Anyue County, Ziyang City, Sichuan Province, is known as the "Hometown of Chinese Stone Carvings", the county has found 200 historical grotto statues, with 70 various types of grotto statue protection units, the excavation age from the Tang, Five Dynasties, two Song Dynasties, extended to the Ming and Qing, of which 9 national grotto cultural relics protection units, namely Reclining Buddha Temple, Xuanmiao Temple, Thousand Buddha Village, Yuanjue Cave, Huayan Cave, Pilu Cave, Mingshan Temple, Peacock Cave, Mumen Temple; 5 key cultural relics protection units in Sichuan Province, namely Antang Temple, Fo'er Rock, Gaosheng Great Buddha Temple, Xichan Temple, Tapo, and 50 county-level cultural relics protection units, 60 county-level cultural relics protection points. With the third national census of cultural relics, many cave temples have been rediscovered.
Anyue stone carving is a work of the mature and heyday of stone carving art in China, and has a high value in carving art. Sichuan Province has included the "Anyue Stone Carving" project in the plan to declare itself a World Cultural Heritage.
In the 2020 Sichuan self-driving tour, I visited 9 national key cultural relics protection units of Anyue Stone Carvings, and took a large number of pictures, and the pictures and texts about Anyue Stone Carvings will be displayed to everyone one after another.
Today, let's talk about the Pilu Cave Grottoes. Pilu Cave is located on Tazi Mountain, Youping Village, Chiyun Area, Shiyang Town, southeast of Anyue County, 45 kilometers from the county seat. The road from Anyue to Dazu crosses the foot of Tazi Mountain. Here, the mountains are verdant, the rocks are steep, and the Pilu Cave is chiseled into these beautiful stones. Pilu Cave stone carving statue is the crystallization of The Buddhist art of the Song Dynasty, with high historical research value and sightseeing value, in July 2001, the State Council announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
The stone carvings of Pilu Cave were created in the Fifth Dynasty later Shu, and subsequent generations have been cultivated and re-carved. It was once one of the main ashrams of Sichuan Buddhist tantra from the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty. The Pilu Cave Grottoes mainly include: Pilu Cave, Guanyin Hall, Thousand Buddha Cave, and Secluded Cave, of which the "Ten Refining Diagrams of Liu Benzun" in Pilu Cave and the "Zizhu Guanyin" in Guanyin Cave are the essence of the stone statues carved in Pilu Cave.
◆ Pilu Cave "Ten Purification Diagrams of Liu Hongzun"
Yanagimoto is named Zhizhi. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were adopted by an official in Jiazhou (嘉州, in present-day Leshan, Sichuan). After the death of his adoptive father, he took Willow as his surname. Legend has it that there was a big willow tree in the north of Leshan City, and a big tumor that grew in the willow tree grew year by year, and then it was deflated and cracked, giving birth to a baby. After his ordination, he went to Mimu, Guanghan, Chengdu, Xinjin and other places to set up altars, promote tantric teachings, hold the five secret mantras of the Great Wheel, cultivate hard, and achieve positive results, preaching to believers and disciples that they were gods and became sages and holy ancestors.
The 14.6 meters high and 24.8 meters wide niche was excavated during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-990 AD). The whole niche can be divided into three layers, the carved "Ten Refining Cultivation Chart" group carvings of Liu Benzun are rigorously composed, the statues are vivid, which can be called the fine works of Song carving, and the "Ten Refinements" are also equipped with text explanations, which is convenient for tourists to understand the content of the "Ten Refinements". The group of sculptures expresses that Liu Benzun preaches the tantric teachings by practicing ten harsh practices of finger refining, standing snow, refining ankles, cutting eyes, cutting ears, refining the top, laying arms, refining yin, and refining knees. On both sides, there are also carvings such as the majestic axe and the sword protector Kongo.
The "Ten Purification Charts" are like comic strips of preaching and sayings, which are valuable materials for studying Sichuan tantra and examining the life of Liu Benzun. Watching this group of sculptures will make you awe-inspired by the holiness of the Dharma.
The five Buddhas and four bodhisattvas in the upper level all sit in a small circular niche. In the center is Vishnu Buddha, and on the left and right are Po Sheng Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, A Buddha, and Non-Void Attainment Buddha. The five Buddhas are all screws, golden bodies, and similar faces. On both sides of the five Buddhas are Manjushri, Guanyin, Puxian, Dashi to the Four Bodhisattvas. All four bodhisattvas wear crowns, robes, and fold their hands together.
