The statues of Ziyan Temple (资延院) on Ciyun Peak (慈云岭) include Cijian Temple (敕建寺院) and grotto statuary (石窟造像) built by Emperor Qian Hongzuo of the Wuyue State. They belonged to an imperial grotto and their function was to protect the state. Among the remains of grotto temples in China, apart from the three famous imperial grottoes at Yungang, Longmen, and Beixiangtang, the imperial grotto of Wuyue State in Hangzhou represented by Ziyan Temple on Ciyun Peak can be called the typical representative of the imperial grottoes of Southern China.
In the south of the Yangtze River, there exists only one wooden structure dating back to the Five Dynasties, the main hall of Hualin Temple in Fuzhou, and none has been found from the Wuyue State in Zhejiang Province. Although no historical wooden Buddhist temple from Wuyue State was found in Zhejiang, we can still learn about the general situation of the imperial Buddhist temple of Wuyue State through the remains of the Shifo Hall (石佛殿) of Ziyan Temple. The main niche, the right niche, and the stele of the Shifo Hall are clearly distinguished, and are well preserved, leaving us with a rare example of a relatively well-preserved interior layout of a Buddhist temple hall from the Wuyue period. It is very precious for us to have a glimpse of the real scale and spectacular scenes inside temples thousands of years ago when it was known as the “Southeastern Buddhism Center”.
Most of the large-scale statues in the temples of Wuyue State were of gold, bronze, wood, or clay, and almost none survived. The majority of the surviving objects are small gold and bronze statues, most of which have no chronological inscriptions. The Shifo Hall of Ziyan Temple worships the statues of the Western Trinity in the center and other statues including Kṣitigarbha on the right. It is dated to the seventh year of Wuyue Tianfu (942). Its history is clear and has truly preserved the standard image of the imperial temple statues in the middle period of Wuyue State. It also serves as a criterion to determine the history of Buddhist art.
Relief about the Six Paths of Reincarnation in the temple is a rare grotto art work in China that intuitively reflects the Six Paths of Reincarnation philosophy. It reflects the popular view of life and the world of the people of Wuyue. It is of great importance and reference value for understanding and studying the ideas and beliefs of the people of the time.
The statues are of great value in all three dimensions -- the history and the artistic and architectural history of Wuyue, and their actual value is still greatly underestimated. In the future, archaeologists will need to continue to investigate and study it in depth.
In 2006, the statues of Ciyun Peak were included in the sixth batch of the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.