Talking about the Past and Beijing - The Stone Buddha of the Northern Wei Dynasty's Taihe Period

Following the last story, this time I want to share with you the story of the most beautiful stone Buddha in Beijing. My first encounter with it came from a series of works about the Phoenix Ridge in the west of Beijing in Mr. Wang's 'Old Scenes of the Ancient Capital'. Later, through various online information, I learned more about its story, and this time I decided to go find it and show it to everyone. The Capital Museum reopened after more than half a year of renovation and exhibition preparation. It is said that the glass cover was removed from this stone Buddha to allow visitors a closer look, so I took the opportunity of the first snow in the Jia Chen year in Beijing to visit the museum again. Heading straight to the second floor, the Beijing General History Exhibition, the stone Buddha is displayed here. Who is this stone Buddha? He is the Northern Wei Dynasty's Taihe Stone Buddha! The Buddha statue is 1.65 meters tall and stands on a Sumeru lotus base over 1 meter high. The Buddha's face is dignified and full, with a spiral bun on his head, ears hanging over his shoulders, wearing a kasaya that is draped diagonally, with long sleeves touching the ground, bare-chested and barefoot. The left hand is clasped and slightly bent down in the 'Wish-Granting Mudra', while the right hand is bent at the elbow in front of the chest in the 'Fearless Mudra'. The upper body is dressed in a monk's robe, and the lower body in silk pants with a chrysanthemum pattern, with smooth and clearly defined folds. On both sides and above the Buddha's body, there are 31 celestial musicians carved into the halo, playing drums and flutes. Behind the Buddha is a 2.2-meter-tall backlight, and behind the backlight, there are 12 rows of small Buddha statues arranged horizontally from top to bottom, with varying numbers in each row and different sizes, totaling 124 statues. The small Buddhas are generally 0.12 meters high, with the smallest one being 0.04 meters. There are two relief statues beside the Buddha, likely representing Ananda and Kashyapa, disciples of Shakyamuni. There are some grooves around the Buddha statue, which look like ancient mortise and tenon structures, suggesting that the statue might have been integrated with other buildings at the time of carving. There are also two holes on it, the purpose of which is unknown. The Buddha statue is painted with cinnabar. The overall layout of the statue is rigorous, the carving technique is simple, and the decoration is rich, making it a fine example of stone carving in the region. Below the statue, there is an inscription that reads 'On the fifteenth day of the third month of the twenty-third year of Taihe, Yan Huiduan made this statue for the Emperor and the Empress Dowager', providing us with the exact date of the statue's creation. The thirteenth year of the Northern Wei Dynasty's Taihe period corresponds to the year 499 AD, when the ambitious Emperor Xiaowen, Yuan Hong, passed away in April. The Taihe Stone Buddha is the earliest known stone Buddha statue in Beijing. Although there has always been controversy over the age of the Buddha statue, its thematic style is believed to be carved during the Northern Wei Dynasty's Taihe period. The backlight and other decorations of the Buddha statue do not match the style of the time and may have been added later. Some say that the Empress Dowager mentioned refers to the famous historical figure Empress Dowager Feng, and the Buddha's face was also modeled after her. Yan Huirui might have been the founder! During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the 'Shuntian Prefecture Gazette' recorded that in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), Zhang Yunyi from Tongzhou discovered the statue. This news spread quickly and caught the attention of Emperor Guangxu, who ordered the Buddha statue to be transported to the Western Hills and assigned a Yao family to guard it, allocating funds to build a Stone Buddha Hall to house the statue. The earliest record of the Stone Buddha Hall comes from the Qing Dynasty's Zhi Run's 'Ji Ying Xuan Floating Life Daily Record'. In 1929, Feng Kuan wrote in 'Miaofeng Mountain Miscellaneous Records': 'There is a south-facing cave, with a valley built in front, and the Stone Buddha Hall is to the northwest of the cave. There is a mountain gate, three bays wide, all facing east... The temple is known as the Stone Buddha Hall, and it is unknown if there is a name for the monastery.' There is also the 'Beijing Travel Guide' compiled by Ma Zhixiang in 1935: 'The temple faces west to east, the mountain gate has collapsed, the Buddha hall has three layers, also in ruins, the front hall has a Wei Tuo, and the middle hall is the main hall, housing the stone Buddha.' From these records, it is known that the Stone Buddha Hall had a three-bay mountain gate, three-story halls, with Wei Tuo in the front hall and the main hall housing the stone Buddha. During the Republic of China period, the Stone Buddha Hall was on the verge of collapse. Li Shi, the chairman of the Sino-French University at the time, saw this and invited Duan Qiguang, who had studied architectural design in France, to oversee the reconstruction. The design was modeled after the Simenta Pagoda in Licheng, Shandong, with a European style. Skilled stonemasons from nearby Baihujian Village were hired to build the Stone Buddha Hall. The hall has a square floor plan, with each side measuring 5 meters, walls 3.2 meters high, and high arches 2.2 meters on each side. The base of the platform has four levels of vertical bands for steps, and the top is decorated with an octagonal pyramid spire. Standing is a square granite building with a spire slightly featuring Western characteristics, about 8 meters high, with arched windows on all four sides, constructed from thirteen layers of stone, subtly reflecting the 'thirteen heavens' pattern of a pagoda. The exterior of the Stone Buddha Hall is simple and unadorned, solid and stable. Inside the stone building, a stone Buddha statue was once preserved. In March 1998, 1499 years after the Buddha statue was carved, an outlaw stole the statue from Cheerying. During the theft, the statue was broken into five pieces, with some edges damaged, but later recovered by the police. On September 30 of the same year, the Wei Taihe statue was moved back to Beijing, and the criminals received their due punishment. Fortunately, after the restoration, the Buddha statue was housed in the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum and later in the Capital Museum, which is the one we see before us today. Despite the trials and tribulations, the stone Buddha can still be displayed almost completely intact, greeting visitors from all directions with its classic, enchanting smile. I will not praise this place further for now; listen for the continuation in the next episode.