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Published: September 14th 2011
Three holidays are making their way through China's culture: The second most important holiday in the country, Mid-Autumn Festival and the consumption of the Moon-cakes with family and friends was celebrated on September 12th; Teachers' Appreciation Day was remembered on September 11th; and China's National Holiday will be on the calendar on October 1st.
I want to wish all of my friends, collegues, and students around China very happy and joyful holidays. Thank you for the many boxes of moon-cakes, which are still adding inches to my waistlines, and the wonderful flowers, that brought so much color and fragrance to my home on campus.
Over the past few weeks, I have been working hard on my TravelBlog, to catch-up with some of my recent travel-experiences around China. I do hope you find time to read them all (there have been 4 this past month):
#131, The entry about beautiful Qinghai Lake, China's largest lake and the Rape-flower fields.
#132, A visit to one of China's greatest Mosque in Xining, Qinghai and Friday prayer-service.
#133, The Ta'er Si Tibetan Buddhist Temple near Xining, Qinghai and one of the largest Buddhist Temples in China.
#134, A wonderful
birthday-cruise up the Yangtze River, China's longest river.
I am sure, you will appreciate the photos from these visits. I have spent hundreds of hours to develop the research, to bring you some better insight into the history, culture, customs, geography and life in China. I do hope, that my efforts will bring our people and nations just a little closer, and foster a greater appreciation in the development of China.
In this newest TravelBlog #135, and with 73 photos, I want to take you just beyond the city of Chongqing to the county of Dazu. Here I visited some of the most famous rock- and grotto-carvings in all of China.
Located to the Northwest of the large metropolis and mega-city of Chongqing, along the Yangtze River, Dazu County offers a long history, dating back beyond 2,000 years. The area developed into a center of politics, economy and culture, and the region was called Changzhou. Throughout its history, the Dazu area has witnessed a prosperous economy and political stability.
Thanks to its geographical conditions, Dazu is abundant in moderately hard and sandy rock along its slopes and hills. This creates ideal conditions for carving the stones.
There are several of these rocky hills around Dazu County, that are now protected, since 1999, as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Of these, Boading Hill (Boading Shan) boasts some of the most exquisite and amazing rock-carvings in all of China.
If anyone might visit this region of China, it is a place not to be missed. (Dazu County is about 100 miles west of Chongqing and about 150 miles east of Chengdu, Sichuan.)
All across Dazu county, there are over 75 sites of protected rock carvings with more than 50,000 wonderful statues and 100,000 ancient inscriptions.
The creation of the rock-carvings in China began around 650 A.D. and continued throughout the next 1,200 years and five Dynasties: Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.
Because of such a historic time-line, the Dazu Rock Carvings provide valuable and important images and words and information for the study of Chinese society, religion, philosophy, culture, arts, architecture and military history during the last two milleniums.
The Baoding Shan/Dazu Rock Carvings were created and continue to be a large worship-site of "Tantric" Buddhism (Buddhism developed from India), where Buddhist principles were specially designed, organized
and completed by Buddhist academics and scholars.
In the Dazu rock-carvings, Buddhist principles, the filial piety and morality of Confucianism, and the pastoral principles and activities of Daoism are expressed in wholeness and co-exist in harmony.
The Buddhist principles, the secular of thoughts and feelings, and the popularity of expressing styles are the major characteristics of these ancient and exquisite Dazu rock-carvings.
At the sites of the Dazu Rock Carvings, besides Buddhist statues, there are also Daoist statues and statues of Confucianism.
The display, by the great ancient artisans, is a great testament to the tolerance and coexistence of various religious thoughts and trends in earlier Chinese history, especially during the Song Dynasty.
The Dazu Rock Carvings are reputed for their large dimensions; fine sculpturing; some of the still visible and vibrant colors of gold, reds, blues, and greens; various subject matters; rich content; and their "complete" preservation.
Stone Grotto Art originated in ancient India and was introduced into China in the early 3rd Century. The Dazu Rock Carvings are the greatest example of the development from "grotto-carvings" to "rock-carvings".
In shaping the statues, the "stone-carvings" use exaggeration to show the actual state and
feeling of the character and different characteristics of the people. The "stone-carvings" emphasize the strong contrast between good and evil, and between beauty and ugliness.
The statues at Dazu show very strong artistic achievements, as well as roles for social morality preaching. The subjects are not confined to Buddhist classics, but also show the rules and regulations in the secular world for punishing evil and rewarding good. The statue-arrangement is a good combination of art, religion, culture, science and nature.
The Dazu Rock Carvings, with its strong "secular" content, ranks among the top of Chinese grotto-art and the art of stone-carving. The statues and rock-carving themes have achieved a close connection of secular life and aesthetic taste in their presentations.
