LESHAN, SICHUAN PROVINCE.-  The Leshan Giant Buddha will be guarded with electronic surveillance. It was carved in 713, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The statue is not Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, but his disciple Maitreya, also a Buddha. In the beginning, a 13-story wooden structure was built to house and protect the Buddha, but it was destroyed during the wars in the late Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). From then on, the Buddha has been exposed to the wind and rain, and one can even find bullet holes from war.



The Leshan Giant Buddha is as famous as the standing Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan and all of them are regarded as cultural heritages of mankind. With a sitting height of 71 meters, the Leshan Giant Buddha is the world’s largest statue of a Buddha carved in rock. The colossal Buddhas of Bamiyan stood 53 and 38 meters high and were the world’s second and third largest Buddhas carved in rock. The Leshan Buddha still sits in a majestic manner, but the Buddhas of Bamiyan have been destroyed by man. Therefore, the protection of the Leshan Buddha has become an even more important task.