Baoshan Pagoda Forest: The Valley of Ten Thousand Buddhas

Located in Nanping Village, south of Shanying Town, Anyang County, the Lingquan Temple houses the largest scale relief pagoda forest in the country, which is later known as the 'Valley of Ten Thousand Buddhas'. Professor Su Bai, a renowned expert on grotto sculpture, refers to it as the 'Baoshan Pagoda Forest'. Following the narrow path, one can see cliffside niches with shallow grotto pagodas spread all over. There are a total of 156 niches, many of which have inscriptions. The names of the niches include the Ash Body Pagoda, the Bodhi Pagoda, the Image Pagoda, the Spirit Pagoda, the Dispersed Body Pagoda, the Broken Body Pagoda, and the Shadow Pagoda, among others. These niches were carved from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Northern Song period, spanning over 600 years. Its grand scale and early era are rarely seen in other temple grottoes, making it the foremost in the nation.