山西省太原市土堂净因寺-800年土雕大佛｜800-Year-Old Buddha Statue Carved from a Loess Mount in Jingyin Temple, Taiyuan

Описание: Jingyin Temple, also known as Tutang Buddha Temple, is located in Tutang Village, 20 km northwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, North China. It had been built during the Northern Qi dynasty, rebuilt in A.D. 1205 during the Jin dynasty and then partially restored during the Ming dynasty. In addition, it had once been home to Fu Shan, an outstanding Taoist scholar and calligrapher, who lived in seclusion here for several times during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 2006, Jingyin Temple was declared a Key Cultural Relics Site under the State Protection. The Buddha Pavilion is the most important building in Jingyin Temple. The pavilion, which built on a cliff, is an east-facing two-story building with multiple eave hiped-roof. There are three painted sculptures in the hall of the Buddha Pavilion, where the Three Western Saints are worshiped: Amitabha, Avolokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta.
The sculpture of Amitabha sitting on a raised platform, is one of the tallest Buddha sculptures in China that carved from earth mound and painted with natural pigments. Since it locates in Tutang Village, the sculpture is also known as “Tutang Buddha”. According to the earliest evidence of the origin of Tutang Buddha found in the inscriptions on the stone tablets, there was a hill piled with loess which suddenly collapsed into a cave. Inside the cave, a 33.3 m mound which was likely a Buddha was found. It was then sculpted into the Tutang Buddha, which is a bare-chested 9.46-m-tall Buddha wearing a robe and sitting on a 6-m-wide lotus seat with his hands in his lap. The sculpture was decorated with gold foils while the belt was painted with exquisite blue pattern. Its intricate patterns at the edge of the dress were drawn by the traditional Lifen technique.