万佛堂石窟

Wanfotang Grottoes

Useful Information

Location:	Wanfotang Village, Toutai Country, Yi County 121100. (41.572933, 121.155354)
Open:	APR to OCT daily 8:30-16:30, last entry 16. NOV to MAR daily 8:30-16, last entry 15:30. [2024]
Fee:	Adults CNY 35. [2024]
Classification:	Cave Church
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Wanfotang Grottoes, Wanfotang Village, Toutai Country, Yi County 121100, Tel: +86-416-662-2131.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

13-JAN-1988

listed as Cultural Monument.

Description

万佛堂石窟 (Wàn fú táng shíkū, Ten Thousand Buddha Grottoes), also 萬佛堂石窟, are artificial grottoes carved into a cliff on the north bank of the Daling River, 10 km northwest of Liaoning. The name translates Ten Thousand Buddha Grottoes which is a common Chinese exaggeration used for such series of temple caves. This is a 100 m long cliff with some 20 Buddhist cave temples with numerous Buddha statues, though far less than 10,000. There are actually 430 statues and not all depict Buddha. And despite the bombastic name it is much smaller than the famous Yungang Grottoes in Datong and the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. They are nevertheless the oldest and largest grottoes in Northeast China, and of extraordinary significance.

The western part was carved in the 23rd year of the Taihe reign of the Northern Wei Dynasty (499 AD) and has nine caves. Six larger caves are on the lower layer, three small caves on the upper layer. The second cave contains a statue with the inscription "Statue Stele of Yuan Jing, the Governor of Yingzhou, Pingdong General". The sixth cave is the largest and has a Maitreya Buddha in front, which is 3 m tall. The eastern part was carved in the third year of the Jingming reign of the Northern Wei Dynasty (502 AD) and has seven caves. The Highlight is the "Han Zhen Statue Inscription" in the fifth cave. A text with 269 characters tells the story how Han Zhen and 74 other people came together to build the caves.

The rock is a sandstone which was eroded by the river. It’s evident that the caves were originally erosional caves created by the river, which were enlarged for the cave temples. Obviously, the rectangular chambers with rectangular pillars full of reliefs are artificial.