Stone Carvings at Shifo Temple in Mianchi

Stone Carvings at Shifo Temple in Mianchi

The stone carvings at Shifo Temple in Mianchi are a cultural tourism attraction.

The Shifo Temple Grottoes in Mianchi are located in Wangfen Miaoxia Village, Potou Township, northwest of Mianchi County, Sanmenxia City, approximately 20 kilometers from the county seat. The grottoes back against a red sandstone cliff and face a mountain stream that generally runs from north to south. The main Buddha statue inside the grottoes stands 6 meters tall (equivalent to one zhang and eight chi in traditional Chinese measurement), which is why locals commonly refer to the area as Zhangba Buddha Temple Gully.

According to the Jiaqing Edition of the Mianchi County Annals from the Qing Dynasty: Shifo Temple was built during the Tang Dynasty, also known as Zhangba Buddha Temple. The temple had three Buddha halls, with the central one carved directly into the rock cliff, featuring a Buddha statue 1.8 zhang (approximately 6 meters) tall. Beside the statue is an inscription stating it was erected in the second year of the Dazhong era. To the left is a stone cave, 8 chi deep and 8 chi wide, housing 22 stone Buddha statues and countless smaller ones. There is also a Buddha hall facing west and east, a stone bridge in front, as well as individual halls for Guan Yu, the Bodhisattva, and the Heavenly King. On the left side of the cliff, there is a cave with steles recording renovations during the Chenghua and Jiajing eras. However, according to field investigations and research by Shangguan Junmo, who compiled the Republican-era edition of the county annals, the date “second year of Dazhong in the Tang Dynasty” is believed to be incorrect and should instead be “the second year of Zhide in the Tang Dynasty.”

The second year of Dazhong in the Tang Dynasty (around 848 AD) and the second year of Zhide (around 757 AD) are separated by over 90 years. According to expert research in 1985, the Buddha statues were determined to have been built during the Northern Qi Dynasty (551–557 AD). Since the Northern Qi Dynasty preceded the Sui Dynasty, even calculating based on the mid-Northern Qi period would place the statues nearly 200 years earlier.

The Shifo Temple Grottoes currently consist of four cave niches, three on the western side of the mountain stream and one on the eastern side. The main Buddha faces east while sitting westward. After a thousand years of wind and rain, and given the local geological structure of gravel layers, the face and left hand of the large Buddha have severely eroded. To the right of the great Buddha is a small cave that allows one to stand inside, facing the cave entrance, with enough space to stretch both arms horizontally. The stone walls feature over a hundred Buddha statues of various sizes, many of which are damaged—either through human destruction or natural erosion. In addition, above the large Buddha’s stone wall, there is another cave accessible by ladder, where one can observe the interior. Locals say this cave served as living quarters for monks, while the cave on the opposite cliff was used as a refuge to hide from bandits and store grain. Inside the caves, we found regularly spaced holes in the rock, believed to be where wooden wedges were once inserted during the construction of the Buddha statues. Over time, the wooden wedges rotted away, leaving behind these cavities. In 2006, the stone carvings at Shifo Temple were designated as part of the fourth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Provincial Level in Henan Province.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Provincial Level in Henan Province