Wednesday, January 14, 2015

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Dazu Rock Carvings: With 50,000 sculptures superb ancient carvings

By asad russel –

About Dazu Rock Carvings, Chongqing Municipality, China:
In Dazu Szechuan province, China carved in the stone cliffs the magnificent set of Buddhist sculptures are the Dazu Rock Carvings. In 1999 as the World Heritage Site they were designed. The Dazu Rock Carvings are so special is not for their scales, compared to those Dunhuang, Luoyang and Datong they cover small areas but their style, variety of subjects, state of preservation and their quality are amazing. Among the sculptures some are huge and some are small, many of them have moral and historical and religious stories, and are painted brightly.


At the Dazu Rock Carvings there are over 50,000 sculptures, over 100,000 Chinese characters of epigraph and inscriptions accompanied by. In the natural light can be viewed all the rock carvings and by walkways and paths are connected. There are two main sites, one is Bei Shan, located outside of the town Dazu and other one is Baoding Shan, to the northeast about 16 kilometers.


Bei Shan Carvings of Dazu Rock Carvings:
At the Dazu Rock Carvings the oldest carvings are the Bei Shan, in 892 AD which begun. By the military governor Wei Junjing they were started, against the Sichuanese insurgents while campaigning who was posted here. Somewhat formal and worn in execution the sculptures of here, with the more lively sculptures of Baoding Shan making an interesting comparison. In two groups they fill 264 numbered recesses and by an awning are protected.


Features several military pieces and is the oldest the first group which includes dressed in armor a life sized Wei Junjing. Beside the entrance in the first niche tucked away, by a defeated Shu warlord this was sculpted.


From the 12th century the second group dates and over 500 meters long overhang is spread. Kwanyin the Goddess of mercy accompanied by the donors who funded the project, nuns and monks mostly feature the sculptures here.


Baoding Shan Carvings of Dazu Rock Carvings:
At Baoding Shan the carvings are superb with variously exciting realistic and comic carvings. For the monk Zhao Zheifeng they are the life work, from 1179 to 1245 who designed the carving and raised the money. Here for the 10,000 sculptures of the unusually harmonious nature this accounts.


On Baoding Shan the most impressive group of carving is the Dafowan, into the inner side of a board with 31 niches incorporated, gully of horseshoe-shaped. With images of daily life from the Buddhist scriptures the sculptures depict incorporated. Given their exposure to the weather they all are in amazing condition. With 12 life sizes lohans with clouds a roof carved and surrounding the Buddhist trinity is a lion-guarded deep grotto the Cave of Full Enlightenment. Painted in blue, green and red with demonic guardian figures is decorated an overhang beyond, the wheel of predestination by Anicca holding this is followed.


Into the cliff face upon a 20 meters long Reclining Buddha inset visitors come around the site that is the midway, of important donors fronted by realistic portraits. Parental Kindness and Sakyamuni’s Filial Piety the following two panels, to illustrate Confucian morals interestingly use Buddhist theme. Next panel is the Eighteen Layers of Hell and the final panel is the Liu Benzun.

 

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