Baoding Shan Grand Impressions: Unique Rock Carvings

#voyagevibes Fifteen kilometers northeast of the center of Dazu, the Baodingshan rock paintings were built by the famous monk Zhao Zhifeng from the Song Dynasty more than 70 years ago. As one of the most famous Tantric Buddhist shrines in China, there is an old saying that goes like this: “Go north, climb Mount Emei; Go south, reach Mount Baoding.” The central element of the rock paintings of Baodingshan is the U-shaped bay of Grant Buddha, also known as Dafowan (in Chinese, “大佛湾”). Almost ten thousand statues are carved along the eastern, northern and southern cliffs, which are approximately 500 meters long and 8-25 meters high. Like a scroll with endless photographs, the contents of the Baodingshan rock paintings are mostly stories from Buddhist scriptures, each niche of which is related to the other, but not identical. The Buddha statues in Baodingshan are new in design, skillful in carving and rich in secular characters. Religious treasures appear one after another, including a representative work - the Niche of Shakyamuni entering Nirvana, one of the wonders of Buddhist art in the world - Avalokiteshvara with a thousand hands, a striking image of the Buddhist wheel of life, scientific developments of the Three saints of the Huayan school of Buddhism and the Cave of Complete Enlightenment demonstrated the ingenuity of the masters. In addition, niche content and their approach to expression tend to visualize reality. For example, the Sutra "Niche of Parental Love" contains ten groups of drawings, including scenes such as begging for a son, carrying a child, childbirth, etc., depicting parental love in the upbringing of children, the plots of which are connected with each other, as in a picture book. These drawings are vivid and impressive. They appeared after Buddhism was localized in China. Let's take another example: The place of the buffalo ritual is 570 cm high and 2910 cm long. A group of drawings comparing a buffalo to a human heart, and a shepherd to a person practicing Buddhism, explains the gradual process of moderation and subordination of the mental activity of Buddhists.