The First Foreign Visitor to Dazu Grottoes

Shrine No.156

Shrine No. 156 of North Mountain is a little bit special: Buddhas have been broken; the 500 figures of arhat are carved on southern and northern walls of the shrine. At the center of the shrine, there is a tomb with inscriptions which is titled with "The Nirvana of A Buddhism Master From West". It tells us that a monk from west used to visit Dazu Grottoes.

In a summer of Ming Dynasty, a monk from west arrived at Dazu after a long journey. He was facinated about the temples and the carvings of Dazu immediately. He planed to stay for several days to visit all the temples of Dazu. There were so many temples for him to visit, so he did not visit the most important part of Dazu (Baoding Mountain) even after a year. When he got to Baoding Mountain, he was astonded by the beautiful and majestic views of Baoding. For expressing his respect, he finally decided to stay at Baoding Mountain to complete his Buddhist practices. After a long time practice, he finally entered Nirvana here. The local monks buried him at Shrine No.156 in memory of this devoted man.

This monk from west is the first foreign visitor to Dazu Grottoes.