Sichuan Tours / Buddhism Study Tour
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Buddhism
Study Tour in Sichuan
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| Briefing
Sichuan has a time-honored history and culture. Over the long history, its religions have witnessed vicissitudes, among which Buddhism in Sichuan has undergone some ups-and-downs. However, there left over a large amount of sculptures, carvings, calligraphy, paintings and handicrafts that are well worth checking out. What are the most outstanding relics are Leshan Grand Buddha Statue, Dazu Stone Grottos, Rongxian Grand Buddha, Baoguang monastery and the last but not the least the Buddhist Holy Mountain -Emei. Moreover, some people tend to refer to Sichuan as the treasure house of Buddhist stone carvings, which are scattered in massive amount all over the province. Naturally, this has been another appeal for tourists who come to Sichuan. Hightlights & Features Stone Sculptures of Dazu Dazu lies about 160 kilometer west of Chongqing, has long been known as "the home of stone carvings". More than 50,000 pieces of sculptures are found in forty different locations scattered in the county. The sculptures of Dazu are excellent representative works of stone carving produced during the later period of spelaeological arts in China. As far as their history and artistic value are concerned, they are by no means inferior to the grottoes of Longmen, Yungang and other places. The carving of the sculptures of Dazu chiefly consisting of Buddhist images, are the art of a religions nature, but there are also separate areas of Confucian and Taoist images, and caves in which the founders of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are placed together. Besides, there are statues of a commemorative nature of historical personages. The most exquisite carvings in terms of content and craftsmanship are those in Beishan hill and Baoding Hill. The art of Dazu carving, which emerged in the late Tang dynasty (618AD-907AD) and flourished in Song Dynasty (960AD-1279AD) represents an important chapter in china's cultural and religions history. The Grand Buddha in Leshan Located in the south part of the Sichuan basin, Leshan is 165 kilometers far from Chengdu. The city is famous for its Grand Buddha which. is the sitting image of Metreya and qualifies as the largest Buddha in the world .The Grand Buddha is 71 meters high, carved into a cliff face overlooking the confluence of Dadu and Min rivers. The Ears of Grand Buddha are 7metres long, insteps 8.4 meters broad, and a picnic could be conducted on the nail of his big toe, which is 1.5metres long-the toe itself is 8.4 meters long. Inside the body, hide from view, is a water-drainage system to prevent weathering, although the stone statue has seen its fair share. This lunatic project was began in the year 713A.D, engineered by a Buddhist monk called Haitong who organized fund raising and hired workers; it was completed 90 years later. Below the Buddha was a hollow where boatmen used to vanish-Haitong hoped that the Buddha's presence would subdue the swift currents and protect them, and the Grand Buddha did so a lot of good, as the surplus rocks from the sculpting filled the river hollow. Mountain Emei In Chinese, "Emei" refers to beauty's eyebrow. It epitomizes these undulating mountains ranges figuratively in the history of 200 decades, the Daoists first honored the mountain. Afterwards, Buddhists claimed the mountain and renamed it as "Great Bright mountain". At early Song Dynasty, since Budhisttra Samantabdra chose here to perform the religions rites, Buddhist domination over Mountain Emei was consolidated. Mt. Emei is of course a place full of natural wonders like the sea of clouds, the Buddhist light and the sunrise,. But even if we put aside these for the time being, the mere sight of the luxuriant and numerous pines and cedars, the lofts and precipitous cliffs and crags is in itself a sumptuous feast for the eyes. |
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Proposed Itineraries
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