Mengshan Giant Buddha

Mengshan Giant Buddha

The Mengshan Giant Buddha is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural relic protection unit of Taiyuan City.

A Buddha 162 Years Older Than the Leshan Giant Buddha ------ Mengshan

Located in Kaihua Gully, with its main peak at an altitude of 1,325 meters, Mengshan is a sacred Buddhist site and summer retreat in Jinyang. Historical sites such as the ancient Kaihua Temple, Ganquan Temple, and the summer palace of Liu Zhiyuan, Emperor of the Northern Han Dynasty, have all enjoyed illustrious pasts. Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei Dynasty once decreed that Tanluan, the founder of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, reside at Dayan Temple (the former name of Kaihua). In 551 AD, Emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Yang, ordered the carving of a giant Buddha from the large rock behind the temple, a project that took 24 years across five emperors to complete. The Mengshan Giant Buddha is carved into the mountain, seated in a lotus position with hands in the meditation mudra. Its broad shoulders and thick body rise above the mountain ridges, towering into the clouds with an extraordinary presence. Historical records state the Buddha was "two hundred feet" tall (approximately 66 meters), slightly shorter than the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan, but completed 162 years earlier, making it China’s earliest open-air cliff-carved stone giant Buddha. Today, although the body of the Buddha remains clearly visible, its head has been destroyed and the body is damaged—the Mengshan Giant Buddha is in peril. Opposite the Buddha stands the Twin Pagodas, built in 990 AD during the first year of the Chunhua era of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Address: Luocheng Sidi Village, Jinyuan District, Taiyuan City

Type: Historic Site

Recommended Visiting Time: 2–4 hours

Phone: 0351-6159898

Opening Hours:

8:00-17:30

Ticket Information:

Free admission.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Taiyuan City