Bangtuo Temple

CHINA, Sichuan, Aba

The temple was built during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and belonged to the Nyingma school. It is now in ruins, which are in two parts: the large scale stupa complex and the stone scriptures engraved with the Tibetan canon, which is quite rare. It was listed as a National Cultural Heritage Site in 2001.
The site covers an area of 1 ha. There are 39 Tibetan stupas built from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) onwards. The stupas have a square base and a hollow inverted bowl body. Statues enshrined in the stupas include Amitabha Buddha, Green Tara, White Tara, and Padmasambhava, alongside delicately painted murals. The Stupa of the Great Miracle is one of the best examples. It was built in 1910 during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and is 42 m high with a 21.5 m wide base. Inside the stupa there are numerous illustrations of Buddhist stories.
The stone scriptures are mainly in the center of the stupa complex and are stacked sequentially based on their contents in a 16.6 m long, 8 m wide, and 5.8 m high pile. There are almost 100,000 of these irregular-shaped stone blocks engraved with either sutras or Buddha images on both sides.