The Leshan Giant Buddha is essentially an enormous carved statue of a monk and is seen sitting at peace. This statue is 233 ft. high, 27 ft. long and 30 ft, wide – wide enough to accommodate 100 people to sit on its base. The shoulders are as wide as a baseball field. It is no wonder that it is indeed the biggest Buddha in the world!
The statue is in a sitting position overlooking the Min, Qingyi, and the Dadu Rivers. This is a national heritage site for China and is recounted throughout the world for its enormous size and structural ingenuity. The story behind the origin of this giant status is just as fascinating as the overall looks. It is believed that it took workers nearly a century to carve this manually out of stone.
The project was originally the idea of a Chinese monk known as Hai Tong. He was deeply concerned for all the people who had lost their lives in the stormy rivers. He wanted to build this Buddha so the Buddha could overlook the fishermen and keep them. He begged alms for two decades and collected enough money to start the project. The project was still underway when Hai Tong passed away so he was not able to witness the finished creation. However, two of his ardent disciples continued the work and ensured it was complete after 90 years of hard labor and toil.
It is incredible to note that this Buddha has over 1000 buns of curly hair placed meticulously on the head. The eyes were made of wood and certainly an ingenious work of the artisans of that time!