Banyue mountain Buddha

Banyue mountain Buddha

Banyue mountain Buddha, also known as Ziyang Buddha, gets its name because it is located in Banyue mountain, which looks like the moon in the lower part of the mountain. It is located in Banyue village, Dafo Township, Beiji Town, Yanjiang District, Ziyang City. It is the third largest sitting Buddha in the province and is said to rank 22nd in the world.

Brief introduction of Buddha

Beiji town is located at the junction of South Gate and Zizhong in Yanjiang District, more than 20 kilometers away from the city. Chengdu Chongqing highway and Chengdu Chongqing Expressway pass through towns, with convenient transportation.

Banyue mountain Buddha is a cliff statue, which is carved on the cliff. It is a sitting statue of Maitreya, belonging to the Pure Land Sect. Sitting in a rectangular niche, facing north and south, the Buddha is 22.24 meters tall and 11.2 meters wide. Its structure is vigorous, simple and grand. It is awed by the sight. The Buddha's face is plump, his ears are drooping, his expression is peaceful, his eyes are calm, and he looks down as if he is looking at the worshipers with concern, which makes people feel amiable and respectable.

Wall engraving

On the upper part of the left side of the niche, there is a wall inscription with nine characters of "August 15, the ninth year of Zhenyuan", and the rest of the characters are eroded. The central part is engraved with the preface to the monument of the Great Buddha meeting. On the cliff of Banyue mountain, there are also Moyan carvings from the Northern Song Dynasty to the second year of Daoism (A.D. 996). The old name of Banyue mountain is Fusheng mountain, and its characters are mostly denuded. In the Qiandao period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1165-1173), there was a poem carved by Moyan, which said: "the famous temple in the Tang Dynasty, Zichuan Avenue field, hanging rock with low emerald wormwood, disorderly rocks with bamboo, looking for relics in memory of the past, entering a foreign land with high altitude, enjoying the scenery in the west window, enjoying public housing with little rest."

The construction of banyueshan Buddha has gone through a long time. It was first built in the 17th year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign (643 A.D.) (it was first built in the 9th year of emperor Dezong's Zhengyuan reign, 793 A.D.), and it has been used for 150 years in succession. It is said that seven generations of people built a large Buddha statue on the cliff. In 1131 ad (the first year of Shaoxing of song Gaozong), Mei Xiu, a resident of southern Sichuan, led Zhou Yi, a master of stone carving, to carve the eyes for the Giant Buddha until it was completely completed. It took 484 years to build the Great Buddha.

In 1456 A.D., Yan Zigong, Luo Shu, etc. gathered with monk Haiming to build a temple and five couplets beside the Buddha. Under the cliff of the Great Buddha, Tianwang hall, Maitreya hall, Daxiong hall, Guansheng hall and Sanxing hall were built in accordance with the ancient rules of Buddhism, which took 16 years to complete and was named the Great Buddha Temple. The temple is majestic and exquisitely carved with the complete biography of journey to the West. At this point, the great Buddhist temple gradually flourished, very lively. It took more than 800 years from the excavation of the Great Buddha to the completion of the temple. They are not only the product of religion, but also the crystallization of the hard work, wisdom and sweat of generations. It has high cultural and artistic value.

destruction

The banyueshan Buddha has been weathered and denuded for more than a thousand years. Especially during the cultural revolution, it was used as the "four old" to break down, seriously damaged, and all the ancillary facilities of the Buddha were demolished and destroyed. Later, a large amount of stone was mined in Houshan, which made the Buddha scarred. The Dafo temple was used as a school and township government, and was demolished in 1971 and 1972 to build a school and township government. The last one was destroyed in 1977.

Buddha light

At about 9:30 a.m. on April 15, 2018, a halo appeared over Banyue village. The semi arc halo was gorgeous, forming a strong contrast with the blue sky after the rain, presenting the spectacle of "Buddha light". The halo appears just above the banyueshan Buddha, forming a spectacle under the "coincidence". The magical scene lasted for more than two hours. With the sun moving, it gradually disappeared into the air.

Renovation protection

protect

In 1981, Banyue mountain Buddha was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit of the province. In the winter of 1990, provincial and county funds and social donations raised more than 300000 yuan for the preliminary maintenance of the Buddha. However, the ancillary facilities and temples of the Great Buddha have disappeared, and the cultural relics in the temple have been lost, including the valuable carving of journey to the West. At the foot of the Buddha, it is now a mess of houses. Only the two Huangjue trees in front of the Mountain Gate of the original temple are still green and luxuriant after hundreds of years of wind and rain. They echo with the Giant Buddha on the isolated cliff and become the witness of the vicissitudes of the world.

development

Banyueshan Giant Buddha ecological park is characterized by giant Buddha and citrus. Banyueshan Buddha, which was carved in the 9th year of Zhenguan of Tang Dynasty, is 24.2 meters high, 9 meters wide shoulder, 11.2 meters wide chest and 2.5 meters long ear. It is the third largest Buddha in Sichuan. The statue of the Great Buddha on the precipice near the mountain is exquisitely carved, vivid and vivid, which is the most perfect of all stone carved buddhas. It is an important place for religious activities in history. Pilgrims from Chengdu, Chongqing and other places often come here for Buddhist activities. Banyueshan Buddha mountain area of 20 mu, rich in citrus, 25 villages around the Buddha, citrus area of more than 10000 mu, sales throughout the country, every year there are many businessmen. Every time the orange blossoms, there is an endless stream of people who come to worship Buddha, appreciate flowers and go on a hike; every time the orange matures, the Yellow oranges all over the mountains attract countless tourists to taste and watch, and businessmen from all over the world gather at the Buddha, which brings infinite business opportunities to the local people.

