Xiyang Reclining Buddha Temple

Xiyang Reclining Buddha Temple

Xiyang Reclining Buddha Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province.

Reclining Buddha Temple

Reclining Buddha Temple (Third Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Yuan Dynasty

Address: 3 kilometers west of Kongshi Village, Kongshi Township, 40 kilometers east of Xiyang County

According to the stone tablet “Record of the Reconstruction of the Reclining Buddha Cliff” inside the temple: “During the Zhi Zheng era of the Yuan Dynasty, a stone Buddha several zhang in length was carved, lying beneath the cliff. In the fourth year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, Taoist Wang Xuemian raised funds and oversaw the construction of a main hall with four bays, carving three stone Buddhas, two Bodhisattvas, and thirty-six Arhats. The project commenced in the first month of the Gengwu year of the Zhengde era and was completed in the tenth month of the Renwu year of the Jiajing era.”

The existing Reclining Buddha Temple is a natural rock cave, oriented from east to west, measuring 36 meters in width, 34 meters in depth, and 20 meters in height. At the back wall of the cave is a carved reclining Buddha, 5.2 meters in body length and 1.4 meters in shoulder width, with coiled hair in a topknot, a square-round face, a high nose, large ears, and clad in a kasaya. Its right arm is bent upward to support the head in a reclining posture. More than twenty other stone statues are all missing arms and heads, their features completely unrecognizable. The wooden structures have also vanished without a trace.

Inside the cave, there are two stone tablets, one of which was written by Qiao Yu, Minister of Personnel during the Ming Dynasty.

Kongshi Village: Located 43 kilometers northeast of Xiyang County, Kongshi Village covers a total area of 20 square kilometers, with an average annual temperature of 9.4–12.4 degrees Celsius and annual precipitation of 500–650 millimeters. The village has 540 households and a population of 1,640, making it the largest administrative village in Kongshi Township. It has 500 acres of arable land, 380 acres of seasonally irrigated and dry land, and an additional 1,200 acres of suitable forested hills and wasteland. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was known as the “Little Jiangnan of the North,” and after the 1980s, gained the reputation of being a “specialized transportation village.” In 2007, it was designated as one of the key provincial-level villages for new rural development.

…… More detailed information about Kongshi Village++

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Shanxi Province