Shizhuan Mountain Stone Carvings

Shizhuan Mountain Stone Carvings

Shizhuan Mountain is situated in Fohui Village, Sanchu Town, about 25 kilometers southwest of Longgang Town in Dazu County, at an altitude of 444.6 meters. According to the "Yan Xun Stele" at Fohui Temple, the carvings were created between 1082 and 1096, during the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era to the third year of the Shaosheng era of the Northern Song Dynasty. The carving cliff face extends roughly 130 meters in length and 3 to 8 meters in height, and is uniformly numbered as 10 sites. It represents a classic example in Chinese grotto art of the combined Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian "Three Teachings." The key protected area of the Shizhuan Mountain cliff carvings covers 0.21 hectares, the general protected area spans 0.18 hectares, and the construction control zone encompasses 2.47 hectares.

The Shizhuan Mountain cliff carvings form a rare grotto site that exemplifies the integrated representation of the Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian "Three Teachings." Among them, No. 6 features the Shrine of Confucius and the Ten Disciples, with the main wall carved with a seated statue of Confucius, the great Chinese thinker and founder of Confucianism, and the side walls depicting his ten most renowned disciples. Such a depiction is exceedingly rare among grotto sculptural works. No. 7 is the Shrine of the Trikaya Buddhas. No. 8 is the Shrine of Laozi, where the central figure is a seated statue of Laozi, the founder of Taoism in China, flanked by seven statues each of perfected beings and master monks. According to the carving inscriptions, these three shrines were all commissioned by Yan Xun, a wealthy local landowner, and carved by renowned artisans of the time, including Wen Weijian.

On August 16, 1956, the People's Committee of Sichuan Province designated the Shizhuan Mountain cliff carvings as a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit. (It is now a Chongqing Municipal Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit). On April 26, 1963, the People's Committee of Dazu County announced that the Thousand Buddha Cliff carvings were under the protection of Dazu County. Shizhuan Mountain is best represented by the Laojun Cave.