Banyueshan Buddha is going to have plastic surgery

On June 22, relevant researchers from Dazu stone carving Research Institute, together with weathered sandstone reinforcement materials, painted cleaning materials, painted reinforcement materials and microbial treatment materials, came to Banyue mountain Buddha in Banyue village, Beiji Town, Yanjiang district for the third time to carry out a two-day experimental work on the weathered parts of the Buddha, providing data support for the preparation of the rescue protection project plan of the Buddha, Relevant rescue protection plan will be worked out. This is a specific measure for the rescue maintenance and protection of Banyue mountain Buddha in Yanjiang district.

According to the person in charge of the cultural relics management office of Yanjiang District, banyueshan Giant Buddha was first built in the ninth year of Zhenyuan of Tang Dynasty and has a history of more than 1200 years. It is the only provincial cultural relics protection unit in Yanjiang district and one of the three largest Buddhas in the whole province. It has high historical and artistic value. However, due to the special geographical location of the Buddha, after thousands of years of rain erosion and the impact of the "5.12" earthquake, the Buddha is now seriously weathered, and the rock cracks are increasing year by year, so there are some security risks. In this regard, Yanjiang District attaches great importance to it and decides to carry out rescue maintenance and protection for Banyue mountain Buddha. At present, the preliminary geological survey has been completed, and experiments are being carried out to provide the basis for the formulation of rescue protection scheme.

At 15 o'clock on the same day, the reporter saw at the scene that the staff were working in the hot sun and sweating, carefully shuttling between the parts of the Buddha, carefully doing each experiment, or reinforcing the weathered parts of the Buddha, or using cotton swabs to roll clean the dirt on the painted surface, or carrying out stone patching and painting reinforcement "On the basis of detailed understanding and investigation of the diseases existing in the preservation status of the Giant Buddha, this time we mainly carried out experiments on the weathering parts of the Giant Buddha, such as cleaning, reinforcement and patching, so as to select the materials and technologies suitable for the protection and restoration of the Giant Buddha, and provide some data support for the formulation of the body repair plan of the Giant Buddha." Chen Huili, deputy researcher of Dazu stone carving Research Institute and deputy director of Dazu stone relics protection center, who is responsible for the experiment, told the reporter that before the end of September this year, the Research Institute will work out a rescue protection project plan for the Giant Buddha based on the experimental results. During this period, it will timely observe the experimental results and carry out targeted supplementary experiments.

The origin of Banyue mountain Buddha

Folklore

（1） The origin of Banyue mountain Buddha: in the first year of Tang Zhenguan, there lived two masters and disciples in Fusheng mountain. The master is clever and the apprentice is very strong. The master and the apprentice agreed to compete to cultivate Bodhisattvas to see who can cultivate more and better.

Master carefully and conscientiously carves and repairs. The cock crows. Master's more than 1000 little Buddhas have been completed. He went to see his apprentice triumphantly. As soon as he got around the ridge of the field, he saw a light shaking in the distance. He was surprised, so he took his belt and went quietly. At first glance, it turned out that the apprentice was catching loach with the lantern. He roared: "forget about the competition. How many Buddhas have you carved? "The apprentice wiped the mud on his hands and said," I have carved a big Buddha, but I haven't got my feet yet "The master was so angry that he killed his apprentice in a hurry.

As the day gradually dawned, the angry master came to the temple to meditate. He saw the golden light shining in the temple. He rubbed his eyes and made sure that the golden light came from outside the temple. He went out. Ah, a golden Buddha about seven feet high stood on the mountain wall. There is a night pearl on the top of the head and a square table on the chest. But there are no feet. Because we have reached the foot of the mountain, there is no place to carve feet. In spite of this, the Thousand Buddhas carved by myself are not as good as one of the great Buddhas of the apprentice. I regret it later.

Later, people built the feet of the Buddha with random stones. Later, the original name of Jingwu temple was forgotten and replaced by the Great Buddha Temple.

（2） Legend of the Great Buddha: in the third year of Xianping in the Song Dynasty, a man named Ziyu failed in eight imperial examinations. On his way to Beijing for the fourth time, he heard that there was a temple Jingwu courtyard near Chengdu mansion. There was a great Buddha in the courtyard. The Buddha "blessed Chengcheng", so he changed his way to kneel down. On the night after worshiping the Buddha, Ziyu dreamed of the Buddha. The Buddha instructed him to pick 36 oranges from the orange field under the Buddha's feet and eat one every day on his way. The next spring, Ziyu arrived.

（3） Zhou Xiangye and Beiji ditch: in the Ming Dynasty, the Beiji ditch was under the control of the Zhou family. Zhou Xiangye was in charge of jiaomenzui (Yanfeng mountain), honghuachong (now Zizhong Qiuxi field), Dahekou on the left and Dafosi on the right