Grotto
Art in Dazu County
 Dazu
county, located in the southeast of
the Sichuan province, is 271 kilometers
away from Chengdu and 163 kilometers
away from Chongqing. "Dazu"
here means "harvest and abundance
(Dafeng, Dazu)".
The work of Dazu Rock Carvings
began in the first year of Yonghui in Tang
dynasty (650A.D.), and continued until Ming
and Qing dynasties. Now, it enjoys equal
popularity with Yungang and Longmen Grottoes.
The general term of "Dazu Rock Carvings"
refers to all the cliffside carvings in
Dazu county, which includes the carvings
in Beishan (including Beita), Baodingshan,
Nanshan, Shizhuanshan and Shimenshan. Baoding
Grotto, 15 kilometers northeast of the county
seat, is the largest and best preserved
one and is a key cultural relic site under
state protection.
There are more than 50,000 Buddhist
Taoist and Confucian rock carvings and 100,000
characters of inscriptions dotted around
Dazu. The carvings not only include the
statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva, but also
include that of monarchs, ministers, military
officers, high and low-ranking officials,
jailers, executioners, monks, rich and poor
people, and folk art performers. The earliest
grotto was caved in the early Tang dynasty,
and most of them have a history over 1000
years.
 Many
of the carvings in Baoding Grotto
reflect religious doctrines, and another
set of carvings reflects Confucianism,
specifically filial piety. What the
caving offers to visitors is not only
the wonderful enjoy of the magnificent
art but a Buddhist teaching like this:
One can free himself from earthly
worries by self-cultivation and does
not need to go beyond his own inner
world to find the truth of Buddhism.
There are also many other carvings
at the site that tell Buddhist doctrines
through the lives of ordinary people.
With rich images as well as
inscriptions, the Dazu Grottoes is regarded
as an art treasure house which fully reflected
the society, philosophy, religion and folklore
of that time. In 1999, Dazu Stone Carvings
was listed as a world cultural heritage
site by UNESCO. And one point have to be
pointed that the Dazu Grottoes are the only
ones that were implemented according to
an overall design among over 100 grottoes
in China.
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