Chris and I came to Leshan in 2004 to see the world’s second largest Buddha. In those days it was a long bus ride from Chengdu. Fast forward 20 years and once again the changes are stark. A sleek bullet train takes us there in 50 minutes. We arrive to a massive new visitors centre with all the mod cons.
The biggest change is less about China. We are now visiting the world’s largest Buddha following the destruction of the Bamian Buddhas previously the world’s largest. Situated in Afghanistan the vicious Taliban committed cultural vandalism in 2001 by laying explosives around the feet of these centuries old statutes and blowing them up for the simple reason that it is a representation of a religion other than their own.
The statue was hand carved out of the sandstone mountain between 713 and 803 AD. Standing 71 metres at the confluence of the Min and Dadu Rivers the monks of the day believed that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters plaguing shipping vessels down the river. As it turns out the carved out debris deposit in the river did actually have that effect. The detail of this massive seated sculpture is remarkable right down to the curls on his head and fingers and toenails.
