The term "stone Buddhist image" is a collective term of the Buddhist image carved in stone and the image of a deity such as Doso-shin (traveler's guardian deity), and it has a variety of sizes ranging from small one which is seen in the precincts of temples and shrines and on roadsides, to Usuki Magaibutsu (A Buddhist image carved into the surface of natural rock such as a cliff face, a large rock, or a stone cave) and other Magaibutsu carved in a large rock such as Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves in India, Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Caves in China.
石仏（せきぶつ）とは、石に彫られた仏像や道祖神などの神像なども含め総称されるが、その規模は寺院や神社の境内、路傍などで見られるような小さいものから、臼杵磨崖仏、インドのアジャンター石窟、エローラ石窟、中国の雲岡石窟、龍門石窟などに代表されるような巨大な岩盤に彫られた磨崖仏まで多様である。