Anyue Huayan Cave

Anyue Huayan Cave

Anyue Huayan Cave is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Huayan Cave is located on Xianggai Mountain in Shiyang Town, Anyue County, Ziyang City, Sichuan Province. It is 6 kilometers from Shiyang Town, 50 kilometers east of Anyue County, and over 30 kilometers from Dazu County in Chongqing.

Constructed during the Song Dynasty, Huayan Cave is a mountainous scenic tourism area that combines stone carving culture with natural landscapes. The site includes two major grottoes: Huayan Cave, carved in the first year of the Jianlong era (960) of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Dabore Cave, carved in the fourth year of the Jiayou era (1240) of the Southern Song Dynasty. These caves house 159 stone statues from the Song Dynasty and 24 historical inscriptions.

The larger cave is Huayan Cave, named for the “Three Saints of Huayan” carved inside. The cave is 6.2 meters high, 11.1 meters wide, and 11.3 meters deep, with a rectangular front facade. The statues in Huayan Cave are predominantly from Esoteric Buddhism and feature a unique coexistence of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian figures, covering 39 different themes. The layout is rigorous, the sculptures are ingeniously crafted, combining motion and stillness, reality and illusion, with scientific lighting. The cave-temple-like space is splendid and vibrant, standing out among Chinese grotto sculptures as a masterpiece of Northern Song Dynasty stone carving art. It is the largest and best-preserved grotto in the Anyue Stone Carving Scenic Area. The statues are distributed along the left, middle, and right walls of the cave. In the center stands a 5.2-meter-tall sculpture of the “Three Saints of Huayan” (Figure 2), flanked by 4.1-meter-tall seated statues of the “Ten Great Bodhisattvas” (Figure 7), while the cave walls are covered with scenes from “Sutra Transformation” stories.

The figures in the carvings are distinctive in personality, graceful in posture, well-proportioned, and adorned in luxurious attire, closely reflecting real life and aligning with traditional Chinese aesthetic tastes. Especially notable are the Ten Great Bodhisattvas, whose delicate facial features were meticulously crafted by ancient artisans, vividly expressing their outer beauty and inner compassion. The combination of line and plane engraving techniques enhances the elegance and charm of the figures. Additionally, the intricately designed hollow floral crowns with Chinese ethnic characteristics, the bejeweled necklaces with countable pearls, and the flowing scarves and garment folds further highlight their noble bearing and refined status. The comic-strip-style “Fifty-Three Visits of Sudhana” is particularly unique, with each of the many wise figures visited by Sudhana depicted without any repetition. The pavilions, towers, and palaces in the backgrounds are exquisitely detailed, the pagodas and celestial palaces are majestic, the flowers and trees are lush, and the clouds and mist drift gracefully. Scenes such as “Cutting Clouds to Mend Clothes,” “The Land of Wondrous Fragrance,” and “The Seven Treasures City” come vividly to life on the cave walls. These secular, national, regional, and life-oriented didactic artworks are truly breathtaking. The two guardian statues flanking the cave entrance—the descending lion, Cundi Bodhisattva, and Marici—are fierce in expression, forming a striking contrast with the compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as the diverse forms of Sudhana’s fifty-three visits. This unique contrast in sculptural style brings the figures to life, creating an exceptionally vivid effect and achieving an extremely high level of artistic mastery.

The Dabore Cave (Figure 13) grotto is 4.7 meters high and approximately 5 meters wide and deep, with the cave name inscribed above the entrance. The central wall features a Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas, while the side aisles are divided into three levels: the lower level displays the Eighteen Arhats, the middle level the Twenty-Four Devas, and the upper level ten child attendants. Behind the central Buddha, there are two relief sculptures of Laozi and Confucius, representing a typical example of the Three Teachings unified in one cave. The cave ceiling features a 2.2-meter-diameter “ren-ya” character, which currently has no definitive pronunciation or interpretation. The widely circulated saying, “Two upside-down person characters—if you can recognize them, you are an immortal,” has made it a timeless mystery.

The Huayan Cave scenic area is suitable for visitation all year round. The area boasts fresh air and abundant sunshine, making it an excellent destination for sightseeing, travel, and vacation. Currently, the site offers convenient accommodation, dining, transportation, and communication facilities, making it a must-visit location in Anyue.

Prefecture/City: Ziyang City

Address: Shiyang Town, Anyue County

Ticket: 12 RMB per person

Operating Hours: 8:00 AM – 7:30 PM

Contact Number: 028–24139637

Tourism Complaint Hotline: 028–24520973 | Fax: 028–24536626

Postal Code: 642350

Shiyang Town: Shiyang Town is located at 105.37°E longitude and 29.56°N latitude, 44 kilometers from the county seat. The town covers an area of 62.4 square kilometers, with 2,061.6 hectares of arable land, including 1,391.2 hectares of paddy fields and 670.4 hectares of dry land. It administers 22 administrative villages, 225 villager groups, 26 residential groups, with a total of 15,699 households and a population of 50,644, of which 43,267 are agricultural residents.

[Natural Resources] Situated in a shallow hilly area with a subtropical monsoon humid climate, the town enjoys mild weather and distinct seasons, with less rainfall in winter and spring... (Detailed information about Shiyang Town++)