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Chinese Name: 灵山大佛
English Name: Grand Buddha at Ling Shan; Lingshan Grand Buddha; Ling Shan Da Fo
Location: Jiangsu
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Website: https://www.lingshan.com.cn/
Brief Introduction
Lingshan Grand Buddha is a world-famous scenic spot, located in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. It is one of the important components of Lingshan’s scenic spot in Wuxi City, a national AAAAA tourist attraction. The Buddha body is located on the south side of Qinlu peak秦履峰 in Mashan马山, Wuxi. It was completed and opened on November 15, 1997.
Lingshan Grand Buddha is one of the city symbols of Wuxi, which is of great significance to social, cultural, and economic development. Nanjing artist Wu Xianlin吴显林 is responsible for the sculpture design of the Giant Buddha.
Lingshan Grand Buddha, with a three-layer base, is more than 100 meters high. The Buddha body and lotus seat of the Giant Buddha is all assembled and welded from tin bronze plates. The copper consumption for the construction of Lingshan Giant Buddha alone reached more than 700 tons, and the scenic area was completed at a total cost of more than 2 billion yuan.
Lingshan Grand Buddha stands on Xiaoling Mountain小灵山 on the Bank of Taihu Lake太湖 in Wuxi, which reflects the cultural prosperity, economic development, social stability, and harmony of East China.
What are worth visiting and seeing？
History
The history of the Lingshan area can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty more than 1000 years ago. It is said that Xuanzang玄奘 returned from the west to study scriptures, traveled to the southeast, and came to Xiaoling Mountain小灵山. He saw layers of mountains and green trees. The scenery was extraordinary, and he greatly praised it, so the mountain was named Xiaoling Mountain. Vulture Peak灵鹫山 in India is the place where Sakyamuni释迦摩尼 became a Buddha. It is a famous Buddhist holy land. He asked his eldest disciple peen Ji to preside over the Dharma here. Xiaolingshan Temple developed gradually from this.
Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, which stands at the southern foot of Xiaolingshan, including the lotus tower, is 88 meters high, equivalent to the height of a building with more than 30 floors, and 17 meters higher than the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan乐山大佛. It is the second highest Giant Buddha in China.
If the three-layer foundation is added, the total height will reach 101.5 meters. Lingshan Grand Buddha looks down with wise and kind eyes. No matter whether the tourists approach or go far, they seem to be concerned by the eyes of the Buddha; And as people get closer or farther away, their eyes seem to open and close slightly. The closer they get, the wider they open; The corners of the mouth seemed to smile but did not smile, and the words were not spoken. Many instructions were about to be exported, which made people feel more cordial and triggered various reveries.
Looking up close to the Buddha, the white clouds in the blue sky are leisurely, making people feel that the Buddha is moving. All parts of the Grand Buddha at Ling Shan are well proportioned, and the pleats of the clothing are bright, smooth, elegant, and flexible, which adds to the movement and makes it very suitable for both long-term and short-term observation.
The shaping of Lingshan Grand Buddha was completed according to the records of the thirty-two forms of Tathagata in the Buddhist Scripture. Grand Buddha at Ling Shan smiles with a benevolent face and looks at all living beings. His right hand represents the removal of pain and his left hand represents the giving of happiness. All these are blessings. The whole Buddha statue is solemn and complete, serene, dignified, and meticulous, showing the Buddha’s compassion.
Lingshan Buddhist temple灵山梵宫 is one of the scenic spots in Lingshan scenic spot in Wuxi. It is located at the Bank of Taihu Lake and at the foot of Lingshan mountain. It is adjacent to Lingshan Giant Buddha, which makes art and unique and profound Buddhist culture complement each other.
The total building area of Lingshan Vatican Palace is 72000 square meters. The three-story high Vatican Palace adopts a back-to-back architectural layout. It takes the North-South as the axis and is symmetrically distributed from east to west. The building is 150 meters wide and 180 meters deep. The top is five pagodas, and the back is a mantra-shaped altar. The cost is 1.8 billion yuan.
Cultural meaning
Looking back on the history of China and Buddhism, we can see that in every prosperous era, there will be highly civilized artistic crystallization, which will last for generations.
Grand Buddha at Ling Shan is made of tin bronze. Apart from the permanence of the bronze pieces, what’s more important is that bronze art is derived from the essence of classical art and is also an extremely brilliant part of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. The bronze art is simple and elegant, beautiful and meticulous, and enjoys a high status in the world.
Lingshan Giant Buddha stands on Xiaoling mountain on the Bank of Taihu Lake in Wuxi, reflecting the economic development, cultural prosperity, social stability, and harmony of East China, which is a treasure land of happiness. It is also an important embodiment of China’s policy of freedom of religious belief. It also symbolizes peace and life, like bronze, which is everlasting.
