Miaoling Mountain Grottoes

Miaoling Mountain Grottoes

Miaoling Mountain Grottoes is a cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province.

Miaoling Mountain Grottoes

Miaoling Mountain Grottoes (First Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Period: Northern Dynasties to Tang Dynasty

Address: 5 km southwest of Yushe County, in the Sigu Valley on Miaoling Mountain

The Thousand Buddha Cave, also known as the Stone Chamber Abbot’s Room, faces west and is carved into the cliff. It has a square shape with an inverted-bowl ceiling. It is 2.4 meters wide and 2.55 meters deep. The cave houses six larger sculptures, surrounded by 1,090 Buddha figures. The main Buddha statue (on the eastern wall) stands 1.33 meters tall in total, with the figure itself being 0.9 meters high. It wears a flowing kasaya robe with wide sleeves and a crossed-collar inner garment, and is seated in a lotus position on a waist-high rectangular platform.

The cliff carvings are located on the rear wall of the original Mahavira Hall. The statue is 1.8 meters tall, wearing a thin, sheer kasaya, with simple and smooth lines. Its hands are damaged, and it is seated in a lotus position on a 1.2-meter-high lotus pedestal.

At the summit northeast of the temple stands a brick-built meditation master stupa. It has a square base and is 4.3 meters tall in total, constructed during the Tang Dynasty.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Shanxi Province