Brief introduction of Dazu stone carving scenic spots:
When traveling to Chongqing, don't forget to visit Dazu Grottoes. There are not only the beautiful and amiable Guanyin, the mysterious and legendary bathing prince of Kowloon, rich Buddhist stories, but also vivid and delicate pictures of herding boys training cows. Walking in front of the statue is like being in a grand art palace. It's convenient to go to Dazu, Chongqing, and it's only two hours' drive. There are dozens of buses running in Chongqing West Bus Station every day.
The grotto art in China has accumulated its own unique pattern and connotation in the long-term development process and various periods. The early grotto art, represented by Yungang Grottoes (Wei and Jin Dynasties, 4th-5th century A.D.), was obviously influenced by the Indian art of Gandhara and Gupta, and most of the statues showed the characteristics of "Hu appearance and fan appearance". The mid-term grotto art represented by Longmen Grottoes (Sui and Tang Dynasties, 6th-9th century AD) shows the characteristics of the integration of Indian culture and China culture. Dazu stone carving, as a masterpiece of late grotto art, absorbed and integrated the essence of early grotto art, and made a breakthrough in theme selection, art form, modeling techniques and aesthetic taste compared with the previous generation. Dazu Stone Carving has become a model of Chinese grotto art with its distinctive nationalization and lifestyle characteristics. Together with Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen Grottoes, it constitutes a complete grotto art history in China.
Dazu stone carving was founded in the late Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It is a model of sculpture art in the late grottoes in China, with Buddhism as the main statue and Confucianism and Taoism simultaneously. There are more than 70 stone carvings, with a total of more than 65,438+10,000 bodies, of which the most famous are Baodingshan and Beishan Cliff (Grottoes). Dazu stone carvings are large in scale, rich in content and concentrated in statues. "Buddhist scriptures are listed, and almost all major religions have been collected"; In terms of art, it is exquisite, which fully shows the characteristics of "humanization of gods and deification of people" in China's late Buddhist sculpture art. The characters in the Tang Dynasty were dignified and plump, and their temperament was vigorous. The five dynasties sculptures are exquisite and exquisite, and look chic; The works of the Song Dynasty are graceful, well-proportioned and beautifully dressed. Exquisite carving, the unity of man and god, with national aesthetic taste. 196 1 year, the state announced the stone carvings of Baoding Mountain and Beishan Mountain as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
There are nearly ten thousand stone carvings in Beishan. The main statues are concentrated in the part called Buddha Bay, which is about 1 mile long and shaped like a crescent moon. The stone carving group here was excavated in the first year of Tang Jingfu (AD 892), and it has been 250 years since the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty. These stone carvings are characterized by exquisite carving and vivid images, among which Guanyin, Manjusri and Pu Xian are the most wonderful.
Humane Guanyin statue
Guanyin statues are generally dignified and solemn. But Guanyin here is elegant and beautiful, with rich expressions and looks kind and lovely. Some people commented that this is obviously the image of a Han girl who pursues a better life, and it doesn't taste like a "bodhisattva" at all! It can be seen that the power of art has broken through the religious norms. There are six statues of Guanyin, Manjusri and Pu Xian in the "Heart Car Cave" numbered 136, each with a different look and personality. Pu Xian, sitting on the elephant's back, has a graceful figure, delicate face, Gherardini expression, gentleness, demure, elegance and generosity, and is a female image full of oriental beauty. A famous art critic praised this statue as more distinctive than the world-famous sculpture Venus. However, some people think that from the perspective of carving art, it should also be regarded as the best one, and they call her "the crown of stone carving in Beishan". This Guanyin has a well-proportioned figure, soft skin lines, a fine carved face, a round face, a slight smile and a moving look. Coupled with gorgeous costumes and clothes that are flying high, it gives people a feeling of flying high. Some people call her "coquetry Guanyin" because her expression is charming.
