Visiting the Leshan Giant Buddha

In the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, we took a rickshaw to the south gate of the scenic area. Upon entering the south gate, we saw the Sunshine Gate, and inside is the Ma Hao Cliff Tomb, a national key cultural relic protection unit. There is no entrance fee here, and it can be visited directly. It is an ancient tomb carved into the mountain, and its scale is quite impressive. Our main focus was to see the Leshan Giant Buddha. After passing through a snack street in the scenic area, we ate some food there, including Long Chaoshou, which we call wontons in our region. Then we entered the Buddha scenic area from the entrance of Lingyun Mountain. The Leshan Giant Buddha, also known as the Lingyun Giant Buddha, is officially named the 'Jiazhou Lingyun Temple Maitreya Stone Statue.' It is located on the east bank of the Minjiang River in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, beside Lingyun Temple, at the confluence of the Dadu River, Qingyi River, and Minjiang River. The Buddha is a seated Maitreya Buddha statue, with a total height of 71 meters, making it the largest cliff stone carving in China. The construction of the Leshan Giant Buddha began in the first year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (713 AD) and was completed in the nineteenth year of the Zhenyuan era (803 AD), taking about ninety years to complete. The head of the Leshan Giant Buddha is level with the mountain, with a height of 14.7 meters and a width of 10 meters. It has 1,051 hair buns, and its ears are 7 meters long. It is carved into the mountain and sits solemnly facing the river, exuding a majestic and imposing presence. On the cliffs along the river on both sides of the Buddha, there are also two guardian king statues, each over 16 meters tall. On the right side of the Buddha, there is a Nine-Bend Ancient Plank Road, a construction and pilgrimage path left from the Tang Dynasty when the Buddha was carved. It is carved along the cliff, with nine twists and turns, and is extremely steep. After the Buddha was completed, a seven-story pavilion was built to cover it (some say it was nine or thirteen stories), known at the time as the 'Giant Buddha Pavilion' or 'Giant Statue Pavilion.' However, the pavilion was repeatedly built and destroyed. The Leshan Giant Buddha is a testament to the wisdom of ancient Chinese laborers and a miracle in the history of world culture. On August 16, 1956, the Leshan Giant Buddha was announced as a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit by the Sichuan Provincial People's Committee. On February 23, 1982, the Leshan Giant Buddha was announced as the second batch of national key cultural relic protection units by the State Council of the People's Republic of China.