Driven by the slogan of Xinchang 'A Mount Tiantai, Half of the Complete Tang Poems', I visited the Dafo Temple

Welcomed by the promotional slogan of Xinchang 'A Mount Tiantai, Half of the Complete Tang Poems', Xinchang is an important node on the road of Tang poetry. Taking advantage of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, I drove for 1.5 hours from Ningbo to Xinchang. The first stop was Dafo Temple. A heart inclined towards Buddhism. Dafo Temple is built against the mountain, and the scenic area is very large, resembling a fully functional park because it is located in the bustling downtown of Xinchang County. There are ancient saw-cut rocks, the modern She Diao Village, and various other attractions, each with its own appeal. We went straight to Dafo Temple. I have to complain a bit here. The ticket price of 80 yuan is a bit expensive. Perhaps there are not a few visitors like me who are only interested in Dafo Temple, and the lack of separate ticketing for major and minor attractions might be a point of criticism for many. On that day, the sun was shining high, but it was not hot in the scenic area. The forests on both sides were not towering, but they provided shade from the sun. The huge 'Buddha' character carved on Mount Shicheng was somewhat shocking, hidden in the greenery, the long yellow walls on both sides, and the 'Blessing' character at the end of the bluestone road. Isn't this the blessing that everyone aspires to? Therefore, this place has also become a classic hotspot for photos in the temple. If it were deep autumn, the fallen ginkgo leaves would be the icing on the cake. The huge Maitreya Buddha stone statue sits facing forward in the center of the main hall. This large stone statue, carved into the cliff, took about 30 years to complete and is a representative work of early stone cave sculptures in the south of the Yangtze River. The statue of the Great Buddha is 2 meters tall, with a body height of 13.74 meters, a head height of 4.8 meters, ears 2.8 meters long, and a nose 1.48 meters long. It is known as 'the largest Buddha in the south of the Yangtze River' and is also called the Mogao Grottoes of the south. The stonemasons of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in China were really impressive. The entire temple is quiet and serene, with ancient trees reaching the sky, thousand-foot cliffs, and green vines wrapping around the rocks. If you have time, you can sit for a day and space out. At noon, you can have a vegetarian meal. When I came out, I didn't go to see the reclining Buddha because of knee pain. While resting below, I looked up the status of Xinchang Dafo Temple in the Buddhist Tiantai sect. Xinchang Dafo Temple and Taizhou Guoqing Temple are both important temples of the Buddhist Tiantai sect. Master Zhizhe, one of the ten famous monks in Chinese history, from the period of Emperor Wu of Liang, is the fourth patriarch and the actual founder of the Chinese Buddhist Tiantai sect, also known as Master Zhizhe, Master Tiantai, and Shakyamuni of the East. His memorial pagoda is built on the hillside between 'Shicheng Ancient Temple' and the Life Release Pond. Because Japanese Buddhism originated from the Chinese Tiantai sect of the Tang Dynasty, Xinchang Dafo Temple has also become a frequent place of visit and worship for Japanese tourists. The next stop is Yanbei Village.