Life-rich stone carvings
The stone carvings in Baoding Mountain are quite different from those in Beishan Mountain. Most of the sculptures here use groups of statues to continuously express one or several Buddhist stories with different contents, which are not only rich in content, but also full of life. For example, a group of stone carvings named "The Change of Parents' Grace" shows the process of parents raising their children, from pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding to children's growth, marriage and separation. There are eleven groups of statues respectively. Each group shows a theme, and the characters, thoughts and feelings are vividly and delicately portrayed, and they are all engraved with written descriptions. Tourists look at the stone carvings here, as if enjoying ancient comic books. The birth of Sakyamuni is quite interesting. After Sakyamuni was born, he sat in a stone basin, next to which two powerful men held the stone basin. It is engraved with nine dragon heads. Bath the prince with water in the middle of the faucet, named "Prince Jiulong Bath". Where does the water come from? It turns out that there is a pool on this cliff. According to this terrain, it is not suitable for cliff carving, because it will erode the cliff over time. However, ancient masons skillfully used sculpture to drain the accumulated water from the faucet, turning unfavorable conditions into favorable conditions. This ingenuity cannot but be admired.
The spectacular avalokitesvara with thousands of hands
Guanyin with a thousand hands is a very spectacular statue. Its "thousand hands" (the exact number is 1007 hands) proudly extend from the top, left and right directions like a peacock. Each hand is beautifully carved, and there are axes, swords, ropes and other instruments in it, all of which are different.
Pastoral "Cattle Dojo"
Many people think that the pastoral stone carving "Cowherd Dojo", which is full of pastoral life interest, is the most wonderful, showing the shepherd boy taming cattle. The stubbornness of the cow and the carefree expression of the shepherd boy after taming the cow are vividly portrayed. Another feature of Baodingshan stone carving is that after the overall planning and design, the carving is based on the sample first, and then the carving is enlarged. It's like building a house, making a model first. This is rare in China Grottoes.
Dazu stone carvings have made great contributions to the innovation and development of China Grottoes. It pays attention to the aesthetic law and formal law of sculpture art itself, which is a good example of the development of cave sculpture to cliff sculpture. In the technique of three-dimensional modeling, realism and exaggeration complement each other, describing difficult situations and conveying difficult feelings, and endowing different characters with different personality characteristics to convey the spirit and express their hearts. Emphasizing the strong contrast between good and evil, beauty and ugliness, the expression content is close to life, and the words are popular and concise, which not only has a strong artistic appeal, but also has a very humanized social education function. In the selection of materials, it not only comes from classics, but also is not limited to classics. It is very inclusive and creative, and everywhere reflects the just requirements of secular beliefs to punish evil and promote good, suppress thoughts and regulate behavior. In layout, it is a clever combination of art, religion, science and nature. Aesthetically, it is mysterious, natural and elegant, which fully embodies the aesthetic requirements of China traditional culture. In the performance of L, it has broken through some old religious sculptures, developed creatively, humanized the gods and unified man and god, which is very rich in China characteristics. In a word, Dazu stone carving has created a new form of grotto art in many aspects, and has become a model of grotto art with China style and China traditional cultural connotation, reflecting China's traditional aesthetic thought and taste.
Dazu stone carving is a model of grotto art life. With its strong secular belief and simple life atmosphere, it is unique in grotto art and pushes the life of grotto art to an unprecedented position. In terms of content selection and expression techniques, they all strive to closely combine with secular life and aesthetic taste. Its characters are gentle and quiet, beautifully dressed and rarely exposed; Physically, strive for beauty but not evil, beauty but not flattery. Statues, whether Buddha, Bodhisattva, Lohan, King Kong and various waiters, are quite similar to the true portrayal of all kinds of characters in reality. In particular, the cliff statues of Baoding Mountain reflect a wide range of social life scenes, almost everything, quite like the folk gallery in the Song Dynasty. Regardless of princes and princes, officials and gentry, fishermen and firewood, all kinds of characters are lifelike and ready to come. It can be said that it is a vivid picture of historical life, which reflects the life of China from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty from all aspects, and enables the grotto art from India to develop for a long time, thus completing the process of China.
In a word, Dazu stone carving is a great artistic masterpiece of scale, exquisite attainments and rich content. It is not only an important part of China grotto art, but also the most magnificent page in the world grotto art from the end of 9th century to the middle of13rd century.