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Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Cave temples first appeared in ancient India, and were generally excavated in stone cliffs near mountains and rivers, far away from the hustle and bustle, so that practitioners could meditate and worship around the Buddha. With the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road, the trend of opening caves and statues spread to China from Xinjiang through the Hexi Corridor. The excavation of grottoes in China began in the 4th century AD, and flourished from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and gradually decreased after the Tang Dynasty. This resulted in the formation of cave art, also known as cave temple art or Buddhist art.

In 1961, the State Council announced that there were 14 grottoes in the first batch of national cultural relics protection units, and Gansu had four; Gansu accounts for two of the four major grottoes in China. Gansu grotto temple has a complete sequence of times, strong local characteristics, and diverse forms of expression, and these art treasures have won Gansu the reputation of "the hometown of Chinese grotto art".

Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Wuwei Tianti Mountain Grottoes

The Gansu grottoes are a grand view

"There are grottoes everywhere in Gansu." Gansu, which winds about 1,600 kilometers from east to west, has a large number of grottoes, large scale, rich content, high value and uniqueness. As the advantages and characteristics of Gansu's cultural relics resources, the caves of various eras have been preserved to varying degrees, constituting a relatively complete history of Buddhist cave art. The results of the third national cultural relics census show that there are 154 cave temples in Gansu, of which nearly 50 are of high value. According to the regional distribution and artistic characteristics, it can be divided into three parts: the Hexi Corridor Grottoes, the Longzhong Loess Plateau Grottoes and the Longnan Mountain Grottoes.

Hexi refers to the corridor area west of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, which is blessed with unique geographical location and natural environment. With the spread and prosperity of Buddhism, especially after the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor became one of the areas where Buddhism and cave temple art flourished in the mainland. The existing grottoes are mainly distributed in Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuwei and other places on the Silk Road. Among them, Mogao Grottoes can be represented.

Longzhong refers to the Yellow River in central Gansu and its surrounding areas, where the Silk Road and the Yellow River intersect, forming many key passes. Yongjing Bingling Temple, Jingyuan Faquan Temple, Jingtai Five Buddha Temple, etc., are connected to the Longzhong Grottoes on the shore of the Yellow River, and the rolling Yellow River water witnesses the changes of the times.

Longdongnan refers to the coastal area of the upper reaches of the Wei River in the southeast of Gansu, which has both the majesty of the north and the spirit of the south. The ancient Qin Prefecture that governed this area was "when the meeting of Guan Longzhi, between the Yongliang and the Yongliang, Yi was an important town, and the Qin people were based on this", which was valued by the feudal dynasties and separatist forces of the past dynasties, and was known as the "Qianqiu Gathering and Scattering Land". Tianshui Maiji Mountain, Wushan Water Curtain Cave and Gangu Daxiang Mountain constitute the grotto groups near the Central Plains.

The Buddha and the Bodhisattva are the main body of the cave sculptures and murals. In addition to the Buddha and Bodhisattva, the common statues in the grottoes include the Buddha's disciples Shengwen and Arhats, the Buddha's guardians Tianlong Babu and the sponsors (or donors and donors) who funded the statues. There are also many decorations such as animal flowers and plants, geometric patterns, and caisson patterns in the grottoes. It is characterized by the fact that the interior of each cave in the Northern Dynasty has honeysuckle, lotus, flame, etc., the structure form, decorative content, and drawing techniques of the pattern after the Sui Dynasty are rich and colorful, the Tang Dynasty is more gorgeous, and the five dynasties and the Song Dynasty tend to be simple and dull.

Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Tianshui Maijishan Grottoes

The Gobi conglomerate is ancient

The grottoes, a Buddhist building, must have natural cliffs to provide space for excavation. Most of the grottoes in Gansu are excavated in the sand conglomerate, and the Danxia landform develops into steep cliffs, lone peak stone walls, and canyon caves, which provide an ideal natural place for digging caves and statues. For example, the Bingling Temple Grottoes and the Changma Grottoes in the Hexi Grottoes area were excavated in the Cretaceous strata; Maijishan Grottoes, other Longdong Grottoes and Eastern Hexi Grottoes were excavated in Paleogene and Neogene strata; The western caves of Hexi were excavated in the Middle Pleistocene strata of the Quaternary.

The distribution and nature of the rocks not only restrict the layout of the grottoes to a certain extent, but also affect the artistic style of the grottoes. Because the sandstone structure is relatively dense and uniform, and the carving is good, the Longdong Grottoes and Bingling Temple Grottoes adopt stone carving techniques; Because the conglomerate is solid and rough, it is not suitable for fine carving, so the Maijishan Grottoes and other Longdong Grottoes and the eastern Hexi Grottoes mostly adopt the expression technique of "stone tire clay sculpture"; Because the rock is neither suitable for fine carving, nor suitable for techniques such as "stone tire clay sculpture", the Mogao Grottoes and other Hexi grottoes are more presented as the art form of murals and colored sculptures.

