Chapter 14 The fourteenth chapter plateau wonderful - Datong Yungang Grottoes

In the northern part of the Shanxi Plateau, there is a famous coal capital, Datong City, and in the west of the city, there is a world-renowned art library, namely Yungang Grottoes. The Yungang Grottoes are located on the cliff on the north bank of Wuzhouchuan Canyon at the southern foot of Wuzhou Mountain, 16 kilometers west of Datong City.It was excavated by the mountain and stretches for about one kilometer from east to west.The existing main caves are divided into east, middle and west areas, with a total of 45 caves.In addition, there are many small caves, more than 1,100 in total, and more than 51,000 statues of different sizes.Among them, the big caves such as Tanyao Five Caves and each group of double caves were mostly built between the first year of Heping (AD 460) of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the eighteenth year of Emperor Xiaowen Taihe (AD 494).The excavation of small cave niches continued until the sixth year of Emperor Xiaoming Zhengguang (525 A.D.).In the Tang and Liao dynasties, only individual grottoes were excavated and repaired, but in the Liao Dynasty, 10 large temples were built here.Since the Qing Dynasty, little is known about the Yungang Grottoes.It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the famous Chinese scholars Chen Yuan and Ye Gongchuo, and the Japanese Changpan Dading reported it and attracted people's attention.The Yungang Grottoes are excavated earlier in the northern part of the Central Plains of China, and the grottoes are mainly composed of the grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Therefore, it has a great influence on the grottoes in the surrounding areas.Together with Longmen Grottoes and Dunhuang Grottoes, it is called China's "Three Great Grottoes".

The Yungang Grottoes were first excavated in the middle of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The specific construction time is said to be the second year of Xing'an (453 AD) of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the early year of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty (452 ​​AD).Why did the king of the Northern Wei Dynasty dig caves here?First of all, from the first year of Tianxing (398 A.D.) of Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty to the first year of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Pingcheng has been the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty for half a century and has a certain scale; Geer territory) and Pingcheng, the new capital, started from Tuoba Siming Emperor Yuan (AD 409-423), and it became a place for the royal family to pray for good fortune; again, because Buddhism has developed considerably in Pingcheng .The Buddhist monks also asked Buddhists to worship the emperor, claiming that the emperor is the current Tathagata, and worshiping the emperor is worshiping the Buddha, so the prosperity of the Buddha is conducive to the emperor's rule; There are more than 3,000 monks and 30,000 households in Pingcheng in today's Wuwei, Gansu Province, resulting in a situation of "Xiangjiao (Buddhism) increasing"; After Emperor Wencheng ascended the throne, in the first year of Xing'an (AD 452), he ordered the restoration of Buddhism and made stone statues like the emperor's body.In the first year of Xingguang (AD 454), it was ordered to cast five statues of Sakyamuni for the five emperors below the Northern Wei Dynasty Taizu (that is, Daowu, Mingyuan, Taiwu, Jingmu, and Wencheng) in five-level temples, and Buddhism developed further.In the second year of Xing'an (453 A.D.), Tan Yao, a famous monk from Liangzhou, was called to Pingcheng. In the first year of Heping (460 A.D.), he was appointed as a monk (official name) and respected as his teacher.All these conditions created conditions for the excavation of Yungang Grottoes, making Yungang a new Buddhist holy place near the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Yungang Grottoes can be divided into three batches according to the excavation sequence during the Northern Wei Dynasty.The first batch is the five caves excavated by Tan Yao in the early days of Emperor Wencheng.Tan Yao excavated five caves in Wuzhou Mountain in the west of Beijing, and carved a Buddha statue in each.Tanyaokai Five Grottoes are located in the middle of the Yungang Grottoes. The planes are all horseshoe-shaped and the dome-shaped roof is roughly imitating the oval-shaped thatched cottage in India.The main statue in the cave is tall and tall, and it is dominated by Buddhas of the three generations (past, present and future), occupying the main position in the cave.From the characteristics of its statues, we can also see some influence of Indian Gandhara art.The five caves can be divided into two groups according to their characteristics.Caves 18-20 are now compiled into a group, which was excavated the earliest time, and the main statues are all Buddhas of the third age.Among them, cave 19 is the central cave of this group, the main statue is 16.8 meters high, and the left and right Buddhas are located in the east and west ear holes outside the cave. The main statue in Cave 20 is 13.7 meters high, and it is dressed in thick and protruding clothing, which reflects the characteristics of the statues of Gandhara (now Peshawar, Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) and the costumes of the pastoral areas of Central Asia. It is a representative work of Yungang Grottoes. Unfortunately, the front wall collapsed and the statue was exposed to the air.Caves 16-17 are now classified as the second group. The main statue in Cave 17 is also the third Buddha, and in the middle is Maitreya Bodhisattva with crossed feet. The main statue in Cave 16 is a single standing statue of Sakyamuni.The Buddha statues in these five grottoes are said to be one carved by each of the five emperors below Taizu.

