Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple

Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple

Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural heritage site.

Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple, located in the southwest of Xinchang County, Zhejiang Province, lies in a valley between Nanming Mountain and Shicheng Mountain. The temple houses a giant stone statue of the Maitreya Buddha, while outside the temple there are scenic spots such as Hidden Crane Cave, Saw-Cut Rock, Zhaoying Pavilion, Handsome Rock, Stone Chess Table, Liberation Pond, and several cliff inscriptions. The temple was first built during the Yonghe era of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (345–350) and has a history of over 1,600 years, making it one of China’s key Buddhist temples.

The Giant Buddha Temple is built against a mountain, with a five-story facade. Inside, it is grand and majestic, featuring a huge stone statue of the Maitreya Buddha seated in the center of the main hall. This massive statue was carved directly from a cliff face and took about 30 years to complete, making it a representative work of early stone cave sculpture in southern China. The Buddha is tall and imposing, exuding a powerful presence. Measurements show that the base of the statue is 2.4 meters high, the seated figure itself is 13.2 meters tall and 15.9 meters wide, with knees spread 10.6 meters apart and ears 2.7 meters long. The Buddha’s hands rest palm-up on its knees, and the space between them can accommodate over ten people. About 300 meters northwest of the Giant Buddha Temple is a smaller temple called “Thousand Buddha Monastery,” which houses a thousand small Buddha statues, each approximately 7 inches tall and 5 inches wide, neatly arranged and full of spirit—fully reflecting the boundless wisdom and exceptional artistic skill of ancient Chinese craftsmen. Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple

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Historical Development

The Giant Buddha Temple is situated on Shicheng Mountain in Xinchang, known for its “thousands of towering cliffs, rugged rocks, and surroundings resembling a fortress.” The temple has a long history and holds a prestigious position in the Buddhist community, once serving as one of the centers for Buddhist study and dissemination in China. Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple was established in the early Yonghe years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and has a history of over 1,600 years. According to the Biographies of Eminent Monks, in 345 AD, the eminent monk Tan Guang traveled to Shicheng Mountain, inspired by the legendary beauty of eastern Zhejiang’s mountains and waters, especially influenced by the reclusion of eminent monks Zhu Daoshu and Zhi Dun in the region. Drawn by its fame, he arrived at Shicheng Mountain. Tan Guang lived in a cave and hastily built the “Hidden岳Temple,” marking the beginning of Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple.

Detailed Introduction

Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple is located in the Ming Mountains southwest of Xinchang City, Zhejiang Province. With its beautiful mountains, clear waters, rugged rocks, ancient trees, cascading waterfalls, winding streams, and deep caves, it is a serene and picturesque tourist destination. The scenic area covers a total of 25.5 square kilometers and consists of three parts: the Giant Buddha Temple Scenic Area, the Ten-Li Qianxi Scenic Area, and the Nanyan Temple Scenic Area. Xinchang Giant Buddha Scenic Area

The Giant Buddha Temple Scenic Area is located 0.5 kilometers southwest of the county town. Founded in the early Yonghe years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (345 AD), it features 165 attractions, including 45 cultural sites and 120 natural landscapes, and is one of the 142 key open temples in Han Chinese regions of China. Surrounded by mountains and dotted with unique rock formations, pavilions, towers, ancient trees, and bamboo groves, the Giant Buddha Temple is also known as the “Ancient Temple of Stone City.” The 30-year cliff-carved stone Maitreya Buddha inside the temple was praised by the Southern Dynasties literary figure Liu Xie as a “priceless treasure, matchless endeavor, and extraordinary masterpiece,” and later generations called it the “Greatest Buddha of Southern China.” Along the way, visitors will find Saw-Cut Rock, the Thousand Buddha Caves hailed as the “Dunhuang of the South,” the Liberation Pond, Hidden Yue Cave, the Pagoda of Tan Guang from the Jin Dynasty, the Pagoda of Master Zhiyi from the Sui Dynasty (built in honor of the founder of the Tiantai Sect), Zhu Zi Pavilion (where Zhu Xi wrote and lectured), Zhu Mei (a plum tree), Silicified Fossils (also known as petrified wood, dating back 150 million years), the Mysterious Stone Valley, and cliff inscriptions. At the entrance of the Giant Buddha Temple, based on the temple itself, the magnificent Chinese Giant Buddha City has opened, highlighting Buddhist cultural elements and adding another splendid attraction.