The area and shape of the mountain rock also determine the regulation of cave sculptures and murals. Believers and carving artists of the past generations often carried out "typesetting design" according to local conditions, with unique ingenuity and smart order. The top of the cave is mostly carved in the style of a flat chess. The carving of the wall surface adopts the method of heavy layers up and down, and left and right sections. The design of a complete cave may reflect the relationship between the different levels of "fruit position" of Buddhist characters, or it may show the storyline in the Buddhist scriptures; The incomplete design of the cave may have left room for the repair of Buddhist shrines at the expense of people at that time and in later generations, or it can be regarded as an artistic blank space on the stone wall.

"The desert is lonely, and the sun sets on the long river." "Countless bells are far away, and they should be carried to Anxi." From the perspective of physical geography, Gansu Province is located at the intersection of the Loess Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. The terrain in the territory is complex, the mountains are criss-crossed, the altitude difference is huge, and there are both mountains, basins, plains, deserts and Gobi, etc., which is a mountainous plateau landform. From northwest to southeast, there are various climate types such as arid zone, alpine zone, subtropical humid zone, etc., with little annual precipitation and concentrated rainy season. This provides excellent conditions for the long-term preservation of grotto statues and painted murals.

Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Yongjing Bingling Temple Grottoes

The millennium rhyme follows the Silk Road

If you connect the grottoes scattered in Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang, people will be surprised to find that this route almost exactly overlaps with the Silk Road, the eastward transmission of Buddhism and the westward route of Xuanzang. On the Silk Road, the camel bell is long, the Sanskrit sound is sung late, and the envoys, business travelers, and monks are endless. The unity of several lines on the land of Longyuan is by no means accidental, but the inevitable result of the intertwining influence of many historical phenomena.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions and opened the Silk Road, and the exchanges between the Central Plains Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions became more and more frequent. Gansu, which resembles Ruyi, is the link on the ancient Silk Road, connecting the Western Regions in the west and Chang'an in the east, becoming one of the earliest places in the mainland to contact Buddhism. In the Dunhuang Hanging Spring Site unearthed the Han Dynasty slips containing the words "Futuli", "Futu" is the old translation of Sanskrit "Buddha", which is enough to prove that as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism has been introduced to the Hexi region.

Buddhism spread to China, essentially eastward along the ancient Silk Road. As the frontier to the interior, Gansu has superior natural conditions and a broad social foundation in the spread and belief of Buddhism. In the "Five Hu Chaohua" campaign, the area of present-day Gansu was relatively stable. In order to consolidate their rule and appease the people, most of the "Three Qin" and "Five Liang" separatist regimes that successively controlled this area supported or respected Buddhism, so there was an upsurge of translating Buddhist scriptures and opening caves and statues. This is also the first time since Buddhism entered the Han Dynasty that it has merged with Chinese orthodox culture. During the Northern Dynasties, social turmoil and frequent wars led to the belief in Buddhism in order to seek spiritual comfort in this world and the liberation of reincarnation in the afterlife. Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty ordered the law to be extinguished, and the "Wei Shu · Shi Lao Zhi" cloud: "The gold and silver treasures and the scriptures are very secret." And the civil engineering palace tower, within the reach of the sound teaching, will be destroyed. Emperor Wencheng revived Buddhism, and the Qing Dynasty scholar Zhu Yizun recorded this: "Fang Zhao sent the statue, and its disciples were afraid of destroying it again, saying that the wood sometimes decayed, the soil sometimes collapsed, and the gold sometimes shimmered, until the stone was covered with a room, and there could be no sink." …… Hundreds of thousands, and the Buddha is not bad for a long time, so that the seeer feels because of the image. "Destroy it, ask for it. Historical facts prove that the "Three Martial Powers to Exterminate Buddha" in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty did not shake the already stable social status of Buddhism, but stimulated the flourishing of Buddhism from the opposite side. After the short-term legal ban, Buddhism was restored and developed more rapidly, and there was a boom in cave excavation, Buddha statue sculpture, and mural painting. Princes and ministers, officials at all levels, monks and lay believers raise funds in the form of individuals, families, and yi societies, or build a cave, or build a wall, or donate a shrine, or give a body, so as to achieve the glory of the Longshang Cave Temple. Generations, groups of eminent monks, fine craftsmen, and constantly enrich the treasure house of grotto culture and art all over Longshang.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up seven counties in Hexi, including Wuwei, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, which were collectively called Liangzhou. After the Tang Dynasty, it was famous for the "Liangzhou Ci" by poets such as Wang Han, Wang Zhilian, and Zhang Ji. Dunhuang is the first stop of Buddhism in the eastward spread to the Han Dynasty, "Huarong handed", and the Han Dynasty has become a metropolis. "Tsu, Daya; Huang, Sheng also. "Dunhuang was once the capital of the former Liang country," since Zhang Liang, the world believes in Buddhism. Dunhuang is connected to the Western Regions, the Taoist customs are handed over to its old style, the village dock belongs to each other, and there are many tower temples. Taiyanzhong, Liangzhou Ping, migrated its people to Jingyi, Shamen Buddhism is all east, and Xiangjiao is increasing. "Kumaroshi, Tan Wuyu, Fa Xian, Xuanzang and other Chinese and foreign monks have lived in Liangzhou, translated scriptures, and propagated the Dharma. In the first year of Zhenguan of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (627 AD), Xuanzang traveled west through Qinzhou, Lanzhou, Liangzhou, and Guazhou in present-day Gansu, and smuggled across Yumen Pass, experiencing all kinds of dangers and difficulties. One of the extant versions of Xuanzang's dictation of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty is a fragment of the Dunhuang manuscript. The first volume of "The Biography of the Three Tibetan Masters of the Tang Dynasty Dacien Temple" also clearly records the Gansu section of Xuanzang's westward journey.

Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

There is empirical evidence of Dunhuang murals

As mentioned earlier, the Dunhuang Grottoes are famous for their murals and form the world's "Dunhuang Studies". Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, West Thousand Buddha Caves, Anxi Yulin Grottoes have more than 50,000 square meters of murals in the past dynasties, which can be called the most in China and even the world. In addition to Buddhist themes and artistic components, Dunhuang murals are also solidified history, reflecting the picture scroll of secular life. As Zheng Zhenduo said: "Those who study any kind of Chinese knowledge should not do a little snooping into the treasure house of Dunhuang." ”

There is a "Temple of Light of the Great Buddha" in the mural of Cave 61 of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang "Wutai Mountain Map", Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin found its entity in the Wutai Mountain area of Shanxi Province according to the map-Foguang Temple. In the 40s of the 20th century, Liang Sicheng wrote in the "History of Chinese Architecture": "The wooden structure of the Tang Dynasty has been preserved to this day, and the age can indeed be examined, only the main hall of Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi." The temple is one of the five great temples in the Tang Dynasty, and it is seen in the Dunhuang mural Wutai Mountain map, and the list is called 'the Temple of the Great Buddha Light'. Its location is outside the south platform, it is rare for the later generations to go to the mountain, the fireworks are cold, the temple is extremely poor, so it has to be spared the misfortune of reconstruction. This example shows that some murals in Dunhuang have historical and empirical value, which can be corroborated with cultural relics.

Dunhuang murals are widely involved in people's production and life, clothing, food, housing and transportation and other secular life. Cave 23 of Mogao Grottoes, "Farming in the Rain", depicts the picture of the hard work of the farmer: dark clouds are thick, when the rain falls, a farmer is spurring his oxen and plowing in the rain; three people on the ground rested and ate; Another farmer scurried away. The north wall of Cave 468 of Mogao Grottoes is painted with the layout of the school and the scene of disciplinary education: the teacher sits in the school, and the assistant teacher in the courtyard holds the whip high; The schoolchildren shrank their hips and looked back at the teaching assistant in repentance; A few schoolchildren sat at the table under the corridor, watching vigilantly.

In terms of costumes, there are imperial costumes such as crowns and gowns in Dunhuang murals, official uniforms such as robes, shirts, and heads, generals' and warrior costumes such as skullets, hoods, and battle robes, women's clothing such as large-sleeved skirts and small-sleeved narrow shirts, as well as ethnic minority clothing such as red felt high hats, left-sided long shirts, lapel small sleeves, and red robes. In terms of diet, there are not only religious health diets, but also daily pasta in the northwest such as steamed cakes, hu cakes, steamed dumplings, steamed buns, etc., as well as meat such as sheep and cattle. In terms of residence, there are castles in the Western Regions, houses in the north, temporary curtains for weddings, hermitages and domes where practitioners live, as well as mats, square four-legged beds, low beds, tables, chairs, cabinets, screens and other furniture. In terms of travel, there are plank roads, flat bridges, Hongqiao, horses, cattle and camels and other animal powered vehicles, treasure cars, six lifting tent shoulders, eight lifting sedan chairs, railing cars, small boats, rocking sailboats, double-tailed boats, tiger head and double-tailed building sailboats.

