Leshan, Sichuan, China
乐山大佛 · Lèshān Dàfó
A seated Buddha 71 metres high, cut into a red sandstone cliff where three rivers meet. A monk began it in 713 to calm the deadly waters below, and it took ninety years to finish. It is still the largest stone Buddha in the world.
Photo: Yumeto, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Below Lingyun Mountain the Min, the Qingyi and the Dadu rivers meet, and in the Tang dynasty (618–907) boats were smashed here every flood season. In 713 a monk called Haitong began to carve a Buddha into the cliff, hoping its presence would tame the waters. He raised the money by begging along the rivers. He died long before it was done; two governors of Sichuan carried on, and the Buddha was finished in 803, ninety years after the first cut.
The Buddha is Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, seated with hands on knees and feet on the river bank. For centuries he sat under a thirteen-storey wooden hall, which burned at the end of the Ming (1368–1644). His builders hid gutters in his hair, behind his ears and in the folds of his robe to carry away rain, and they still work. Stone chipped from the cliff fell into the river and, it is said, really did slow the current.
One ticket covers the mountain: the head, the stair to the feet, Lingyun Temple, the Lingbao Pagoda and Wuyou Temple. The river boat is a separate ticket.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| The head and Lingyun Temple | Mountain ticket |
| The Nine-Bend Plank Way and the feet | Mountain ticket |
| Lingbao Pagoda and Wuyou Temple | Mountain ticket |
| The river boat | Separate boat ticket |
You are level with his eyes. The head alone is about fifteen metres tall, and the coils of his hair are separate stones set into the scalp, more than a thousand of them. Look at his ears: each is about seven metres long and made of wood covered with plaster.
Then look down the cliff. A steep stair, the Nine-Bend Plank Way, zigzags down the rock beside him to his feet. Each of his toes is big enough for a group of people to stand on the nail.
"It is the Buddha who founded Buddhism." It is Maitreya, the Buddha to come, often shown seated like this in the Tang.
"It is made of one solid stone and nothing else." The ears and parts of the nose were made of wood and plaster, and the surface has been repaired many times; patches of recent repair can be seen on the cliff.
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
The walk takes two to three hours on the mountain; the boat, half an hour on the river. Do both if you can: the head from above, the whole figure from the water.
Behind the head stands Lingyun Temple, the monastery that grew up with the Buddha. The Haishi Cave, where Haitong lived, is cut into the cliff close by.
The stair is one-way and narrow, with up to two or three hours of queue on busy days. As you go down, the Buddha's body passes beside you like a wall; look for the old niches and small carved figures in the cliff.
The platform at his feet is just above the river. Look up: from here you understand the scale, and why it took ninety years.
On the hill above stands the brick Lingbao Pagoda, about 38 metres high, a landmark for boats since the Tang or Song. Across a small channel, on its own hill, Wuyou Temple has a hall of five hundred arhats.
Only from a boat can you see the whole Buddha at once, with the two guardian kings carved in niches on either side. The boats stop for a few minutes in front of him.
The first stones were cut in 713. Two years earlier, Arab and Berber armies had crossed into Spain.
| Year | Here | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 713 | Haitong begins the Buddha | Arab armies have just entered Spain |
| 803 | The Buddha is finished | Charlemagne rules the Franks as emperor |
| 1996 | With Mount Emei, the Buddha becomes a World Heritage Site | The sheep Dolly is cloned |
One line to remember: a monk's prayer to calm a river, ninety years in the cutting.
These are stories people tell about this place. They are legends, not history, and each one says where it comes from.
When officials came to take the money he had collected for the Buddha, Haitong is said to have told them they could have his eyes but not the Buddha's money, and gouged out his own eyes. The officials fled in shame.
Source: Told in Wei Gao's inscription of 803 and retold ever since
Later, people who live here will be able to add the stories they grew up with, and say which of these they have heard.
Last checked 2026-11-12. Ticket, boat and hours from 2026 press guides and Trip.com listings; the scenic area's own notices are on its WeChat account.
Checked 2026-11-12
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