Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan

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Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan is located in west cliff of Lingyun Mountain in Leshan. It was built in the peak period of the Tang Dynasty. This statue of Maitreya is 58.7 meters high based on 71-meter-high mountain. It is the largest stone sitting statue in the world. It sits upright, with hands on knee, kind face and well-proportioned body. In order to avoid erosion from rain, top-bottom drainage system is placed in the statue body. Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan has magnificent charm and bold style. Chiseled on the basis of mountain, it can be said that “mountain is a Buddha, and Buddha is a mountain”. Against the backdrop of towering mountain and flowing river, Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan shocks every visitor.

Head of Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan is 11.7 meters high and 10 meters wide. The face is 7.8 meters wide. Square face shows kind and solemn facial expression.

Leg back of Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan is 10.92 meters long and 8.2 meters wide, which hundreds of visitors can stand on. Such a huge leg can really get rid of all evils!

Maitreya

Maitreya is also known as Future Buddha, which is a Bodhisattva. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the images of Maitreya always changed. After the Yuan Dynasty, there was the commonly-seen image of smiling Maitreya with exposed upper part of body.

Chiseling of Giant Stone Buddha of Leshan

West cliff of Lingyun Mountain in the east Leshan is the conflfl uence of Min River, Qingyi River and Dadu River. Due to torrential river water, wreckage accidents often happened here. In the 1st year of Kaiyuan Period of the Tang Dynasty (713), the famous monk Haitong decided to build Buddha statue to quell river and lessen accidents. This largescale project was unfinished even after Haitong passed away, which was completed with duration of 90 years. Lingyun Giant Stone Buddha is named after the place on Duanya Cliff of Qiluan Peak of Lingyun Mountain.