The most famous relic in the Giant Buddha Temple is the stone-carved Maitreya Buddha. According to the Xinchang County Annals, the Buddha was carved during the Qi and Liang periods of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (around 486–516 AD) and took over 30 years to complete. According to measurements from 1984, the Buddha’s pedestal is 1.91 meters high, the body is 13.74 meters tall, the head is 4.87 meters high, the ears are 2.7 meters long...

The distance between the knees is 10.16 meters. This statue is the Greatest Buddha of Southern China and can rival the great Buddhas in the Yungang Grottoes of Datong and the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang. It remains one of the few remaining large stone-carved Buddhas in the country.

The stone Maitreya statue is not only renowned for its massive scale and extraordinary presence but also unique in Buddhist sculptural art. The statue sits cross-legged with a delicate and elegant face, graceful and serene, dignified and compassionate. Its forehead is broad, the nose bridge is high, the eyebrows and eyes are long and slender, the cheeks are square and the lips thin, the ears hang down to the shoulders, and the head is adorned with a spiral hair knot. Clothed in a kasaya with an exposed chest, the draping is naturally flowing and wrinkled. The figure is graceful, with balanced proportions, giving a sense of transcendence and solemnity.

Two artistic techniques were applied in its creation: first, the head was moderately enlarged to adjust perspective, so when viewers look up at the Buddha, they don’t perceive any disproportion but instead see harmonious proportions and an approachable, lifelike face. The second clever feature is the carving of cavities to represent the Buddha’s eyes, giving the impression no matter the angle of view that one is locking eyes with the Buddha. Xinchang Giant Buddha Temple

— The founding monk of the Giant Buddha Temple was the eminent Eastern Jin monk Tan Guang. A native of Kunshan, Jiangsu, Tan Guang became a monk in his youth, studied under renowned masters, delved into Buddhist teachings, and grew to become an influential monk. In the early Yonghe years (345–356 AD) of the Eastern Jin, Tan Guang traveled across the region and stayed at the foot of Shicheng Mountain. Captivated by the ancient trees, towering cliffs, and lush vines in this tranquil environment, he cleared the thorny brush and practiced in a mountain cave.

During the Yongming era of the Southern Qi Dynasty (483–493 AD), Monk Hu came to the Hidden岳Temple on Shicheng Mountain and became its abbot. Observing a thousand-foot-high blue cliff north of the temple, where he “heard the sounds of musical instruments or saw strange lights,” he resolved to carve a Buddha statue into the cliff. However, the rock was very hard, progress was slow, and by the Jianwu era of the Qi Dynasty (494–498 AD), when Monk Hu passed away, only the rough outline of the head had been completed. His disciples, including Monk Shu, continued the project but had to halt due to “lack of resources.”

In the 12th year of the Tianjian era of the Liang Dynasty (513 AD), the eminent monk Sengyou of the Qi and Liang period, invited by Prince Jian’an Xiao Wei, came specifically to Hidden岳Temple to oversee the carving of the stone Buddha. Sengyou (445–518 AD) was a master of monastic discipline during the Qi and Liang eras, as well as an outstanding Buddhist historian, scholar, and sculptor of ancient times.

Upon arriving at Hidden岳Temple, Sengyou found the initial efforts of Monk Hu and Monk Shu to be “too shallow,” so he gathered artisans again, “made major changes, and deepened the previous effort by five zhang (approx. 16 meters).” He “scaled the cliffs, built scaffolding, like the flying chariots of the mythical Jian’ge or hanging pavilions of immortals,” and spent four years meticulously carving the exquisite stone Maitreya Buddha statue. Liu Xie, the renowned literary critic of the Liang Dynasty, specially composed a 2,200-character inscription titled “Inscription on the Stone Buddha of Shicheng Mountain Commissioned by Prince Jian’an of Liang,” praising the stone Maitreya as a “priceless treasure, matchless endeavor.” This “monumental spectacle and extraordinary masterpiece” was jointly created by Monks Hu, Shu, and Sengyou, with Sengyou being the principal designer and completer of the main project. On the third-floor pavilion of the Great Buddha Hall in the Giant Buddha Temple, a plaque reading “Three Lives of Sacred Traces” commemorates the relentless efforts of these three masters in carving the Buddha.

