According to historical records, from the end of the 3rd century to the middle of the 4th century, many monks and lay people went to Chinese mainland to translate Buddhist scriptures, such as the translation of the Lotus Sutra by the layman Yuanxin, and the translation of the Shoulenyan Sutra. By the middle of the 4th century, there were more than 10,000 monks and nuns. The second half of the 4th century was the most prominent era in the overall development of Qiuzi Buddhism, which reached unprecedented glory while Kumarosh promoted Mahayana, which was determined by the vitality and vitality of Mahayana Buddhism. It can be inferred from this that in the second half of the 4th century, Kumarosh preached Mahayana thought, which injected new vitality into Kuzi Buddhism. Due to its location at the key point of east-west transportation, the local Buddhism of Qiuci was very prosperous at that time, and Qiuci had developed into the Buddhist center of the northern route of the "Silk Road".
In the 4th century, the period of prosperity and prosperity of Qiuzi Buddhism had arrived, because the monastic practice required a large number of meditation caves, monks' rooms, lecture halls, and living caves. Before the first half of the 4th century, the Kizil Caves probably had a relatively long stage of development. The purpose and function of the excavation of the Kizil Caves is clear, and it is generally believed that the central pillar and the large image cave are used for worship, the square cave is used for preaching, chanting, practice and sitting meditation, and the monk's house cave is used for the daily life of monks and nuns. In addition, the purpose of religious buildings must be to serve their teachings, and the content of their murals is to serve the sect, and the Kizil Caves are important places for monastic practice.
Zen Meditation Thought In the early days of Later Han Buddhism in China, India Buddhism Zen Meditation was introduced to China, which can be seen from An Shigao's translation of the scriptures. In the 4th century, the king of Qiuzi personally went to Wensu to welcome Kumarosh back to China. At this time, the princess is a nun, and the word is the last emperor. Reading the scriptures, the deep Zen essentials, the cloud has proved the two fruits. When she heard the Fa, she was overjoyed, and she convened a general meeting and asked Rosh to preach the mysteries of the scriptures. It can be seen that the grottoes are closely related to meditation, and there are many Zen caves in the grottoes in Qiuci, which can prove that meditation was very popular at that time.
Cave 71 of Kumu Tula
The Great Statue Cave has had a great influence on both the East and the West of Qiuci, and the Great Statue Cave is the product of Kumarosh's promotion of Mahayana Buddhism in Qiuci, and is an important contribution of Rosh to the influence of Qiuci Caves. Kizil Caves is a relatively solid base of Theravada Buddhism, after Kumarosh went east, the Hinayana force has a tendency to strengthen, in the central pillar cave of Kizil, the content of "only the rite of Shakya" is particularly prominent, there are murals that render Shakyamuni's supernatural powers, such as "subduing the six masters of the outer way" and "Sumathi woman inviting Buddha". The Mahayana power in Kizil Qiuzi gradually weakened, but there are still flocculent veins, the Mahayana thousand Buddha phenomenon that appeared during the decline of the Kizil Grottoes is a manifestation of the revival of Mahayana Buddhism in the Kizil Grottoes, but it is the end of the crossbow, and the Mahayana power has moved to the vicinity of the capital of Qiuzil.
Mr. Kim Vino said, "Judging from the fact that Kumarosh preached Mahayana in the Hinayana school and was favored by the king, and that the Hinayana was prevalent in the Zobin as well as the Mahayana, there is a rather complicated situation in this place, both in terms of Buddhism and art. "After Kumarosh went to Tianzhu in the east, Rosh lived in the new temple and obtained the "Radiant Prajna Sutra", and when studying this scripture, there was a "demon to cover the text". This magical legend is not based on history, but it is not difficult to see that it is a struggle between the great and the small. The devil said in the air, "You are a homo sapiens, why read this." Rosh replied, "Thou art a little devil, go quickly, my heart is like the ground, and I cannot turn it." The words of the "demon" are very clear that they are an accusation against Kumarosh for changing to Mahayana. The word "small" in reply, "You are a little devil," also very clearly refers to Hinayana as well. Kumarosh's conversion to Mahayana was a major event in Kuzi Buddhism, which was bound to cause a shock and would also be challenged by the Hinayana forces.
