絲路 與 石窟
絲路 與 石窟
SilkRoad and Grottoes
YunGang Grottoes
In 460AD, the King of Bei Wei decided to promote Buddhism in its territory to strengthen its sovereignty. Cave 16 to Cave 20 were quickly excavated funded by the King. The main buddha statue of each of these caves signified a past King of Bei Wei. This one at Cave 20 signified the 1st King, King Dao Wu. The statue towers at over 13 meters, and is now the icon of the YunGang Grottoes.
The form of 2 buddhas sitting together deliverying sermon was a common theme of buddhist artistic presentation during Bei Wei era. In 466AD, after the death of King Wen Chen, his queen Fung became a regent queen in the next 24 years, over a period of 2 subsequent kings. The Dual Buddha form appropriately represented such a political situation.
FeiTian is a type of character that can be commonly found in Buddhist grottoes. In different times and at different places, their features were different. Bei Wei was established by XianBie people who originaly were nomads. The FeiTians shown in YunGang Grottoes wore trouses instead of robe-like skirt as seen in other grottoes, hence reflected a cultural heritage.
These particular picture shows a large band of musician FeiTians playing a wide array of instruments. Many of these instruments could have their origins traced back to QuiCi.
Although YunGang Grottoes were generally built during BeiWei era, there were a few exceptions. This set of Buddha were found in the back chamber of Cave 3, and were recognized to be works of Tang Dynasty in around 7th to 8th centuries.
This is a sculpture of a "Thinking Bodhisattva" found in Cave 11. Thinking Bodhisattva was a popular form between the 5th and 6th centuries, it was an artistic representation of Prince Siddhartha's mediation process before he attained enlightenment. Both the seat and the crown reflected his identify.
Maitreya Bodhisattva was a common form of buddhist sculpture at the time between 4th to 7th centuries at northern China when wars between different races were frequent and intense. People believed that Maitreya Bodhisattva would transform to Maitreya Buddha of Future, and he would decent from the Enlightened Heaven to save all from suffering.
A typical Chinese style palace building to house the Buddha and all others from the Enlightened World.
This picture was taken from Cave 11, it showed that top of the center column of the cave. A Chinese dragon and a Asura were clearly shown in a mural, reflecting a interesting mixture of Chinese and ancient Indian cultures.
The YunGang Grottoes, formerly known as the Wuzhoushan Grottoes, are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes located at 16 km west of the city of Datong. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they were considered by UNESCO as a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... and ...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices."
Though YunGang Grottoes are not located directly along the Silk Road, however both its religious and artistic origins can be traced directly back to Silk Road, particularly at WuWei and QiuCi, an ancient city state along Silk Road that dated back to the 3rd to 4th centuries AD.