Statues on Feilai Peak

After you enter the Lingyin tourist area，you will find a series of Buddhist statues on Feilai Peak.Feilai，or Peak Flying from Afar，is a limestone cliff with a height of a mere 209 meters，but there are 334 preserved statues visible from there.The earliest statue was carved in 951，but 222 of the statues are from the Song Dynasty，including the famous Maitreya Buddha with the large cloth bag on the cliff to the south bank of Lengquan Brook.The Maitreya Buddha was in fact a real historical figure called th e“Cloth Bag Monk” from the ninth century，who was known for collecting discarded food with a cloth bag.After his death people believed he was the reincarnation of the Maitreya Buddha，and to this day，among Han Chinese，the Maitreya Buddha is still in the image of the Cloth Bag Monk with a broad smile and an obese belly.

There are 96 statues from the Yuan Dynasty or in the Yuan Dynasty style.The Yuan Mongol royals converted to Tibetan Buddhism，so with these statues you can see a combination of the Tibetan and Han Buddhist sculpture styles.

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