Nanyan Temple Sceneic Area

Buddha Mountain (Nanyan Temple), also known as Nanyan Buddha Cave or Nanyan Buddha Cave, is located in the Guifeng Second Attraction Area (Nanyan Attraction) of Yiyang National Key Scenic Area. It is surrounded by red rocks on three sides. The temple is built on the rocks, with roofs instead of tiles and fences instead of eaves. The cave under the rock is 70 meters wide, 30 meters high and 30 meters deep, and can accommodate more than a thousand people.

Nanyan Temple dates back to the Jin Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty Taihe Period (827-835), the monk Shen Yao rebuilt it and began to carve stone niches on the stone wall. During the Song Dynasty Jiading Period (1208-1224), the county resident Wang Yuanchang built the palace gate, halls, bell towers, bridges and pavilions, and continued to carve stone into various Buddha statues. During the Yuan Dynasty Zhizheng Period (1341-1368), the monk Si Zheng rebuilt it again. During the Ming Dynasty Chongzhen Period (1628-1644), it was rebuilt. During the Ming Dynasty, the county resident Fan Youtao Complimentary a plaque with the words "Natural Heaven and Earth". In the fifth year of the Qing Dynasty Kangxi Period (1666), the monk Yuanxiu expanded the building. The scale of the time is as described by Liu Linsun, the magistrate of Yi County in the Qing Dynasty, in "Traveling in Nanyan": "The broken stones on the wall are like a painting, hanging in the air, which makes people feel awe and fear." In the eighth year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign (1828), the monk Kongfan rebuilt the main hall and side rooms. It was rebuilt again during the Republic of China period. It has always been a popular temple and is a thousand-year-old famous temple in the south of the Yangtze River.

There are more than 40 existing stone niches and more than 10 cliff carvings in the Nanyan Temple Cave, which are arranged in a semicircle along the rock. Inside the niches are carvings of Buddha such as Sakyamuni, Wenzhu, Samantabhadra, Guanyin and the Eighteen Arhats, reflecting the superb stone carving skills of the ancient working people of my country.