Giant Buddha of ChengDu (2007)
Legend has it that the man responsible for the building of this enormous mountain sculpture tore out his eyes in protest / to gain support for his dream of finishing the project. It was undertaken due the overwhelming number of seamen who perished at that particular bend of the Yangtze River. He thought that carving Buddha's image would help bless / save the ships from running aground and killing the sailors.
Instead, and quite by accident it would seem, the amount of rock displaced by the carving (and dumped in the river) actually raised the water level - allowing future ships to have a safe and clear passage. Go go Buddha!
Sadly, the man without eyes died before finishing the carving, and it took many years and many other people to finally finish it... but look at it now! After being re-claimed from the natural overgrowth a few years ago, it holds claim to the Largest Buddha in the World... and that's something worth keeping your eyes for people!
During my trips to Chengdu I wasn't originally so interested in seeing this, but I had a free weekend and nothing to do so I booked the tour to Leshan and Emeishan and I am happy I did. The shear scale of this thing is just unbelievable. Emeishan was equally incredible.
casprd33 1 year ago
@casprd33 We didn't have the time to do all of Emeishan, but I've just "Google Imaged' it and now I wish we had! Someday we'll afford another trip over there...
You're right about the scale of the Buddha - it's huge!
touristmap 1 year ago