Dazu carving
cctv.com 09-01-2003 14:20
Chongqing is surrounded by lush hills and fertile fields. The landscape contains a wealth of rock art collectively called the Dazu carving. That's something you really shouldn't' miss. Two hours' drive north of the downtown area along the express highway and you will arrive at the celebrated national site. The United Nations thinks so highly of these works of art that they're listed among the World's Cultural Heritage. Among the 50,000 rock carvings scattered around the mountains, one of the best preserved sections is Baodingshang.
In Baodingshan, nearly 10,000 statues line a 500-meter stretch of rock face, of which the most distinctive and majestic are the "Thousand-arm Goddess of Mercy". The Chinese often say the Goddess of Mercy has 1,000 eyes and hands. If you have the patience, you can actually count one thousand hands on this Goddess of Mercy.
Carved between 1,500 years to 800 years ago, the Dazu sculptures were designed to educate the public about Buddhism. The mystical Buddhist teachings were interpreted in a way that could be understood by the average, illiterate people of the time, mostly farmers. For example, the taming of a buffalo was used as a metaphor to illustrate the taming of the mind, or meditation, the central idea of Buddhism.
It's interesting to watch how the profound concepts were conveyed but Buddhist doctrine is just one thing you can learn here. You can also reflect on the craftsmanship of the stone carving. For hundreds of years, this statue has been standing here holding a stone pagoda. The pagoda is estimated to weigh half a ton and its weight is ingeniously transferred to the stone sleeves. All the carvings are sheltered by the roof-like rock eaves. It's a way to protect the sculpture from the region's prevalent rainfall and also illustrates that the designers were thinking about how to preserve the carvings from the very beginning.
The most amazing thing is that the whole cave, including all the sculptures inside the cave were carved from a single rock.
The designers make use of the natural layout. On top of the hill there is a pool and the water is drained from the dragon's mouth to give the new born Buddha a bath.
The carving of this amazing work stopped abruptly when the Mongol armies swept through the region. But it leaves us some chance to take a look at how the sculpture was first designed and brought to life. After all these years, we don't consider it incomplete, but simply perfect just as it is.
Editor:Han Ling Source:CCTV.com
