Introduction to Dayun Cave: Dayun Cave is located in the center of Thousand Buddha Cliff and is the largest with a total of 234 statues. There are 148 lotus Avalokitesvara statues on the left and right walls. The large standing Buddha statue in the center of the cave is Maitreya Buddha.
In the first year of Tianshou of the Tang Dynasty (690), when Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne, 12 monks including Xue Huaiyi, the Faming monk of Baima Temple, wrote the "Dayun Jing" and presented it to Wu Zetian in order to cater to Wu Zetian's needs as emperor. According to the Dayun Sutra, Wu Zetian was the birthplace of Maitreya Buddha and should replace Li Tang as emperor. Wu Zetian was overjoyed after reading it. She wrote a preface in her own hand and promulgated it to the world. She also ordered all states to build Dayun Temple to collect the Dayun Sutra. Because Wu Ze was born in Lizhou, the local people built Dayun Cave on Thousand Buddha Cliff and carved this standing statue of Maitreya Buddha and the two saints in the back niche-Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian. According to Chinese tradition, men should be on the left and women on the right. The arrangement of the two saints is women on the left and men on the right. The men in the Buddhist niches are taller and the women are lower. This reflects the designer's ingenious idea.