The second batch was excavated before Emperor Xiaowen moved his capital to Luoyang (AD 465-494).The grottoes opened in this period, that is, some of the grottoes in the central area and the eastern area, are different from those of the previous period in terms of shape, structure and theme, presenting a new style of elegance, elegance and exquisite carvings.There are five main groups of grottoes, four of which are double grottoes and one group is three grottoes.The grottoes in this period are mostly square in plane, with front and back chambers, and can be divided into two categories: Buddha Hall Grottoes and Pagoda Temple Grottoes.There are tower pillars in the tower temple cave.Most of the wall carvings have a layout of upper and lower layers.The themes of the statues are diverse, the number of large statues has decreased, and the ranks of secular supporters have begun to appear.Around the thirteenth year of Emperor Xiaowen Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 489), Buddha clothing in the bodhisattva style appeared, which was consistent with a series of reforms implemented by Emperor Xiaowen, including the reform of the clothing system.The earliest excavated grottoes in this period were the seventh and eighth groups of double caves, which were completed in the early days of Emperor Xiaowen.In this group of grottoes, the first statues of Maitreya in Buddha's costume, Dharma protectors and large donors appeared.The ninth and tenth groups of double caves may be the grottoes built by Emperor Xiaowen from the eighth to thirteenth years of Taihe (AD 484-489).In this group of double caves, carvings imitating the traditional architectural forms of the Central Plains such as Han wooden structure cave eaves and house-shaped niches appeared.The characteristics of the grottoes in this period reflect that the process of Sinicization of the Yungang Grottoes and even the northern grottoes has begun.

The third batch was excavated from the time when the capital was moved to Luoyang to the fifth year of Emperor Xiaoming's Zhengguang reign (494-524 A.D.). Most of the grottoes are located west of Cave 20.During this period, there were mostly small and medium-sized grottoes that were not grouped, and small niches were commonly carved, and the interior of the caves became more and more square.The Buddha statue has a thin face, long neck, and slender shoulders.The Buddha costumes are all in the style of praise clothes and belts.There are four types of caves and niches in this period, namely pagoda temple caves, thousand Buddha niches, small and medium-sized caves with four walls and three niches, and small and medium-sized caves with four walls and heavy niches.At this time, Yungang's sculpture art became more mature and had a distinctive national style.The increase in the number of niches in the grottoes and the fact that small and medium grottoes became the main body reflect the proliferation of Buddhism in the late Northern Wei Dynasty.

After the Tang Dynasty, what is worth remembering in the Yungang Grottoes is the large-scale construction of the Yungang Grottoes in the Liao Dynasty.According to the "Golden Stele" records: During the period of Xingzong Yeluzong Zhen and Daozong Yelu Hongji (1031-1100 A.D.) in the Liao Dynasty, large-scale construction was carried out in the Yungang Grottoes, mainly for the construction of Tongle, Lingyan, Jinguo and Zhenguo. , Huguo, Tiangong, Chongfu, Tongzi, Huayan, and Tushita Ten Temples.According to the archaeological excavation materials, the location of the ten major temples built in the Liao Dynasty is approximately in front of the current numbered caves 1-20.At the same time, the inscription found on the Buddhist altar on the south wall of Cave 13 shows that 1,876 large and small Buddha statues were built in the Liao Dynasty, which shows that the rulers of the Liao Dynasty attached great importance to Buddhism.

What makes us feel sad is that some Buddha statues were also stolen from the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, just like the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. According to incomplete statistics, more than 1,400 Buddha statues were stolen.