A Study on the Relevance between the 40 Statues of Arhats and 500 Statues of Arhats in the Lingyan Buddhist Temple at Changqing

Abstract

The 40 painted clay statues of arhats in Thousand Buddha Hall of the Lingyan Buddhist Temple at Changqing, Shandong Province were highly appraised by the Chinese celebrities. Meanwhile, the provenience of these statues were paid extensive attentions by both Chinese and overseas scholars. Omura Seigai (1868-1927) in Japan and some Chinese & overseas scholars hold the belief that these Statues correlate with the 500 statues of arhats first carved in the temple in the Song Dynasty. By literature reviews and several field investigations for evidences, we finally concluded that some of the present statues in Thousand Buddha Hall were carved in the 3rd year of Zhiping Emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty (1066), and they were placed in Bozhou Hall, west of Thousand Buddha Hall. Later，the Hall was abandoned because of the destruction by the torrential floods. In the 15th year of Wanli Emperor in the Ming Dynasty (1587), the remaining 32 Statues were moved into Thousand Buddha Hall. And additional 8 statues were carved and placed there successively based on the Hall’s spatial arrangements. The original 500 statues of arhats in the Lingyan Buddhist Temple were completed in the 6th year of Xuanhe Emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty (1124). A Fengyilang (a civil official rank) named Qigu Song donated to sculpture them by craftsmen in Fujian Province. Although the two groups of arhats statues were carved not far from each other in the time of sculpture, they do not correlate with each other.