According to the Jiatai Kuaiji Annals, in 845 AD, the third floor of the Rui Xiang Pavilion was built on Shicheng. In 907 AD, the first year of the Kaiping era of the Later Liang, the Shicheng Temple was destroyed by fire. In 909 AD, the King of Wuyue, Qian Liu, spent 80 million coins to build a three-story Maitreya Treasure Pavilion and over 300 halls, renaming the temple “Rui Xiang Temple.” In 1008 AD, the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Baixiang Temple. In 1411 AD, the ninth year of the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the Pilu Pavilion was rebuilt with three stories and five levels, standing 13.5 zhang (approx. 45 meters) tall, and the temple was renamed Pilu Pavilion. Later, it suffered war damage, and all halls were destroyed except for the ten-zhang (approx. 33-meter) golden Maitreya statue. In the late Qing Dynasty, a five-story pavilion was rebuilt, and the Great Buddha and Arhat statues were restored. In 1925, a stele was erected at the temple entrance inscribed with “Giant Buddha Temple.” Since then, the temple has been called Giant Buddha Temple, a name still used today.

Major halls of the Giant Buddha Temple include the Heavenly King Hall, Western Paradise Hall, Great Hero Hall, Great Buddha Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, Scripture Depository, and Hidden Crane Tower, as well as structures like the Thousand Buddha Monastery and Zhiyi Pagoda. Other attractions include inscriptions by Zhu Xi, Hidden Yue Cave, Boundless Bridge, Liberation Pond, Turtle Fossil, Echo Wall, calligraphy by Mi Xiao inscribed with “Facing the Wall,” ancient ginkgo trees, Saw-Cut Rock, Immortal Guest Rock, Seven Rain Heads, Moon Gorge, and more. Nearby attractions also include Nanyan Temple, Ren Gongzi Fishing Platform, Hua Yun Cave, Bat Nunnery, Ten-Li Qianxi, Stone Screen Valley, One-Line Waterfall, Heavenly Candle and Ten Thousand Pines, and Seven-Plate Scenic Area.

The Thousand Buddha Monastery, also known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, is a natural karst cave. Inside is a statue of Guanyin of the Sea Island, and the cave walls feature over 1,040 small Buddha statues carved in 485 AD during the third year of the Yongming era of the Southern Qi Dynasty. These tiny Buddha statues, only a few inches tall, are exquisitely crafted and lifelike. Like the Great Buddha, they are treasures of early southern Chinese cave art and important physical artifacts for studying the sculpture art of the Qi and Liang periods.

The Zhiyi Pagoda is the relic stupa of Zhiyi, the founding patriarch of Guoqing Temple on Tiantai Mountain. In 597 AD, during the Sui Dynasty, Master Zhiyi was summoned to the capital and gave lectures at Xinchang Shicheng Temple (now the Giant Buddha Temple) before passing away. The “Zhiyi Master Pagoda” was built in his honor. The current pagoda was reconstructed in 1983.

Zhu Zi Pavilion was built by the Song Dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi, who wrote and lectured here. Next to the pavilion is a cliff inscription reading “Tianzhu Yiran” (The Heavenly Pillar Stands Firm). Zhu Xi himself inscribed a couplet: “The sun and moon, two wheels, are the eyes of heaven and earth; poetry and books, through the ages, are the hearts of sages.”

The Giant Buddha Temple is listed as a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit. After 1983, it was designated by the State Council as a National Key Buddhist Temple in Han Chinese Regions. Every day, a continuous stream of visitors and worshippers come to tour, pay respects, and admire the grand Buddha and the beautiful surrounding scenery.

Address: No. 117, West Renmin Road, Guan Town, Xinchang County, Shaoxing City

Type: Historic Temple

Rating: AAAA

Recommended Visit Duration: 0.5 day

Phone: 0575-86230306

Opening Hours:

6:30-17:00

Transportation

Public Transport

Bus: Take bus No. 8 from Xinchang Tourist Passenger Transport Center directly to Dafo Temple Scenic Area

Taxi: The county town is 0.5 km from Dafo Temple. The taxi fare within the city is 5 yuan

Ticket

100 yuan/person (Children under 1.2 meters in height are exempt from tickets; seniors over 70 years old are exempt with valid ID; active-duty military personnel, people with disabilities, and others with valid credentials enter free of charge; children between 1.2–1.5 meters purchase child tickets; seniors over 60 must present a valid senior citizen card or ID to purchase half-price tickets)

Address: No. 117, Renmin West Road, Xinchang County