How about the open-air Maitreya Buddha in Xuedou Mountain?
The Maitreya Buddha in Xuedou Mountain is located on the back mountain of Xuedou Mountain in Xikou Town, Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province, on the hillside with an altitude of 369 meters. The Buddha sits north and faces south, in a bronze sitting posture, with a cloth bag in his left hand and a Buddhist bead in his right hand. He has kind eyebrows and kind eyes, a pleasant smile, and his chest and abdomen exposed. This is a Chinese Maitreya Buddha statue modeled after the basic form of the Budai monk in Fenghua. The Giant Buddha is condescending and integrated with the entire rock mass. It is solid and solid, as stable as a rock, majestic and magnificent, with extraordinary momentum, solemn treasure appearance, exquisite workmanship and lifelike. The construction of the open-air Maitreya Buddha is a major undertaking in the history of tourism development in Fenghua City, and it is also a cultural event that will carry forward the past and open up the future. It will play a positive role in promoting the development of Fenghua's tourism industry, enhancing the cultural value of Fenghua city, and accelerating the pace of building Fenghua into a famous tourist city.
The scenic area has a planned area of 52 hectares and is composed of three axes in the middle, east and west and six functional areas. The central axis is the main scenic spot of the Big Buddha, the east axis is the auxiliary scenic spot of the Big Buddha, and the west axis is the original Xuedou Temple building. The functional layout of the six major areas combines dynamic and static areas: the core area of the Big Buddha, the Buddha worship area, the Maitreya group sculpture area, the cultural relics display area, the leisure and self-cultivation area, and the tourism and shopping area. The total height of the open-air Maitreya Buddha statue is 56.74 meters (including 33 meters of copper Buddha body, 9 meters of lotus seat, and 14.74 meters of base). The entire Buddha is made of more than 500 tons of tin bronze and is supported by more than 1,000 tons of steel frames internally. The entire rock mass is connected into one, solid, majestic and extraordinary. It is the tallest seated bronze Maitreya Buddha statue in the world.
The construction of the open-air Maitreya Buddha is a major undertaking in the history of tourism development in Fenghua City, and it is also a cultural event that will carry forward the past and open up the future. After the completion of the open-air Maitreya Buddha, the Maitreya Zen Temple, Yuelin Temple, Xuedou Mountain Open-air Maitreya Buddha, Zhongta Temple ruins and other scenic spots scattered throughout Fenghua will be connected to form a complete Maitreya cultural tourism route, which will contribute to the promotion of Fenghua It will play a positive role in developing the tourism industry, enhancing the cultural value of Fenghua city, and accelerating the pace of building Fenghua into a famous tourist city.
Display the historical and cultural relics of Maitreya's incarnation as Budai monk, and demonstrate the spirit and philosophy of Budai Maitreya culture of tolerance, joy, compassion, and freedom, thereby further enhancing Fenghua's popularity and influence at home and abroad, and launching Maitreya cultural tourism brand, promote the sustainable development of tourism, accelerate the construction of a famous tourist city at home and abroad, and promote the sound and rapid economic and social development of Fenghua.
Historical data records that Budai monk, whose name is Qi, also called himself Changtingzi, was a monk in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. He has a fat body, a frown on his forehead and a big belly. He lives in an unpredictable place and speaks silently. He can tell people about good or bad luck, and he can tell whether the weather is sunny or rainy. Because he often carried a cloth bag with his hands, he was called the Budai monk. On the third day of March in the third year of Zhenming in the Later Liang Dynasty (917), Buddhist monk Budai sat on the rock in the east corridor of Yuelin Temple in Fenghua and said a verse: "Maitreya is the true Maitreya, with tens of billions of incarnations. He always shows it to people at that time, but people at that time don't recognize it." At the end of the poem, he passed away peacefully and his body was buried in the pagoda pavilion of Fengshan in the north of the city. After Budai monk passed away, everyone thought he was the reincarnation of Maitreya and was worshiped as the Big-belly Maitreya Buddha. In the third year of Chongning in the Northern Song Dynasty, Tan Zhen, the abbot of Yuelin Temple, first made a bag of monks in the temple to worship Maitreya Buddha. After that, Buddhist temples in Han Dynasty also changed the Indian sky-crown Maitreya statue to the Chinese cloth bag Maitreya Buddha statue. For more than a thousand years, Fenghua has been known as the Holy Land of Maitreya.
Fenghua is the place where the legendary Budai monk, the incarnation of Maitreya, grew up, became a monk, and passed away. The open-air Maitreya Buddha statue in Xuedou Mountain is modeled after the Budai monk. In 1984, Xuedou Mountain was recommended by Layman Zhao Puchu, president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, as one of the five famous Buddhist mountains. The Fenghua Municipal Government started applying for approval in 1999 to build an open-air Maitreya Buddha statue in Xuedou Mountain. In September 2005, the State Administration of Religious Affairs officially approved the construction. On December 29, 2006, the foundation stone of the open-air Maitreya Buddha statue in Xuedou Mountain was officially laid and named "Human Maitreya". It was grandly consecrated on November 8, 2008.
Tickets
Ticket validity period: one day for scenic spots, two days for unified tickets
Unitary tickets for Xikou Scenic Area: 230 yuan/person (unified tickets for Xikou Scenic Area) Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area Transportation Ticket)
Xikou Scenic Area Ticket: 200 yuan/person
Attractions include: Chiang Kai-shek's Hometown Scenic Area: Fenghaofang, Yutai Salt Shop, Chiang’s Ancestral Hall, Small Bungalow, Wenchang Pavilion, Wuling Tower, Wuling School, Wuling Scenic Spot, Xikou Museum, Chiang’s Mother Cemetery (Chiang’s Mother’s Tomb Path, Cuckoo Valley, Butterfly World)
Xue Dou Mountain Scenic Areas: Qianzhang Rock, Miaogao Terrace, the original site of the old China Travel Service, Sanyin Pond, Xufu Rock, Giant Buddha Scenic Area (Xue Dou Temple, Maitreya Buddha)
Chiang’s Hometown Scenic Area: 120 yuan/person
Attractions include: Chiang Kai-shek's hometown scenic spot: Fenghao House, Yutai Salt Shop, Chiang's Ancestral Hall, Small Bungalow, Wenchang Pavilion, Wuling Tower, Wuling School, Wuling Scenic Area, Xikou Museum, Chiang's Mother Cemetery ( Chiang’s mother’s tomb passage, Cuckoo Valley, Butterfly World)
Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area: 120 yuan/person
Attractions include: Qianzhang Rock, Miaogao Terrace, the original site of the old China Travel Service Hotel, Sanyin Pond, Xufuyan, Giant Buddha Scenic Area (Xuedou Temple, Maitreya Buddha)
Traffic Ticket to Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area
Sightseeing bus in Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area: 30 yuan/person (visitors can enter Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area in Xuedou Mountain Scenic Area) Take any tourist bus up and down the mountain)
A single ticket for the sightseeing train is 45 yuan/person, a single ticket for the cableway is 35 yuan/person, and a combined ticket for the cableway and sightseeing train is 50 yuan/person
Opening hours
Open all day
Attraction location
Xikou Town, Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province