The statues all exhibit quiet and graceful images in beautiful dresses and shapes. The statues of Sakyamuni, Buddha, disciples, guardians and other figures are all similar with actual people in life.
Especially the statues of Baoding Shan in Dazu, the area I visited, here the statues of ministers, officers, or even the common people of different occupations are most vivid.
And so, the Dazu Rock Carvings unfold as a history book, as they depict the
society and the real life from the late Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D) to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D)
"The Shengshou Temple", the most important building-structure within the rock-carving complex at Dazu, was built along and on top of the mountain with the help of Zhao Zhifeng. He was the abbot-monk most responsible for the development and completion of the Dazu Rock Carvings.
"The Shengshou Temple" was the center of worship and study of Indian Tantric Buddhism and the cultivation of monks and followers and the worship for pilgrims and the faithful to Dazu.
Next to, but below the "Shengshou Temple", the rock carvings were created into a U-shape valley. The rock face of the moutain is about 2,000 feet long and the rock-surface is between 25 - 80 feet high. A walk-way passes the caves, grottoes and the statues on the east, north and south side and should be walked counter-clockwise
Walking the comfortable viewing-path along the stone-carvings, one passes: The Huga God, the Six Rounds of Life on the Wheel of Transmigration, the Three Saints of the Huayan Sect, the Thousand-hand Goddess of Mercy (actually 1,007 hands), many Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist Stories, making a
turn at the sublime Nirvana of Sakyamuni (the resting Buddha), the Prince's Bath with Nine Dragons, the Peacock King, the Bilu Cave, and many more spectacular, colorful and well preserved rock-creations.
There is no repetition among the thousands of statues. The whole U-shaped, rock-carved-complex is a complete work. There is a system of morality preaching and their actual practices. The descriptions of the life stories are accompanied by ancient Buddhist scriptures, as well as proverbs and remarks, which come from other religions and philosophies.
The creation of the statues and carvings are a unique blending of basic Buddhist creeds and the thoughts and ideas of Chinese Confucianism and Daoism. They express the philosophy of life of the times. So, many of the carvings reflect the real life. An example is:
ex. 1, The birth of a child, the pregnancy, the wedding and the funeral.
ex. 2, The "Cattle Pasturing" Sculpture is 100 feet long with springs, woods and hovering clouds hovering over the "Ten Cattle and the Ten Shephards", depicting the pastoral life and the entire buffalo-taming process. The herdsman is compared to a disciple, and the taming process is compared to that of meditation. The
whole sculpture contains 10 different parts, each depicting vivid life in the countryside.
ex. 3, There is the "Flute-playing Girl", the "Chicken-raising Girl"
ex. 4, Some carvings showing "drunken" people.
ex. 5, The "Cat and the Mouse" is a light-hearted carving with a wonderfully naturalistic cat looking up at a mouse climbing a bamboo stalk.
Gifted artissans accurately reproduced the real human life.
The Baoding Shan/Dazu Rock Carvings are simply a masterpiece of grotto art, with many innovations and artistic principles. The ornaments, arrangements, water drainage, lighting, support and perception all pay attention to convey beauty:
ex. 1, The One-thousand-hand Goddess of Mercy has 1007 hands, all in different positions;
ex. 2, The Nirvana of Sakyamuni is 100 feet long, surrounded by beautiful, graceful and colorful figures;
ex. 3, In the "Fearful Hell", there are executioners and their victims, who are suffering terrible punishment and executions;
ex. 4, The Three Saints of the Huayan Sect stand against the rock with their dresses swaying in the wind;
ex. 5, The Prince's Bath with Nine Dragons makes good use of the ever-flowing, fresh-water spring.
The spectacular Dazu grottoes are more
secular and real to life than other grottoes around China -- that is to say, the carvings relate the abstract Buddhist doctrines through the lives of ordinary people. The realistic carvings include not only the statues of Buddha and bodhisattvas, but also monarchs, ministers, military officers, officials, monks, the rich and even the poor, and a wonderful variety of animals.
My time, visiting the Carvings of Dazu, was limited to a few hours, since the drive from Chongqing takes away much of the day. I would relish another and longer visit, and perhaps even spend the night in Dazu.
I will never forget the wonderful display of rock-carvings, so vivid and well preserved, in a most wonderful and natural setting.
Perhaps some day, you too will take the opportunity, and walk through ancient Chinese history along the grottoes of Baoding Shan in Dazu near Chongqing.
Sharing these 73 photos of the stone-carvings at Dazu with you as part of my continuing adventure in China is a pleasure. PLEASE, the content and appreciation of these photos becomes more vivid, if you enlarge them by clicking directly on the pictures.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
DAZU
Great to see a blog on Dazu...the best grotto carvings in SW China...protected from damage during the Cultural Revolution I recall...a very special place. Some of the other sites in the area are worth a visit as well.