After passing Huayan Nunnery surrounded by green bamboos and with yellow walls and black tiles, one can see from a distance a small hill opposite Panhu Rock. The hill resembles a Buddha, and a Buddha resembles a mountain. The mountain body is just like the body of a great Buddha, sitting with knees bent, chest exposed and belly bared, right hand on the knee and left hand on the bag. The natural form is extremely vivid. This is the Foshan Sacred Realm in the scenic area. The designer cleverly added a little artificial decoration and equipped it with a 10-meter-high head. As a result, an open-air Maitreya with a total height of 30 meters, with its head against the blue sky, always smiling and endearing, appears in front of tourists. There is a couplet engraved on the stone tablet: ‘A big belly can hold things that are hard to be tolerated in the world. A smiling face always laughs at people who are laughable in the world.’ On one side of the open-air Maitreya, there are also six small stone-carved Maitreyas. It not only has the wonder of natural creation but also the beauty of artificial embellishment. Seeing this open-air Maitreya, people will naturally think of the Cloth Bag Monk. The Cloth Bag Monk really existed. He is Qici, a monk who passed away in Yuelin Temple in Fenghua in the third year of Zhenming in the Five Dynasties (917). This monk said a verse ‘Maitreya is truly Maitreya, but people in the world do not recognize him’ when he was about to die. Later generations probably in order to prove that they are not ‘unrecognizable’, recognized his appearance as Maitreya and molded and passed down his respectful appearance of ‘having a big belly and a smiling face all over’. Opening hours: Open all day throughout the year.
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