大足石刻Grotto Art in Dazu County
大足縣在重慶市的西北，縣城距重慶百余公里。縣城東西長達四公里，南北寬兩公里，城四周丘陵起伏，叢山連綿。東有寶頂山，南有南山，西有妙高山、石篆山，北有北山，都是風景優美，并藏著古代勞動人民所制作的石刻藝術的名勝地區。
大足石刻是我國重要的石窟造像之一，始鑿于唐景福元年（公元89年），經五代至宋達到鼎盛，終成于南宋末期，明、清僅有一些零星雕刻。造像題材廣泛，藝術手法豐富，具有濃郁的生活情趣和地方色彩。大足北山主要是唐末、五代、宋的官僚、地主為了祈福而造的像，寶頂山是南宋時密宗教徒趙智鳳，為建立傳教道場造的像。大足石刻雖然主要是佛教造像，但歷代的匠師們卻充分發揮了雕塑藝術語言的特點，把他們對美的理想溶化在造像中，直到今天仍能給我們以美的享受。
Dazu County, located in the southeast of Sichuan province, is 271 kilometres away from Chengdu and 163 kilometres away from Chongqing. "Dazu" here means "harvest and abundance (Dafeng, Dazu)".
The work of Dazu Rock Carvings began in the first year of Yonghui in the Tang Dynasty (650A.D.), and continued until the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now, it enjoys equal popularity with theYungang and Longmen Grottoes. The general term of "Dazu Rock Carvings" refers to all the cliffside carvings in Dazu County, which includes the carvings in Beishan (including Beita), Baodingshan, Nanshan, Shizhuanshan and Shimenshan. Baoding Grotto, 15 kilometres northeast of the county seat, is the largest and best preserved one and is a key cultural relic site under state protection.
There are more than 50,000 Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian rock carvings and 100,000 characters of insCRIptions dotted around Dazu. The carvings not only include the statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva but also include that of monarchs, ministers, military officers, high and low-ranking officials, jailers, executioners, monks, rich and poor people, and folk art performers. The earliest grotto was carved in the early Tang Dynasty and most of them have a history over 1000 years.
Many of the carvings in Baoding Grotto reflect religious doctrines and another set of carvings reflects Confucianism, specifically filial piety. What the carvings offer to visitors is not only the wonderful enjoyment of the magnificent art but a Buddhist teaching like this: One can free himself from earthly worries by self-cultivation and does not need to go beyond his own inner world to
find the truth of Buddhism. There are also many other carvings at the site that tell Buddhist doctrines through the lives of ordinary people. With rich images as well as insCRIptions, the Dazu Grottoes are regarded as an art treasure house that fully reflected the society, philosophy, religion and folklore of that time. In 1999, UNESCO listed Dazu Stone Carvings as a world cultural heritage site. One point to be noted is that the Dazu Grottoes are the only ones that were implemented according to an overall design among over 100 grottoes in China.
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