In China, and even in the world, the most famous Buddha statues are carved on precipices. In addition to Leshan Giant Buddha, there is another one located in Shanxi Province. It was built hundreds of years earlier than Leshan Giant Buddha, even more influential. It is the 'Mengshan Giant Buddha' in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province! Do you know the Buddha? When was the Mengshan Buddha built?
Mengshan Giant Buddha, built in the Tianbao period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, was originally the cliff Buddha behind the Kaihua Temple of Mengshan. Before the founding of Leshan Giant Buddha, Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi, Empress Wu Zetian and Li Keyong, Emperor Wu of the later Tang Dynasty, came here to worship the Buddha. However, since the Yuan Dynasty, the Xishan Buddha has been buried and disappeared in people's vision. So later, for a long time, no one knew where he was hiding.
Only one person appeared. His name was Wang jianni. Wang jianni, a native of Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, likes historical research and textual research. He has carefully studied Wang's genealogy in Taiyuan, and wrote articles on Wang's research such as the root of Wang's family in Taiyuan, the examination of Wang's family in Taiyuan, and the preliminary exploration of Wang's family in Taiyuan. Later, he began to look for the Great Buddha in Mengshan. He consulted a lot of historical books. After years of textual research, he gradually checked Tianlongshan, Longshan and other places, and finally focused on Mengshan.
Everything comes to him who waits! In 1983, Wang jianni finally found the Buddha between thorns and weeds for more than 600 years
When it was found, the Buddha was Sakyamuni sitting Buddha, sitting north to south, with a well proportioned and smooth line. Although the head is no longer seen, it can still feel its magnificent momentum from the perspective of body structure.
The author remembers that in 2007, when he visited Mengshan mountain, the Buddha was in the process of repairing and there was no head. So far, it has been repaired and developed a tourist attraction, attracting tourists from all over the country.
Mengshan Giant Buddha is 17.5m high, 25m wide and 5m wide in neck diameter. It is recorded in Tang Dynasty as "two hundred feet high", which is about 63m today according to the common ruler of Tang Dynasty. In terms of height, Mengshan Buddha is the second largest Buddha in the world, and in terms of age, it is the first large stone Buddha in the world.
It's hard for us to imagine how much courage and perseverance, and how much energy and manpower would it take to carve such a world miracle on this cliff in the Northern Qi Dynasty more than 1000 years ago?
According to the records in the book of the Northern Qi Dynasty: "chisel the west mountain of Jinyang as the Great Buddha, fuel ten thousand basins a night, and light the palace", which means to light ten thousand lamps on the West Mountain Buddha, enough to light the Jinyang Palace at the foot of the mountain.
Ten thousand pots of oil will be consumed overnight? It can be seen that the grand occasion of the excavation at that time, not to mention human resources, was not comparable with financial resources alone.
In 551 ad, Gao Yang, the founding emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, established his capital in Yecheng (now in Linzhang County, Hebei Province), and regarded Jinyang (now Taiyuan) as the "other capital". Gao Yang, who is conceited and extravagant in life, not only made Jinyang city far away from Yecheng majestic, but also opened the most huge project in life, "digging the Giant Buddha of Mount Meng"!
In order to build the Great Buddha, Gao Yang enlisted farmers all over the world to start digging day and night. After Gao Yang's death, his son Gao Yin ascended the throne. Instead of stopping the project, he made it bigger and bigger.
It wasn't until the fifth generation sun Gaowei of Gaoyang was in power in 557 that the Great Buddha was completed. It was named "Xishan Great Buddha", which is what we see today!
We can't evaluate the decision-making of the ancients. Perhaps it is their wishful thinking and the rise of the times that have left us these most precious and precious heritage and assets and become the eternal landmark of an era.