold uses about 2000 square meters. The body of Leshan Giant Buddha, including its head, has been completely covered.

Religious connotation

Leshan Giant Buddha is Maitreya Buddha. Worship Maitreya in Tang Dynasty. Buddhist scriptures say that Maitreya will be "peaceful in the world" when he is born. During the Wu and Zhou Dynasties, Wu Zetian ordered the fabrication of the Great Cloud Sutra to prove that she was the reincarnation of Maitreya. In the feudal era when men were superior to women, people's worship of Maitreya helped her ascend to the throne. Because of Wu Zetian's vigorous advocacy, the wind of sculpting Maitreya Buddha swept the country. The construction of Leshan Giant Buddha was only more than 20 years from the time of Wu Zetian, so when Haitong built Leshan Giant Buddha, he naturally chose Maitreya Buddha, which is a future Buddha that can bring light and happiness, which is consistent with the requirements of Zhenjiang Giant Buddha to quell floods.

Great changes have taken place in the Buddhist culture of Han Dynasty in China. The first stage is the introduction of Jiao Jiao Maitreya from India to China. The second stage is the ancient Buddha Maitreya with "China characteristics"; The third stage is Maitreya. Leshan Giant Buddha is an ancient Buddha Maitreya with "China characteristics". According to the description in the Maitreya Sutra, Maitreya has "thirty-two phases and eighty kinds of goodness", which requires his facial features, head, hands, feet and body to be different from ordinary people. The overall shape of Leshan Giant Buddha is extraordinary. The bun on the head, broad shoulders, tall and long eyebrows and round nostrils are all "broad shoulders and thin waist" of Indian Buddha statues built in accordance with Buddhist classics. There is nothing left on the giant Buddha, only strong shoulders and full breasts, which embodies the fashion of advocating fat beauty in Tang Dynasty. The posture of Leshan Giant Buddha is that his feet droop naturally, which is different from the "knotting" posture of Indian Buddha statues because the giant Buddha was built to save water. This steady and steady sitting posture can give boatmen the courage and determination to overcome rapids and dangerous beaches.

Maitreya Buddha Maitreya Buddha is based on the image of a monk named Qi Ben in China during the Five Dynasties. This is from Fenghua County, Zhejiang Province. He is charitable and can predict the weather and people's good and bad luck. He often begs around with a cloth bag. Before his death, he once said, "Maitreya Buddha is really Maitreya Buddha, incarnating tens of billions, which often shows the world and the world doesn't know." So everyone thinks that he is the incarnation of Maitreya, and Maitreya in the temple has also shaped his image-a cloth-bag monk with a big smile and a big belly.