The Open-Air Maitreya Buddha of Xuedou Mountain

The Open-Air Maitreya Buddha of Xuedou Mountain

The Xuedou Mountain Maitreya Buddha is located on the mountainside at an altitude of 369 meters on the back of Xuedou Mountain in Xikou Town, Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province. The statue faces south and is seated, made of bronze. Its left hand holds a cloth sack while its right hand grasps Buddhist beads. With kind eyes and a warm smile, the Buddha reveals its bare chest and belly. This is a Chinese-style Maitreya Buddha based on the basic form of the Fenghua Monk with the Cloth Sack. The grand Buddha sits high above, integrated with the entire rocky cliff, solid and firm as a rock, majestic and magnificent, with an extraordinary aura and solemn, exquisitely crafted features that are strikingly lifelike. The construction of the open-air Maitreya Buddha is a bold move in the tourism development history of Fenghua City and also a significant cultural event that carries forward the past and ushers in the future. It will play a positive role in promoting the development of Fenghua’s tourism industry, enhancing the city's cultural value, and accelerating the pace of building Fenghua into a renowned tourist destination.

The scenic area covers a planned area of 52 hectares and consists of three axes—central, eastern, and western—and six functional zones. The central axis is the main Buddha scenic area, the eastern axis is the secondary Buddha scenic area, and the western axis is the original site of Xuedou Temple. The six zones combine dynamic and static functions: the Core Buddha Area, the Worship & Prayer Area, the Maitreya Sculpture Group Area, the Cultural Relics Exhibition Area, the Leisure & Wellness Area, and the Tourism & Shopping Area. The total height of the open-air Maitreya Buddha statue is 56.74 meters (including a 33-meter bronze body, a 9-meter lotus base, and a 14.74-meter foundation), and the entire statue is made of over 500 tons of tin bronze, supported internally by more than 1,000 tons of steel framework. It is integrated with the entire rocky cliff, stable and solid, majestic and grand with an extraordinary presence. It is the tallest seated bronze Maitreya Buddha statue in the world.

The construction of the open-air Maitreya Buddha is a bold move in the tourism development history of Fenghua City and also a significant cultural event that carries forward the past and ushers in the future. After the completion of the open-air Maitreya Buddha, various scenic spots across Fenghua—including the Maitreya Zen Halls, Yuelin Zen Temple, the Open-Air Maitreya Buddha of Xuedou Mountain, and the ruins of Zhongta Temple—will be linked to form a complete Maitreya cultural tourism route. This will play a positive role in promoting the development of Fenghua’s tourism industry, enhancing the city's cultural value, and accelerating the pace of building Fenghua into a renowned tourist destination.

The historical and cultural relics showcasing the incarnation of Maitreya, the Monk with the Cloth Sack, demonstrate the spirit and philosophy of the Cloth Bag Maitreya culture: inclusiveness, joy, compassion, and freedom. This will further enhance Fenghua’s visibility and influence both in China and abroad, promote the Maitreya cultural tourism brand, drive the sustainable development of the tourism industry, accelerate the construction of a world-renowned tourist city, and promote the sound and rapid socioeconomic development of Fenghua.

Historical records state that the Monk with the Cloth Sack, named Qici, also known as himself Changtingzi, was a monk from Fenghua during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. He was corpulent with a wrinkled forehead and a large belly, never staying in one place for long, speaking or remaining silent unpredictably, and was said to foretell people’s fortunes and predict weather changes. Because he often carried a cloth sack on a stick, people called him the Monk with the Cloth Sack. On the third day of the third lunar month in the third year of the Zhenming era of the Later Liang Dynasty (917), the Monk with the Cloth Sack sat cross-legged on a large rock on the eastern corridor of Yuelin Temple in Fenghua and recited a gatha: “I am the true Maitreya, appearing in countless forms. I reveal myself to people of this time, yet they fail to recognize me.” After reciting the gatha, he peacefully passed away while seated, and his body was buried in the Fogota Pavilion on Fengshan Mountain north of the city. After his death, people believed he was the reincarnation of Maitreya and revered him as the Laughing Maitreya Buddha. In the third year of the Chongning era of the Northern Song Dynasty, the abbot of Yuelin Temple, Tan Zhen, was the first to enshrine a statue of the Monk with the Cloth Sack as the Maitreya Buddha in the temple. Since then, temples throughout Han Chinese regions replaced the Indian Crowned Maitreya image with the Chinese-style Cloth Bag Maitreya. For over a thousand years, Fenghua has been regarded as a sacred site where Maitreya manifested.

Fenghua is the legendary birthplace, where the Monk with the Cloth Sack—believed to be the incarnation of Maitreya—grew up, became a monk, and passed away. The Open-Air Maitreya Buddha of Xuedou Mountain is modeled after the appearance of the Monk with the Cloth Sack. In 1984, Zhao Puchu, then President of the Buddhist Association of China, suggested that Xuedou Mountain be listed as one of China’s five major Buddhist mountains. In 1999, the Fenghua Municipal Government initiated the approval process to build the Open-Air Maitreya Buddha on Xuedou Mountain. In September 2005, the State Administration for Religious Affairs officially approved the construction. On December 29, 2006, the foundation stone for the Open-Air Maitreya Buddha of Xuedou Mountain was laid, and it was named the “Maitreya of the Human Realm.” The statue was grandly consecrated on November 8, 2008.

Ticket Information

Ticket Validity: One day for single scenic spot tickets, two days for combined tickets

Xikou Scenic Area Combined Ticket: 230 RMB/person (Xikou Scenic Area Combined Ticket + Xuedou Mountain Scenic Transport Ticket)

Xikou Scenic Area Combined Ticket: 200 RMB/person

Attractions Included: Jiang Family Hometown Scenic Area: Fenghao House, Yutai Salt Shop, Jiang Family Ancestral Hall, Little Western-Style House, Wenchang Pavilion, Wuling City Gate, Wuling School, Secluded Wuling, Xikou Museum, Jiang’s Mother’s Mausoleum (Jiang’s Mother’s Tomb Path, Azalea Valley, Butterfly World)

Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area: Thousand-Foot Cliff, Miaogaotai Platform, Former Site of the Old China Travel Service, Three Hidden Pools, Xufuyan Cliff, Buddha Scenic Area (Xuedou Temple, Maitreya Buddha)

Jiang Family Hometown Scenic Area: 120 RMB/person

Attractions Included: Jiang Family Hometown Scenic Area: Fenghao House, Yutai Salt Shop, Jiang Family Ancestral Hall, Little Western-Style House, Wenchang Pavilion, Wuling City Gate, Wuling School, Secluded Wuling, Xikou Museum, Jiang’s Mother’s Mausoleum (Jiang’s Mother’s Tomb Path, Azalea Valley, Butterfly World)

Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area: 120 RMB/person

Attractions Included: Thousand-Foot Cliff, Miaogaotai Platform, Former Site of the Old China Travel Service, Three Hidden Pools, Xufuyan Cliff, Buddha Scenic Area (Xuedou Temple, Maitreya Buddha)

Xuedou Mountain Scenic Transport Ticket

Xuedou Mountain Scenic Tourist Shuttle Bus: 30 RMB/person (Visitors can take any shuttle bus up and down the mountain)

Sightseeing Train Single Ticket: 45 RMB/person, Cable Car Single Ticket: 35 RMB/person, Combined Sightseeing Train & Cable Car Ticket: 50 RMB/person

Opening Hours

Open all day

Scenic Location

Xikou Town, Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province