Wuhan's most famous Buddhist Monastery is offering a 1-million yuan award for the best design of a carved jade Buddha.
The owner of the precious Hotan jade stone, or nephrite, has agreed to request by abbot Long Yin for it to be worshipped in the Guiyuan temple permanently. The 3.2 ton stone was excavated in 1994 in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It's 24.1 meters long, 1.75 meters wide, and 0.83 meters high. Experts say its worth up to 100 million yuan.
Temple abbot, Master Long Yin, said, "The jade stone looks like a sitting Buddha Maitreya. It's not tall and cannot stand straight. So I think it can be carved into a Buddha Maitreya."
The abbot says the temple is offering an award of up to 1 million yuan to the best designer selected from around the world to carry out the carving. It will select the winner from designs submitted by January 31, 2010.
