Leshan Giant Buddha Construction History

In ancient Tang Dynasty (8th century AD), the water at the joint of the three rivers was very fierce and boats were often capsized here. Thus, to slow down the water flow, Monk Haitong recruited craftsmen to build the Giant Buddha. It was first carved from AD 713, and when carving the shoulder of the Buddha, Haitong passed away. After the death of Haitong, the project was suspended for a long time. Few years later, the apprentice of Haitong continued to build the Giant Buddha with the donation of local government officer Zhangchou Jianqiong. The project was suspended again when the knees were just completed. Forty years later, the project was continued again, and after the efforts of three generations, the Giant Buddha was finally completed in AD 803. So, this huge project totally took about 90 years to complete.

The Giant Buddha was carved from the Lingyun Mountain, with its head reaching to the mountain top and its feet standing next to the river. The total height is 71 meters; while the head is 14.7 meters high and 10 meters wide, ear is 7 meters long, nose is 5.6 meters long, mouth and eyes are 3.3 meters long, 28 meters tall between knees and insteps. Its insteps can hold over a hundred people. There are 1021 spiral coils on the Buddha head, and they were all stones inlayed onto rocky head. Two over 16-meter tall Virudhakas stand by side on cliff to protect the Giant Buddha.

Design Features – why the Giant Buddha has been preserved so good

The Giant Buddha is sitting in the open air, and the weather of Leshan is humid. You must be curious why the Giant Buddha has been preseved so well under such natural conditions. The secret is its ingenious design. There is a delicate and invisible drainage system which played an important role in protecting the Giant Buddha from corrosion. Among the 18 layers spiral coils on the Buddha head, the 4th layer, 9th layer and 18th layer have one cross drainage; the drainage from the left side in front of the chest is connecting to the back drainage of the right arm; there are cave one the back side (the side near the mountain) connecting the two ears. These caves and drainages have composed the scientific drainage, moisture proof and ventilation system. Besides, the local government will renovate the Giant Buddha statue irregularly to restore the broken parts, clean the Buddha, change materials, and eminilate safety risks.

Lingyun Temple is located at top of Lingyun Mountain, very close the head of Giant Buddha (after walk through Lingyun Temple, traveler will start hiking downstairs to closely watch Leshan Giant Buddha), and thus it’s also called Giant Buddha Temple (Dafo Temple). Built from early Tang Dynasty (618 ~ 907), Lingyun Temple has a history over 1400 years and it’s built before the construction of the Giant Buddha. However, the present Lingyun Temple is not the original temple for it had been rebuilt in Qing Dynasty (1644 ~ 1912) after most of the temple was destructed in late Ming Dynasty (1368 ~ 1644) in a war. The whole temple is composed of Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall and Depository of Buddhist Sutras, which form a quadrangle courtyard. Travelers will climb over 10 minutes from the North Gate to get to Lingyun Temple. Enjoy serenity and Buddhist culture in this beautiful ancient temple before lining up for hiking.

Nine Bends Plank Road 九曲栈道

On the right cliff of the Giant Buddha, there is a crooked plank road built along with the Giant Buddha. From the top to foot, the plank road has nine turns, thus it’s called Nine Bends Plank Road (Jiuqu Plank Road, 九曲栈道). The widest park of the road is 1.45 m and the narrowest part is only 0.6 m, only allows one person poass through at a time, and there are 278 stone steps in total. The road starts from the Buddha head, and tourists can reach to the Buddha feet along the path. Note that during weekend and public holidays, crowds of visitors makes the hiking long and slow, possilly lasts 2 hours to 4 hours. And pay attention to the narrow and steep stairs down to the Buddha toenail.

Wuyou Temple 乌尤寺

Wuyou Temple is located on Wuyou Mountain and was built in Tang Dyansty. After getting down to the Buddha feet through Nine Bends Plank Road, keep walking to the left of the Giant Buddha along the 500-meter long Lingyun Plank Road (凌云栈道) and travelers can reach to Wuyou Temple in the west. The temple has seven halls, which are surrounded by bamboo and wintersweet. Comparing with the crowded Lingyun Temple, Wuyou Temple is more tranquil and quiet. Less visitors come here and the air quality is very good. It’s a great place to relax and wash your lungs with the fresh air. No extra entrance ticket is needed.

A few years ago, tourists had discovered that Wuyou Mountain, Lingyun Moutain and Guicheng Mountain behind the Giant Buddha had composed a shape of sleeping Buddha on the water, thus this was called the Giant Sleeping Buddha. No one knows it's a nature wonder or a human creation. The head of the Giant Sleep Buddha is Wuyou Mountain, while the stone, bamboo forest and temple on the mountain have composed the five senses organs on the head. The body of the Sleeping Buddha is the Lingyun Mountain, and Guicheng Mountain is the foot. The whole Sleeping Buddha is over 1300 meters from south to north, with its head in the south direction. The best way to observe the Giant Sleeping Buddha is taking a sightseeing boat and viewing from afar, with a little imagination. Leshan Dock/Port is the best viewing place.

Oriental Buddha Capital 东方佛都

Open to public in 1994, Oriental Buddha Capital is only 1km from Leshan Giant Buddha. Covering an area of over 20,000 m2, Oriental Buddha Capital is a stone carving theme park, which combines religious art, sculpture art and garden art together. The park has modeled over 3000 Buddha statues with different materials, including rock, bronze, clay and jade. The whole park represents the art style of Chinese Buddhism and Southeast Asia Buddhism. The park has a 170-meter-long sleeping Buddha statue, which is the largest and longest sleeping Buddha statue in the world. (Notice: Oriental Buddha Park requires an entrance ticket, ¥80/person.)