The Great Statue Cave is represented by the 47th, 48th, and 77th caves of Kizil, and the murals show the content of Mahayana thought. Mahayana believes that there are countless Buddhas in the three worlds and ten directions, so the sculptures and murals represent the Buddhas of the ten directions, the virtuous and the thousand Buddhas, etc. There are obvious differences in style between the murals with this Mahayana theme and the murals in the other central pillar caves of the Kizil Caves at the same time, so the Mahayana murals represented by Cave 47 and Cave 77 are obviously closely related to the new artistic style brought into the Mahayana teachings at the same time by Kumarosh. Beginning to introduce Mahayana Buddhist theories and Buddhist art in a region where Hinayana has long been popular will inevitably introduce new Mahayana scriptures along with the introduction of new mural powders and craftsmen, thus adding new elements to Qiuzi Buddhism and Buddhist art.
From the beginning of the third year of Ganlu (258 years) to the monk Chun (379 years), spanning the 3rd to 4th centuries, a total of more than 100 years, from the history of Qiuci, it is the early stage of the Bai Dynasty's rule of Qiuci, the Bai (Silk) royal family of Qiuci believes in Buddhism, continues for a hundred years, and is generally considered to be the early stage of the heyday of Qiuci Buddhism. If we look at the cave art in the historical context of Qiuci Buddhism, we will find that Buddhism in Qiuci is not only the product of the enthusiasm and support of Buddhism from all levels of society, but more importantly, it has penetrated into the upper ruling class. Documentary records indicate that cave art was produced at least in the early 3rd century AD and reached its peak in the 4th and 5th centuries. Through the investigation of the mural themes in some of the central pillar grottoes excavated in the 6th and 7th centuries, the mural layout has the characteristics of stylization and the localization trend is strengthened, which is the development and continuation of the mural content of the early central pillar grottoes. This development and continuation continued until the 7th century, when the Tang Dynasty moved the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate from Xizhou to Qiuci, and Han monks from the mainland came to Qiuci and believed in Mahayana Buddhism, bringing new vitality to Qiuci Buddhism.
Although Qiuzi has the advantage of Hinayana advantage, because of its location on the Silk Road transportation artery, over time, monks or scriptures of various Buddhist schools have continued to stop and flow here, leaving more or less traces. Mr. Chen Han said: "Although the Buddhism of Qiuzi in the Rosh era was mainly Hinayana does not mean that other schools have disappeared. On the contrary, the early Mahayana, the Secret Division, and so on are sometimes reflected in Qiuzi Buddhism, and together with the Hinayana Vitana and Aham, they constitute a mixed situation. "Qiuci Caves, especially the Kizil Caves after the Kumarosh went east, there are also the Great Statue Caves excavated, indicating that Mahayana Buddhism still exists and develops in Qiuci, especially the cave groups close to the capital of Qiuci, such as Kumu Tula Caves, Kizil Gaha Caves, Senmusem Caves, in the 6th-7th century, the excavation of the Great Statue Caves has a continuing trend. At the same time, Mahayana phenomena such as the Thousand Buddhas gradually appeared in other caves in these caves, which shows that Mahayana Buddhism is still valued and supported by the royal family, which can also be regarded as a continuation of Kumarosh's influence.
In the process of accepting India Buddhist culture, the Buddhist culture of Qiuzi has integrated the original culture and national ideology and emotions of Qiuzi. In addition to the diverse and rich murals of the grottoes, there is also a tradition centered on the construction of large standing Buddhas, and the excavation of large statue caves and sculptures of standing Buddha images are a major feature of the development of Qiuci Buddhism and its art, which is bound to have a significant impact on the construction of large Buddha statues in the surrounding areas, of course, the Bamiyan Statue Caves west of Qiuci are no exception. The form of worship of the large statue cave statue excavated later in the Kizil Caves is similar to the shape of the two Buddhas in the east and west of Bamiyan, and it is the same in the nature of the Buddha for monks to observe and worship. It shows that the Buddhist belief has begun to change from pagoda worship to Buddha statue worship, that is, Buddha statue worship has become the theme of worship and offerings, which is a major change in the content of Buddhist art, and the influence is far-reaching.
Bamiyan Buddhas
This article is excerpted by Sun Li from the article "The Popularity of the Great Statue Cave and the Giant Buddha Thought in the Locality" written by Li Ruizhe, published in Western Archaeology (Vol. 10). The content has been slightly adjusted.