Sichuan Travelogue: The Oriental Buddha Capital of Mountain

Number of days: 21 days
Time: May
Average cost: 4000 yuan
With whom: husband and wife
Tour kinds: photography, humanities, free travel
The author went to these places: Leshan Giant Buddha Oriental Buddha Capital Leshan Cliff carvings
Updated: 2021-07-19 11:35

At half past 10 a.m. on May 19, 2021, we came to the south gate of the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, the gatehouse is very small, obviously not the main passage of the scenic spot. A little inside the south gate, there is the entrance to the scenic spot of the Oriental Buddha Capital, it turns out that it is connected to the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, which can be interconnected, but it needs to be charged separately, the ticket is 80 yuan, the ticket is free for those over 65 years old, and the discount ticket for those over 60 years old is 50 yuan. I didn't plan to see this man-made attraction, not to mention the price, because it is a discounted ticket, you might as well take a look. After walking and looking around, I realized that the Oriental Buddha Capital is indeed worth seeing, and if you miss it, you will regret it.

Oriental Buddha Capital, a national 4A-level tourist attraction. Together with the Leshan Giant Buddha, it is located in the nine peaks of Lingyun in Leshan City, within the scope of the world's "double heritage". The Oriental Buddha Capital is only a mile away from the Leshan Giant Buddha, which is an extension of the Buddhist culture of the Leshan Giant Buddha tourist attraction, and the four peaks of the Lingyun Nine Peaks under the jurisdiction of the Oriental Buddha Capital Scenic Area, the Nine Peaks of Lingyun, the Tang Dynasty "Peaks Have Temples" "Elephant Pavilion Record", which was later destroyed in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The Oriental Buddha Capital follows the remains of the ancients, with the purpose of restoring the style of the Tang Dynasty, and gathers the fine products of stone carved Buddha statues in the world.

The stone carvings of the Oriental Buddha Capital are sculpted by the old professors of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, and the Chinese sculpture master Liu Kaiqu is the consultant. The Oriental Buddha Capital, with more than 10,000 large and small Buddha statues, including the world's largest sleeping Buddha at 170 meters, mainly cliff stone carvings. Taking advantage of the mountains, the forest hides a thousand Buddhas, and the hundred caves in the cave, which not only shows the charm of Buddhist culture for thousands of years, but also leaves the footprints of modern people inheriting the stone carving and sculpture art of the ancients. The Oriental Buddhist capital is covered with forests, wild fun, and has the simplicity of primitive nature. The Oriental Buddha Capital, which reproduces the Lingyun Nine Peaks in the Tang Dynasty, is an extension of today's Leshan Great Buddha Buddha culture. The beauty of the East, the thousand autumns of stone carvings open the painting realm; The wonders of the Buddha Capital, ten thousand Bodhisattvas welcome guests. It not only shows the charm of Buddhist culture for thousands of years, but also leaves the footprints of modern people inheriting the stone carving and sculpture art of the ancients.

The

main work of the Oriental Buddha Capital is cliff statues, which are a kind of statue sculpture technique that is directly carved into Buddha on the original cliff. This kind of cliff statue technique is very difficult, and once a mistake occurs, the entire Buddha statue is destroyed, and even the entire cliff cannot be carved again. With the joint efforts of professors and stonemasons of the Sculpture Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, dozens of cliff statues have been successful everywhere, making this kind of cliff statue that was prosperous in the Tang and Song dynasties and almost lost for 200 years in the Ming and Qing dynasties shine again in the Oriental Buddha Capital. The Buddhist art project embodies the spirit of craftsmanship and creative thinking, combines the laws of Eastern statues with the modeling experience of the West, and at the same time integrates traditional elements (Buddhist scripture stories, character costumes) and modern elements (background and specific plot design, picture composition rules, and the undulating characteristics of relief art), with Buddhist scripture stories as the core and various factors of different eras and cultures as the constituent elements, realizing the inheritance and innovation of ancient Buddhist statue art.

The focus of Buddhist art in the Eastern Buddhist capital is on the underground palaces. The cave is filled with smoke and magnificent, like entering a fairyland. The underground palace is an important attraction in the Oriental Buddhist capital and is the work of many famous sculptors. In the huge and subtle creation of the Buddhist art project in the cave, the sculptor combined the ancient Chinese carving and copying he had learned with the Western knowledge of human structure and anatomy, and carried out integration and new exploration with Buddhist stories and cultural ideas as the core, creating a huge and large number of religious statues that were systematic and rich in connotation. Such a project is no less than Michelangelo's reproduction and creation of Christian culture in the Renaissance. If sculpture and plastic art are to reproduce the solidified history, what the Oriental Buddha Capital has created is the great project of solidifying culture into historical and spiritual wealth, and opening up a rich picture of future social development.

I think the above introduction is enough to whet your eager appetite, and I will guide you step by step through the tour process. If you enter the scenic spot from the south gate of the Leshan Giant Buddha, you should go to the Lantern Buddha, the Golden Hall, and then arrive at the underground palace, also known as the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave, which is the core attraction of the Oriental Buddha Capital. The Ten Thousand Buddha Cave fills the gap in the Leshan Giant Buddha Shao Grottoes, including Bodhisattvas, Arhats and Buddha statues from all over the world. It can be called the fifth largest grotto group in China.

From the golden hall down to the underground palace, it is easy to find the entrance, we are asking a tour guide to find out that it is in the cave of the highest giant Buddha, there is a passage behind the giant Buddha, you can enter the underground palace, the whole is a huge palace carved out of the mountain, the top of the underground palace and the stone wall, a series of exquisite sculptures, stone carvings, bring together the famous Chinese and foreign Buddhist buildings and classic stories in one furnace, solidified here with wonderful brushstrokes, let it be like the Leshan Giant Buddha, forever in the world, with too classic art, It is not an exaggeration to describe the artistic masterpiece of the Oriental Buddhist capital as a precious cultural relic.

Coming out of the underground palace, it has come to the bottom of the mountain, where you can see the 170-meter Oriental Reclining Buddha, taking advantage of the mountain, using the extension of the natural mountain, the head is south and the north, and the natural mountain vegetation is retained in the middle, forming a situation where the sky is the house, the earth is the bed, and the green vegetation is used as clothes.

Continuing down is a main road at the gate of the scenic spot, and there is a high step up to the straight path, and above is the Lantern Buddha that we have already walked through. This place is called Big Buddha Bay, which is based on the mountain and is a major feature of the ancient Buddha. Surrounded by peaks on three sides of Fowan, looking up from the front, the three-story hall descends vertically, like a dragon chair. The Buddha statues on both sides from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Song Dynasty are records of the history of Chinese Buddhist culture.

Lianxin Mountain is one of the most popular attractions in Big Buddha Bay, with a total of 173 stone steps, and climbing up the ladder is the Lantern Buddha.

On the steel pillars and iron chains, there are densely shining chains that symbolize auspiciousness, such as heart-to-heart locks, longevity locks, and wealth locks, all of which are hung with the sustenance of coming here to pray for Buddha's name.

At 1:10 p.m., we walked out of the gate of the scenic spot and took bus No. 3 across the road to the Big Buddha Museum for the last stop.