What are the characteristics of Dazu stone carving?

Dazu County is located in the southeast of Sichuan Basin, 270 kilometers away from Chengdu. In the first year of Gan Tang (758 ~ 760), a county was established, and its name was "Dazu", which means "Dafeng Dazu". Dazu stone carving began in the first year of Tang Yonghui (650), flourished in the Song Dynasty, and continued into the Ming and Qing Dynasties after the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. At present, there are more than 50,000 cliff stone carvings in Dazu County, with an inscription of 65,438+10,000 characters, distributed in more than 100 locations. Dazu stone carvings are mainly Buddhist statues, including Confucianism and Taoism statues, which are different from the early grottoes.

Among the numerous stone carvings in Dazu County, the statues of Beishan, Baoding, Nanshan, Shimen and Shizhushan are listed as national key cultural relics protection units, which are undoubtedly the largest, most exquisite and most valuable representatives.

The stone carving in Beishan is 0.5km away from the north of Dazu County, digging the top of Beishan Yu, with a length of more than 500m. Shaped like a crescent moon, the grottoes are like beehives, divided into north and south areas. There are five places, Yingpanpo, Guanyinpo, Beita Temple and Foeryan. The statues are exquisite, exquisite and ingenious, and there are nearly 10,000 stone carvings. Except for some inscriptions, towers and shallow niches, the rest are well preserved.

The central part of Beishan Buddha Bay concentrates the essence of sculpture in the Northern Song Dynasty. Because of the prevalence of bodhisattva belief at that time, most of the best works in these statues were bodhisattva statues. Because Guanyin, the last bodhisattva under the seat of Amitabha, is very merciful, only the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in the No.1 136 grottoes in Beishan, if he wants to recite his name, it will turn difficulties into good luck, so he is greatly respected by people. Therefore, among the statues of Bodhisattva in Beishan, the Chinese female Guanyin Bodhisattva is particularly prominent, which is the result of more secularization of Buddhism under the influence of civic culture. The statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Tang Dynasty is graceful and elegant, like a lady. In the Song Dynasty, Guanyin Bodhisattva had the demeanor of an ordinary person.

These stone carvings on steep cliffs in Dazu area are famous for their high artistic quality and rich themes, and become representative works of grotto architecture.