The middle level shows the ten stories of Liu Benzun's ascetic cultivation, called the "Ten Purification Charts". Sitting on the lotus platform in the middle of the main statue is Liu Benzun, sitting 5.2 meters tall, wearing a square flat top scarf, wearing a chevron collar cardigan, as a layman's attire; the front palate has a long beard and three strands, squinting the right eye, missing the left ear, breaking the left arm, the left sleeve is soft on the knee, and the right hand is raised on the chest to make a statement; in the square scarf, there is a statue of the little Vilu Buddha, to show that Liu is the living Vilu Buddha.
The lower level is the figure of Yanagimoto's wenwu servant guards, with a total of seventeen figures. Among them, there were courtiers wearing court clothes, wearing outstretched feet and heads, and holding wats with both hands; military generals with armor, helmets, and swords; female disciples who hated the world and wanted to raise their swords to cut their hair as nuns; there were Youboyi (female disciples) who wore cardigans and held plates in both hands; there were Upanishads (male laymen) who wore square scarves and long shirts and held scriptures in both hands.
On each side of the shoulder of the statue, there are five groups of statues, which are the "Ten Refining Diagrams": refining the fingers, standing snow, refining the ankles, cutting the eyes, cutting the ears, refining the heart, refining the top, laying the arms, refining the yin, and refining the knees.
● The first refining finger is the seat of The YanagiMoto, the right hand is on the right knee, the left hand is flat on the chest, and a flame appears at the section of the broken finger.
● The second Li Xue Liu Benzun sat down in a shackle, dressed in layman's clothes, and sat down in the snow at the top of Shengfeng Mountain to show his enlightenment after six years of cultivation on the Snow Mountain of the Buddha.
● Third Ankle Yanagimoto is a seated statue, wearing a square flat top scarf, dressed in a layman's suit, with his hands folded in front of his chest, his left foot flat in front of his right foot, and a flame on his left foot.
● Fourth Eye Cutting Yanagi Benzun holds a sword in his right hand and a square scarf in his left hand as an eye-catching shape.
● Fifth Ear Cutting: Yanagimoto's head is slightly to the right, his left hand is wrapped around his arm with a large sleeve, and his right hand is holding a knife to cut his left ear.
● Sixth Refining Heart Yanagi Benzun wears a square flat-topped scarf on his head, wears a layman's shirt, sits in a half-knotted shackle, leans slightly on his body, places his left hand on his left knee, leans on his right hand, and chest, and a flame appears in the chest position to show the shape of refining the heart.
● Seventh Refining Peak Yanagi Benzun sat with a knotted shackle, his head was wearing a curly hair shawl, and there was a flame on the top of his head to show the top of the refinement.
● Eighth Arm Yanagimoto's head is on the left side, looking at the left arm, the sleeve of the left arm is highly rolled, and the right hand is holding a knife to cut the arm.
● Ninth Yin Liu Benzun is lying on the vajra seat, his left foot is slightly curved and extended, his right foot is bent and knees are curved to cover the genitals, and the flames between his knees and thighs are floating.
● The Tenth Knee This group of carved and chiseled Willow Buddhas knotted and sat down, wearing a square flat top scarf, dressed in a layman's shirt, and a flame on each knee.
◆ Guanyin Cave, known as the "Oriental Venus" "Zizhu Guanyin"
The "Water Moon Guanyin" carved in the Guanyin Hall, the masses call her "Zizhu Guanyin" and "Foot-up Guanyin", this Guanyin is 3 meters high, hanging on the curved lotus leaf that protrudes, leaning on the purple bamboo and willow branch pure bottle, wearing a rich and luxurious appliqué flower crown, the moth's eyebrows are erect, the phoenix's eyes are hanging, the nose is slightly raised, and the lips are slightly closed; the upper body wears short sleeves and thin robes, the chest is bare elbows, the arms are worn, the wings are like a golden waterfall that falls with the body, the net falls on the chest and abdomen, the lower body long skirt is as thin as a cicada wing, close to the waist and legs, and the dress is flowing and dynamic.
Her upper body is slightly left, the left hand caresses the leaf surface, the right hand is placed on the knee, the five fingers are naturally drooping, a pair of beautiful bare feet, the left foot is hanging on the lotus platform, gently stepping on the flower bud, the right leg is bent and upturned, and the foot is stepping on the lotus leaf, so people also commonly call her "upturned foot Guanyin". She is rich, gentle and elegant, with the charm of a girl, and the appearance of a goddess, and the worldly flavor is extremely strong, and people love to call her "Wind and Flow Guanyin".
Zizhu Guanyin is one of the few northern Song Dynasty stone carving art treasures in the country, and its skills are exquisite, ingenious, fascinating and convincing. Therefore, tourists will stop here for a long time and watch carefully. The British-Chinese writer Han Suying praised her as the "Venus of the East".
Zizhu Guanyin's right hand was smashed during the Cultural Revolution, and the right hand is now recently restored.
◆ Thousand Buddha Cave
◆ Secluded cave