Temples in the CliffsideWinner of the 2023 IPPY Gold Religion Nonfiction category, sponsored by the Independent Publisher Book Award Centuries of monumental sculpture, embedded in the landscape At sixty two meters the Leshan Buddha in southwest China is the worlds tallest premodern statue. Carved out of a riverside cliff in the eighth century, it has evolved from a religious center to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination. But this Buddha does not