In addition, archery, sword dance, wrestling, bell lifting, elephant lifting, swimming, foot ball, acrobatics, fishing, music and dance performances, feasting, etc., are all fixed in the Dunhuang murals. All these not only provide first-hand information for academic research, but also add a lot of human touch and pyrotechnic atmosphere to the mural.

Longshang Grottoes Pilgrimage

Zhangye Horseshoe Temple Grottoes

Hu Yunhua is full of competition

Gansu has a complex geographical environment and diverse ethnic components, so the Gansu grottoes reflect different religious beliefs, artistic aesthetics and national concepts and customs in different historical periods.

With the change of dynasties, in different grottoes or the same grottoes in Gansu, Hu Yunhua style coexisted in diversity. In terms of statue shaping, it gradually evolved from early religion and mystification to sinicization and secularization. In terms of engraving techniques, it has developed from the straight knife method to the round knife method; In terms of artistic style, it transitions from thick and rough to elegant and dignified, elegant and smart. Li Zehou talked more about the art of Gansu grottoes in "The Course of Beauty": "Although it is the same huge body of the Buddha and the same colorful mural scene, its content of the world is not the same. If we take the Dunhuang murals as the main example, it can be clearly seen that the Northern Wei, Sui, Tang (early, sheng, middle and late times), the Five Dynasties, and the Song Dynasty had different worlds of gods in different eras. Not only are the themes and themes different, but also the faces and demeanors are different...... The sculptures of the Northern Wei Dynasty, from the majestic and solemn of the early Yungang to the Longmen and Dunhuang, especially the mature period of Maijishan, have a clear appearance, a long face and a thin neck, and complex and fluttering folds, the kind of expression is full of emotion, elegant and complacent, and it seems to exhaust the demeanor of fireworks in the world, forming the peak of the ideal beauty of Chinese sculpture art. ”

Buddhist culture and art, such as Longshang caves, statues, murals and imitation wooden buildings, are diverse, combining India, Central Asian styles and Central Plains traditions. In the shape of the cave, there are not only dome-shaped, square central tower pillar caves, but also front and rear chamber hall type caves. In the shape of the Buddhist shrine, there are not only round arch niches, pointed arch niches, cup-shaped niches, treasure cover niches, but also house-shaped niches, curtain niches and composite niches. Some of the big Buddhas have high meat buns, square foreheads, high noses and deep eyes, slender eyebrows and eyes, large ears and shoulders, tall and strong bodies, and majestic expressions, reflecting the characteristics of ethnic minorities and exotic images. Some of the Buddha statues are beautiful, well-dressed, and magnificent, and are deeply influenced by Confucian orthodoxy and culture. Some of the big Buddhas are dressed in robes, with heavy clothing patterns, which seem to be woolen textiles, and have the clothing characteristics of the green mountains and pastoral areas of Central Asia. In addition to the right shoulder type and shoulder type robe, the Buddha robe also has the style of "praise clothes and belts". Bodhisattvas have both crowns and crowns of flowers; There are not only those who wear Yingluo and obliquely draped armpits, but also those who wear draped silk and skirts. These are all reflections of the integration of ethnic groups in the north and the reform of the uniform system of minority rulers and the implementation of the policy of sinicization. The Longyuan Grottoes completely present the evolution process of mainland Buddhist art from "Hu Maung Sanskrit" to "changing Sanskrit to Xia".

In particular, it is worth mentioning the Gandapo and Jinnaro in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, commonly known as "Feitian". Feitian is often carved and painted on both sides of the Buddha shrine, on the top of the cave or on the frieze of the niche, etc., and its function is to compete with the palace merchants and dance when the Buddha speaks the Dharma. Based on the original art forms of India and the Western Regions, Feitian Art integrates the essence of China's native acrobatics, musician dance, martial arts, and sports, as well as the physical posture of birds and animals. Just like in "Dunhuang Variation Anthology", "the sky in the clouds blows the willows, and the plums fall in the air", and if "the goddess is fu", "it is both quiet and quiet, and it is like the world", it is more like Li Bai's pen "neon clothes drag the wide belt, fluttering and ascending to the sky". Duan Wenjie said in the article "Flying in the World": "They have not perished with the passing of the times, they are still alive, and there are images of flying everywhere in new songs and dances, murals, and crafts." It should be said that they have descended from heaven to earth, and will live forever in people's hearts, constantly giving people enlightenment and beautiful enjoyment. "The image of Feitian has become a cultural symbol and vivid business card of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and even Gansu.

Text: Zhang Xiaohua, contributing writer to Gansu Daily

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