Yangshan Stone Buddha Temple

Yangshan Stone Buddha Temple

Yangshan Stone Buddha Temple is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a cultural heritage site.

Situated in Qixian Town, northern suburbs of Shaoxing County, 12 kilometers from the city center, the temple is accessible via roads connected to National Highway 104, the National Highway 329 bypass, and the Hangzhou–Ningbo Expressway interchange. The eastern part of the scenic area is the Stone Buddha Scenic Zone, while the western part is the Stone City Scenic Zone, covering a total area of 88.5 hectares. According to the *History of Wuyue* and temple inscriptions, during the Kaihuang era of the Sui Dynasty (581–600 AD), Yang Su, Duke of Yue, mobilized laborers to quarry stones from Yangshan to build the outer city wall (Luocheng) of Yuezhou (present-day Shaoxing) in order to suppress uprisings by local powerful clans. This left behind numerous rugged cliffs and isolated peaks. During the Tang Dynasty, monks selected a peak and carved into the stone to construct the Stone Buddha Chan Temple, which took 30 years to complete, becoming one of the most famous stone Buddha sites in Shaoxing. After a thousand years of vicissitudes, its original appearance remains largely intact. What presents itself to visitors is an over 800,000-square-meter “grand bonsai” that embodies a Buddhist sacred site within a tourist destination — “Buddha within the stone, stone within the water, and water within the mountain.”

The Stone Buddha Temple features three halls in sequence: the front hall is the Heavenly King Hall, the second hall is the Mahavira Hall, and ascending the stone steps leads to the third hall, where the City God Hall and the Great Buddha Hall (also known as the Vulture Peak Hall) are situated side by side within a 28.5-meter-high stone peak. The exterior of this rocky peak is bizarrely shaped, yet its interior has been hollowed out to form chambers, with the stone Buddha seated inside. The temple is built ingeniously in harmony with the rock, exuding exquisite craftsmanship and capturing the spiritual essence of water and stone. The carved stone Buddha stands approximately two zhang tall (about 6.6 meters), with a round forehead, full cheeks, a serene expression, and vivid aura. Its hands rest gently on its knees, and its eyes gaze straight ahead. In front of the stone Buddha, a window-like cavity has been carved into the cliff, allowing the bodhisattva to “overlook” the distance. Legend has it that the stone Buddha took seven generations to complete. On the day the statue was finished, a vulture suddenly soared above the peak, which locals took as an auspicious omen. A Lingjiu (Vulture) Chan Monastery was then built against the rock, and thus the “Vulture Peak” got its name. Later, the Lingjiu Chan Monastery was bestowed the name “Stone Buddha Temple.” In front of the great Buddha inside Vulture Peak, a doorway was carved through the rock, and the protruding rock outside the doorway is enclosed by stone railings, forming a 6-square-meter “viewing platform.” From this platform, visitors can gaze into the distance at the surrounding landscapes of mountains, rivers, fertile fields, and farmlands; looking down from the railing, the deep pool beneath inspires awe and trepidation.

During the Tang Dynasty, Qian Liu, the King of Wuyue, following imperial orders, led the Hangzhou Eight Districts troops to camp at Yangshan to suppress the rebellion of Dong Zhuo. Later, he built dikes to control the river and manage flooding. To honor Qian Liu’s merits, the locals built a hall next to the Vulture Peak and enshrined his statue, worshiping him as the “City God Bodhisattva.” The nearby stone peak was thus named “City God Peak.” The cliff face of the peak is covered with densely packed cliff inscriptions. These range from Han Shizhong, a famous anti-Jin general of the Southern Song Dynasty, to Zhou Wenyu, a renowned scholar and calligrapher from Shaoxing, as well as commemorative inscriptions by Cai Yuanpei, a leading Chinese academic, who visited friends and drank wine before leaving for his post in the capital. The characters and stories they tell are overwhelming to behold, offering both appreciation of calligraphy and insights into history — a true treasure trove and arguably the finest collection of cliff inscriptions in the Shaoxing region. Descending the steps from City God Peak, one encounters numerous modern and contemporary cliff inscriptions, reflecting mixed evaluations of the figures and events they depict. To the sides of the front hall are the Ancestral Hall on the left and the “Scenic Spot Hall” on the right. Inside the hall, stone inscriptions of poems personally written by Sun Fo, former Premier of the Republic of China, remain intact on the stone pillars. In front of the main gate of the Stone Buddha Temple lies a plaza paved with large Yangshan stone slabs, covering over 1,000 square meters. In front of the plaza lies the vast river characteristic of the water town, while to the left of the temple is the unfathomably deep “Fangsheng Pond” (Release Life Pond). The 20,000-plus-square-meter Yangshan Lake ripples with blue waves, encircling the Stone Buddha Chan Temple. To the south of the lake stretches over 15 meters of meandering cliffs and numerous rock peaks resembling saddles, lions, and steelyards. Boating through these formations is a refreshing and delightful experience.

The western part, Yangshan Stone City, features hundreds of stone peaks, thousands of pools, and myriad cliffs and gullies. Among them, Thumb Peak, Sea Lion Peak, Frog Peak, Camel Peak, Duckbill Peak, Turtle Peak, and others showcase unique sights such as “Cliff Shadow Over Solitary Peak,” “Morning Light Piercing Through the Valley,” and “Evening Glow Reflecting on Cliff Walls.” Visitors arriving in the morning and leaving at dusk can all enjoy these spectacular views.

The Yangshan Stone Statues are a key cultural relic protection unit of Shaoxing City. The Yangshan Stone Buddha Scenic Area is one of the five major tourist attractions in Shaoxing County. The thousand-year-old Yangshan Stone Buddha is one of the Four Great Stone Buddhas of Zhejiang. The *Chinese Scenic Spots Dictionary* includes a dedicated entry on the Stone Buddha Temple. In 1996, China Central Television traced the origins of the Stone Buddha Chan Temple for a documentary series titled *One Hundred Famous Temples and Monks Across China*. Scenes for the TV drama *Teenagers-* were also filmed here.

The Yangshan Stone Buddha Scenic Area, after years of gradual development and renovation, now integrates natural landscapes, cultural attractions, and religious culture. With its verdant mountains, clear waters, majestic halls, picturesque scenery, and an elegant, classic charm, it surpasses even the poetic imagery left by ancient visitors who carved into the cliffs of City God Peak: “The stone temple is embraced by stone mountains, the Buddha hall is skillfully built as if by divine craft, the serene serenity within surpasses paradise, and the breathtaking view from the pond stuns all who gaze upon it.”