Cliff Carvings, Kongwang Hill

Going about 50 or 60 meters to the west, you will see the stone carvings on the cliffs. On an ochre-yellow cliff with uneven heights, there are more than 100 figures of different sizes and shapes engraved on the mountain, which contain Taoist legends and Buddhist stories. All concentrated in the southwest corner of the mountain. It is embossed on the mountain. The entire statue is distributed on the 17-meter-long, 8-meter-high Chu-yellow cliff. There are more than 100 human figures engraved in it. There are standing and sitting, jumping and lying, with rich images and different expressions. According to experts, the statue was carved in the late Eastern Han Dynasty in 170 AD, 200 years earlier than the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang built in the second year of Jianyuan (336). Although these characters have experienced more than 1,000 years of wind and rain, they are still lifelike and shine on the stone walls. Experts believe that the rock carvings on the cliffs of Mount Kongwang have always believed that Buddhism spread from west to east. The discovery of the statues on the cliffs of Mount Kongwang undoubtedly challenges the traditional conclusion. It is a treasure in the history of Buddhism and art in my country. The statues on the cliffs of Kongwang Mountain are all gathered in the southwest corner of the mountain, and they are embossed according to the situation of the mountain. The picture is 17 meters long from east to west and 9 meters high; about 105 statues of different sizes are engraved. The Buddha statue on the cliff is about 129 meters high. The content of the statue is divided into Buddhist stories, Buddha's life stories and secular life stories. The carving techniques of the statues have the distinctive features of Han statues. Intaglio, convex line carving, bas-relief, high-relief, full-body relief, and yin-line engraving have all been fully utilized and brought into play in statues. It consists of the picture of the feast, the picture of the Arhat, and the picture of Buddhist Nirvana, the picture of giving oneself to the tiger, and the statue of Buddha, Bodhisattva disciples, warriors and supporters.