Open Collections

Ten-thousand Buddhas Hall Grottoes（萬佛堂石窟 ）

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

The “Ten-thousand Buddhas Hall” (Wanfo tang 萬佛堂) Grottoes are located in the western foothills of Yiwulü Mountain, on the northwestern outskirts of Yi County. The grottoes began to be chiseled between the Taihe (477–499) and Jingming (500–504) reign eras of the Northern Wei (386–534), more than 1500 years ago. The grottoes are arrayed from east to west along the northern bank of Daling River in the southern foothills of Fu Mountain. The total length is approximately 85 meters, divided into two areas: east and west. There are more than ten caves with over 500 large and small statues, two Northern Wei cave inscriptions, a reconstructed Qing dynasty stele inscription, and several stele titles. The small, upper level caves on the western side are all weathered. The lower level contains six caves. The first cave from east to west is most exquisite. Four characters, “Foguang puzhao 佛光普照” (Universal Illumination of Buddha-light), are inscribed above the entrance. Within the cave, the right, left, and rear walls, as well as the four sides of the central pillar, all have images of seated Buddhas. There are flanking attendants between the Buddhas on the right, left, and rear walls, with four flying celestials above each Buddha. There is a group of images above each side of the central pillar. The statues in the four corners of the cave are seriously damaged, and there are three other Qing dynasty steles. The second, third, and fourth caves are relatively small, and the damage is more severe. There are two flying celestials on the ceiling of the second cave. The third cave is seriously weathered. The main body of the fourth cave consists of a cross-legged bodhisattva and a Thousand Buddhas stūpa. Additionally, there are images of Vimalakīrti and an attendant on the front wall. The front walls of the fifth and sixth caves have severely collapsed. The fifth cave preserves an over 1,500 year-old stele carved with images and texts, created by Yuanjing, a censor from Yingzhou, in the 23rd year of Taihe (499). On the ceiling of the cave, there are reliefs of lotus flowers and flying celestials. The main body of the sixth cave consists of a damaged cross-legged Maitreya image, about three meters high. Preservation conditions in the eastern section are comparatively poor. Inside the largest cave, there is a Thousand-arm Guanyin image. On both the right and left sides of the cave, there are newly established images from popular religions and Buddhism.

Yi Xian (China); Liaoning Sheng (China); 41.57277778; 121.1552778

eng; chi

2022-12-22

Attribution 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83496

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/