Why is Tongtianyan called the first cave in the south of the Yangtze River?

Tongtianyan Scenic Area, located in the northwest suburb of Ganzhou City, was excavated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Northern Song Dynasty. Up to now, 359 stone niches from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty have been preserved, and 128 cliff carvings from the Song Dynasty to the Republic of China have been praised by experts as "the first grottoes in the south of the Yangtze River". The five caves of Guan Xinyan, Wang Guiyan, Longhuyan, Tongtianyan and Cuiweiyan are rich in cultural heritage and historical relics, and historical celebrities such as Su Dongpo, Yang Xiaoben, Wang Yangming and Jiang Jingguo have also left many relics here.

A lifelike cliff statue

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were 365 Tongtianyan, 438+05 caves and 359 statues. Statues are mainly distributed in Fogui Rock, Longhu Rock, Tongtian Rock and Cuiwei Rock. Among them, there are 1 arhats in the front of Fogui Rock, 6 arhats in the back, 3 arhats in Longhu Rock, and the rest are distributed in Tong Weiyan.

The existing cliff statues can be divided into four groups. One is eight Buddha statues located at the junction of Song Dynasty and Cuiweiyan, and the other eight were excavated in the late Tang Dynasty, which opened the earliest cliff statues. Among them, two Guanyin Buddha statues are the best preserved and have high historical value.

Second, the Pilu Zena Buddha and Manjusri Bodhisattva Pu Xian, which are located on the cliff of Tongtianyan and guarded by 500 arhats. This group of statues was unearthed in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the largest scale and the most magnificent momentum.

Third, the statue of eighteen arhats in a single niche, which was mainly revered by monks as a mirror, was unearthed in the late Northern Song Dynasty and is the essence of the cliff statue in Tongtianyan.

The fourth is the Maitreya Buddha statue built by Zhu in Cuiweiyan, which was unearthed in the early Southern Song Dynasty.

Looking at the cliff statues of Tongtianyan, in the early stage of the late Tang Dynasty, Bodhisattva statues dominated, and in the Song Dynasty, when Tongtianyan Grottoes flourished, Lohan statues dominated. The former obviously bears the legacy of northern Buddhist culture, while the latter is influenced by the powerful forces of Zen in Jiangxi.

Cliff stone carvings handed down from ancient times

There are more than 100 cliff stone carvings in Tongtianyan Scenic Area, which can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty and lasted for more than 900 years after the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. The earliest one was carved in the sixth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1073), and the latest one was carved in 1948. The fonts used in the inscriptions are mainly block letters and running scripts, and some of them use official script, cursive script and seal script. Stylistic forms include titles, inscriptions, poems, statues of Buddhist niches, couplets, plaques and auspicious words. Its content involves politics, history, religion, culture and other aspects, and it is a valuable material for studying China's calligraphy and stone carving art as well as local history.

Tongtianyan Cliff Stone Carvings with the largest number of words are located in Longhuyan, with a full text of 406 words, which was carved in Jiading for ten years in the Southern Song Dynasty. The works with the least number of words are located on the stone wall next to Yaochi, with only the word "Jade Square". The longest work is located on the cliff of Danya, which is tens of meters high in front of Fogui Rock. Magnificent, the sun and the moon fly, is the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1 178).

Tongtianyan Cliff Stone Carvings are widely distributed in the scenic spot, starting from Guan Xinyan in the east of the scenic spot, along Wangguiyan, Longhuyan, Tongtianyan and Cuiweiyan, and ending at the ordinary tower in the west of the scenic spot. Among the cliff stone carvings of Tongtianyan, Hu Yi and Li Dazheng in Song Dynasty, Wang Yangming and Tang Bangzuo in Ming Dynasty are all excellent works, especially the inscriptions of Wang Yangming and Tang Bangzuo, especially a five-character poem "Forgetting to Return to the Rock" carved by Wang Yangming, which has a great influence on later inscriptions, and Tang Bangzuo's inscription is the best in Shujiang art.

Tongtianyan is one of the treasures of ancient art in southern China. It is famous for the largest stone niche statue group in Jiangxi, with many inscriptions, ranking first in Jiangxi. Tongtianyan Scenic Area has four characteristics: unique Danxia landform, pleasant ecological scenery, rich cultural relics and grotto art treasures.

Tongtianyan