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March 18, 2015

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Buddhist pilgrimage awaits in Dazu

The Dazu rock carvings sites near Chongqing are on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The five sites showcase and explain Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian carvings dating from the 9th to 13th centuries.

Visiting these hillside carvings is a great experience and a good way to understand the values, teachings and influence of the three religions that prevail in China. Some of the carvings are massive while others are small and intricate. They are also colorful and just plain gorgeous. It is said the art came from India, where temples and caves are adorned with stories from Hinduism.

Baoding Mountain, Beishan Mountain, Shizhuan Mountain, Shimen Mountain and Nanshan Mountain form the five mountains. The most popular one is Baoding Mountain followed by Bei Mountain. It almost takes an entire day to just cover the two popular sites, if traveling from Chongqing.

The Dazu sites have only been open for two decades to foreigners.

We started with Baoding Mountain, which was carved out by Buddhist monk Zhao Zhifeng, who was from the Mahayana sect of Buddhism. Baoding Mountain itself takes about 2-3 hours to walk around if one is interested in seeing every carving minutely, rest for a while and admire the ambience.

Baoding Mountain starts with a huge carving of a tiger that symbolizes overcoming danger on a spiritual journey. It is a simple carving followed by the Nine Dharma Pals. In Hinduism and Buddhism, Dharma means law and Pal means protector, so these were the statues of the nine protectors of law. The statues are big and colorful and have a strange, even scary look.

The Wheel of Reincarnation is just magnificent and it is also probably one of the best maintained carvings at the site. Based on the law of Karma, the wheel shows the evil aspects of life — greed, selfishness, jealousy and lust. The six channels that start from the center of the wheel represent the paths of enlightenment.

The carving of Avalokiteshvara, a god with 1,000 arms, is otherworldly. But it is a little dark inside so photography can be tricky. Some visitors expressed doubts about the 1,000 arms, but a guide confirms there are indeed 1,000.

The best part of Baoding Mountain is probably the section of Parinirvana — a 30-meter-long serene carving of the Reclining Buddha. It’s colorful, intricate and elaborate. The entire scene is about Buddha’s death with Bodhisattvas and people from various aspects of life at his bedside. This section needs a lot of time to be explored in detail.

The different carving sites showing the birth of Buddha, his teachings about parental guidance and caring for aged parents are all explained by means of rocks and colors. It is difficult to believe all this is the work of one man.

Beishan Mountain is our next stop. It is beautiful but sadly in a poor state. The rock carvings are not as colorful as the ones in Baoding Mountain and in need of maintenance. Many of the carvings are chipped, broken or discolored.

Nevertheless, it’s away from the maddening crowd, quiet and amidst greenery. The few carvings that are worth seeing here are the life after Parinirvana series, where a new Buddha appears every time a life ends. Here Prabhuratna, Shakyamuni and Maitreya symbolize the past, present and future respectively.

The vast gallery of the Celestial kingdom of the West and the 500 Arhats (Buddhist sages) still remain in good shape.

In order to experience all the sites at Dazu without rushing, several days are required.




 

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