大足石刻Grotto Art in Dazu County

　　大足县在重庆市的西北，县城距重庆百余公里。县城东西长达四公里，南北宽两公里，城四周丘陵起伏，丛山连绵。东有宝顶山，南有南山，西有妙高山、石篆山，北有北山，都是风景优美，并藏着古代劳动人民所制作的石刻艺术的名胜地区。

　　大足石刻是我国重要的石窟造像之一，始凿于唐景福元年(公元89年)，经五代至宋达到鼎盛，终成于南宋末期，明、清仅有一些零星雕刻。造像题材广泛，艺术手法丰富，具有浓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、地主为了祈福而造的像，宝顶山是南宋时密宗教徒赵智凤，为建立传教道场造的像。大足石刻虽然主要是佛教造像，但历代的匠师们却充分发挥了雕塑艺术语言的特点，把他们对美的理想溶化在造像中，直到今天仍能给我们以美的享受。

　　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 .

　　The work of Dazu Rock Carvings began in the first year of Yonghui in the Tang Dynasty , 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 , 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.