Temples in the Cliffside: Buddhist Art in Sichuan

Winner of the 2023 IPPY - Gold - Religion Nonfiction category, sponsored by the Independent Publisher Book Award Centuries of monumental sculpture, embedded in the landscape At sixty-two meters the Leshan Buddha in southwest China is the world's tallest premodern statue. Carved out of a riverside cliff in the eighth century, it has evolved from a religious center to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination. But this Buddha does not stand alone: Sichuan is home to many cave temples with such monumental sculptures, part of a centuries-long tradition of art-making intricately tied to how local inhabitants made use of their natural resources with purpose and creativity. These examples of art embedded in nature have altered landscapes and have influenced the behaviors, values, and worldviews of users through multiple cycles of revival, restoration, and recreation. As hybrid spaces that are at once natural and artificial, they embody the interaction of art and the environment over a long period of time. This far-ranging study of cave temples in Sichuan shows that they are part of the world's sustainable future, as their continued presence is a reminder of the urgency to preserve culture as part of today's response to climate change. Temples in the Cliffside brings art history into close dialogue with current discourse on environmental issues and contributes to a new understanding of the ecological impact of artistic monuments.

About the Author :
Sonya S. Lee is professor of Chinese art and visual cultures at the University of Southern California and author of Surviving Nirvana: Death of the Buddha in Chinese Visual Culture.

Review :
"Lee presents exquisite photographs and data through long-term fieldwork and research, providing a significant reference for understanding the Buddhist cave art in Sìchuan." -- "Religious Studies Review" "Sonya Lee's informative book adds another layer to the research on stone carvings in Sichuan and Chongqing: ecology and image-making." -- "JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society" "[A] truly multidisciplinary work of scholarship that examines Buddhist art from intertwined technical, environmental, religious, historical, aesthetic, economic, and political perspectives...Temples in the Cliffside innovatively locates religious art within its historical, political, and natural landscapes to show how people have managed their relationships to nature, and nonhuman entities in general, in different contexts. At a time when floods will likely wash the Great Buddha's feet more and more frequently, thinking about art holistically and ecologically is particularly urgent." -- "CAA Reviews" "[A] very inspiring contribution to our understanding of ecological art history from the perspective of Asian art. It should be read by anyone who is interested in the interrelationships among Buddhist studies, art history, and environmental humanities." -- "H-Environment" "Sonya Lee's Temples in the Cliffside is a welcome addition to studies of the religious cliff sculpture of southwestern China." -- "Journal of Chinese History" "Sonya Lee's superbly researched work has paid attention to the aesthetic and historical content of the monuments, but has also updated it by framing the events in the context of environment and sustainability which are very much part of our present time. This most original approach will inspire a younger generation of art historians. Lastly, her uncommon familiarity with all matters related to conservation and restoration have contributed to this groundbreaking book." -- "Studies in Chinese Religions"