Taishan Jingshiyu Diamond Sutra (Part 1)

Author: Compiled by the Editing Group of Selected Ancient Stele and Stone Inscriptions
Publisher:
Publishing Date: March 1, 1998
Features: The Great Golden Sutra of Mount Tai (Taishan Jingshiyu Jingujing), also known as The Buddhist Diamond Sutra of Mount Tai, is a monumental rock carving on the granite bed of Huahua Rock in Taishan Stone Inscription Valley, Tai'an, Shandong. The characters are large, with a diameter of about one foot, and the calligraphy style is bold and powerful, primarily in clerical script, interspersed with elements of seal script, regular script, and cursive script. The size of the characters varies, with most being vertically about 35 centimeters tall and horizontally 40 to 60 centimeters wide. According to early Republican-era rubbings, over 960 characters remain. Yang Shoujing remarked in Shuxue Eryan: "In the realm of large characters, this is the ultimate example."
The Great Golden Sutra of Mount Tai (Taishan Jingshiyu Jingujing) does not bear the name of its calligrapher. However, due to its script style being similar to the inscriptions of Prince Jinchang's Name (Tang Yongning) on the Jianshan Cliff in Shandong, some later scholars believed it might have been written by Tang Yongning. It is also similar to the Great Prajna Paramita Sutra of Culuai Mountain, which bears the inscription "Prince Ziwu of Qi, Yuan Sheng, created this." Thus, some it was commissioned by Prince Ziwu.
Qing Dynasty scholar Ruan Yuan, in Shanuo Jinshi Zhi, attributed it to an artist during the Northern Qi period (550–559 AD).