The various colored statues of Baoding Mountain in Dazu Rock Carvings

The Baoding Mountain statues are concentrated in two places, the Big and Small Buddha Bay, with the Big Buddha Bay being the largest. There are more than 30 grottoes in the Big Buddha Bay, mainly large-scale rock carvings, created by the famous Southern Song monk Zhao Fengzhi. The statues were basically built during the Chunxi to Chunyou period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1174-1252), lasting more than 70 years. The statues cover and mix the Esoteric Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Huayan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and Confucian filial piety thought in Buddhism, especially the Esoteric Buddhism theme is prominent, reflecting the active and prosperous religion in the southwestern region of the Southern Song Dynasty. The craftsmen broke the barrier between religion and the secular, making the statues more secular and life-like, not only helping to achieve the purpose of promoting Buddhism and educating believers, but also vividly showing the faith world and real life of local bureaucrats, gentry and ordinary people.