Open Collections

Vairocana (毘盧遮那佛) and Dongyue Dadi (東嶽大帝), Niche 1, Mingshan si (茗山寺)

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

Niche 1 is located in Mingshan Temple (茗山寺), situated in Dingxin Town (頂新鄉), Anyue County (安岳縣), Ziyang City (資陽巿), Sichuan. The site contains twelve rock carving niches, mostly dating from the late Northern Song Dynasty 北宋 (960–1127) to the early Southern Song Dynasty 南宋 (1127–1279). The niche contains two giant seated statues, Vairocana (Piluzhenafo 毘盧遮那佛) on the right and Dongyue Dadi (東嶽大帝, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak) on the left. Vairocana is making the Bodhyangi Mudrā (zhiquanyin 智拳印) and is seated with crossed legs on a lotus throne. The left side of the lotus throne depicts a small demon holding the throne behind its back. Vairocana wears a double-collar drooping cassock and a three-layered floral crown with a small seated Buddha motif in the middle. The style of Vairocana suggests that this statue is probably dated to the Song Dynasty. Dongyue Dadi, dressed in the attire of a Daoist priest, is in a European sitting posture. His hands, covered by the extended sleeves, are placed in front of his chest. According to the inscriptions on the right side of the middle wall, the statue of Dongyue Dadi was established in 1842 CE (道光二十二年). The pigments of these two statues were probably painted in the Qing Dynasty 清 (1644-1911). Source: Xu Yanyan 徐胭胭, Wang Lei 王磊, Li Yunyan 李耘燕, and Tan Haoyuan 譚浩源. "Sichuan Anyue xian Mingshansi shiku diaocha jianbao 四川安岳縣茗山寺石窟調查簡報 [A Brief Investigation Report of the Rock Carvings in Mingshan Temple, Anyue, Sichuan]." Sichuan wenwu 四川文物, no. 03 (2015): 23-31. Descriptions of the photos: Overview of the niche [Image 01, Image 02]. Close-up of Dongyue Dadi [Image 03]. Close-up of Vairocana [Image 04]. Stone plaque dated to 1842 CE [Image 05, Image 06]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.

Anyue (China); Sichuan (China); 30.06192; 105.56822

chi

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0438583

Non UBC

Faculty

DSpace