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Illustration of locking the depletion of the six roots (六鎖耗圖), Niche 19, Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像)

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

Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像) is situated in Baoding Town (寶頂鎮), Dazu District (大足區), Chongqing (重慶). The site contains 32 rock carving niches dated to the Southern Song 南宋 Dynasty (1127–1279 CE). This tableau illustrates the depletion of the six roots (liugen 六根). According to this Buddhist concept, if we do not take reasonable control of our monkey-like mind, we will be distracted by our six roots (referring to the six senses). The central sitting figure depicts a practitioner holding a calm monkey in front of his belly. The light illuminated on top of his head contains a seated Maitreya Buddha. Six characters, “縛心猿鎖六耗” (fu xin yuan suo liu hao, “the heart-binding monkey lock of the depletion of the six roots”), are written above the Maitreya Buddha. The left side of the central figure depicts the characters and images related to good vices, while the right side is the contents associated with bad vices. Six animals (from left to right: a dog, a crow, a snake, a fox, a fish and a horse) lashed below the central figure represent the control of the six roots. At the bottom of this tableau are the poems and inscriptions related to the theme. Descriptions of the photos: Key to the niches [Image 01]. Overview of the niche [Image 02]. Surrounding environment [Image 03]. Introduction plaque of the niche [Image 04]. Upper part of the niche [Image 05]. Close-up of the central figure [Image 06 to Image 09]. Close-up of the inscriptions on the left side of the central figure [Image 10, Image 11]. Lower part of the niche [Image 12 to Image 15]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.

Chongqing (China); Dazu Qu (Chongqing, China); 29.75437; 105.794072

chi; eng

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0440545

Non UBC

Faculty

DSpace