Ever since Buddhism was introduced to Kizil in the early first century, its school of religion and philosophy was centered around the branch of Theravada which literally meant "school of the elder monks", and was a branch of Buddhism that used the Buddha's teaching preserved in the Pāli Canon as its doctrinal core. Religion practice wise, monks of Theravada only devoted to 1 Buddha (Shakyamuni) and 1 Bodhisattva – Maitreya, who was also regarded as the Buddha of the Future. These religion practice was observed for hundreds of years at Kizil.

 

The 3 murals shown on this page, from top to bottom, came from Cave 17, Cave 76 and Cave 224 respectively. Cave 17 was among the few earliest grottoes that were excavated at Kizil. Result of C14 dating identifies its making days way back to 237~320AD. Cave 76 was excavated between late 4th century to mid 6th century, and Cave 224 was made between late 4th century to late 6th century. These 3 murals all presented the same story, Bodhisattva Maitreya Preaching in the Heaven.

 

The 3 murals each had a different artistic style. The first one from Cave 17 represented a mixture of Indian style with strong local Kizil flavor. The mural from Cave 76 carried a very typical Gandhara style. The mural from Cave 224 while came from the same era as the one from Cavel 76, it carried a new Indian+Kizil style, a mixture of the first two.