Cliff Carvings at Cuiyun Peak

Cliff Carvings at Cuiyun Peak

The Cliff Carvings at Cuiyun Peak are a cultural relic protection unit of Nanjing City.

Cliff Carvings at Cuiyun Peak [Located beside Cuiyun Peak Road, Xishan Branch of Laoshan Forest Farm, Nanjing City    Ming Dynasty    Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit] According to local chronicles: “The ‘Fu’ (Blessing) Character Stone, inscribed by Emperor Shizong (note: Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty), is situated beside the road at the foot of Cuiyun Mountain.” Currently, at the side of Cuiyun Mountain Road, beneath Dufeng Temple in the Xishan Branch of Laoshan Forest Farm in Nanjing City, there is a cliff carving of the character “Fo” (Buddha). Thus, we can infer that cliff carvings existed at the foot of Cuiyun Mountain as early as the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing era. As for the county chronicles recording it as the “Fu” character, it may be a clerical error in the records, or it could be that later generations altered the Ming-era “Fu” character into a “Fo” character. This “Fo” character cliff carving is now one of the larger Buddhist cliff carvings in northern Nanjing and is also relatively well-preserved and managed. The Cuiyun Mountain area in the Western Hills region has had Buddhist activity sites since the Song Dynasty, such as Luohan Temple, which is located on the shaded side of Cuiyun Mountain; on the sunny side of the mountain, there is also the well-known Dufeng Temple. The presence of the “Fo” character cliff carving on Cuiyun Mountain not only bears witness to the flourishing temples of the Western Hills region in the past but is also an important scenic and Buddhist site in our district. It was designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit in 1983 and as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit in 2006.