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it is the completion place and master of the sinicization of cave temple art.

those statues that have experienced vicissitudes of life but are still beautiful

it records the pain and sorrow of the years, and also carries the

the cultural roots of the central plains and the memory of the yellow river civilization

it has also left a mark on the exchange, intersection and integration of different civilizations.

silk road cultural imprint

at the end of the summer of 1906, zai ze, the minister sent by the qing government to japan and other countries to investigate the establishment of a constitution, had just returned home. at this time, japanese archaeologist and founder of ancient architecture research sekino sada also crossed west to china. he inspected and photographed ancient buildings in henan and shaanxi. when he stood in front of the longmen grottoes, he was shocked by its magnificence and beauty. he and the photographers who followed him took more than a hundred photos, recording the old images of the longmen grottoes a hundred years ago.

at that time, the masterpieces of relief sculptures, "emperor xiaowen of wei dynasty paying respect to buddha" and "empress wenzhao paying respect to buddha" (referred to as "emperor and empress paying respect to buddha"), which appeared in middle school history textbooks, were still there; with a history of 1,500 years ago, the longmen grottoes in guyang cave, the earliest grotto excavated in china, most of the heads of more than a dozen main buddha statues, which represent the essence of buddhist statue art in the northern wei dynasty, are intact.

these precious old photos have become an important basis for today's scholars to use modern digital technology to aggregate data on scattered cultural relic fragments and destroyed original sites. at the special exhibition of the data aggregation results of scattered cultural relics of the longmen grottoes, which is currently being held at the luoyang museum in henan and will end on may 10, 2023, the scattered cultural relics are finally "integrated with body and head and digitally reset."

after the ordeals of theft and chiseling and the passage of time, the treasures lost in history may be difficult to find again, and the existing statues have not yet had time to delay their lives. in the eyes of shi jiazhen, director of the longmen grottoes research institute, archeology is the best protection for the grottoes, because they will one day grow old. only by maximizing the data and information of cultural relics can the grottoes be preserved forever through digital reset. the land is left to future generations.

panoramic view of longmen grottoes. picture/visual china

this grotto, which was excavated on a 1-kilometer-long rock wall between mountains and rivers, still has 2,345 numbered cave niches, nearly 110,000 statues, and more than 2,890 inscriptions. it is called the "china grottoes" by unesco. the pinnacle of stone carving art." it is the place and master of the sinicization of the art of cave temples. those statues that have experienced vicissitudes of life but are still beautiful record the pain and sorrow of the years, and also carry the roots of the central plains culture and the memory of the yellow river civilization. the cultural imprint of the silk road is the exchange, intersection and integration of different civilizations. there, people of different civilizations, different beliefs, and different values ​​can find their own place after encounter, collision, and dialogue.

"central plains style"

driving 12 kilometers south from downtown luoyang, you can see longmen mountain and xiangshan mountain facing each other on both sides of the yihe river from a distance. the two mountains face each other like a natural gate. during the spring and autumn period and the warring states period, this place was once called "yique". thousands of niches stand quietly on the cliffs on both sides of the river, and buddhist statues of various sizes are spread out along the river.

standing at the foot of the 17.14-meter-high luchena buddha, which is the business card of longmen grottoes, and then carefully looking at the buddha statue with scarred face and many cracks on the face and body that professor seki yezada photographed at that time, the luchena giant buddha today is different from that of more than a century ago. , not only did not add "wrinkles", but became "younger".

ma chaolong, director of the grotto conservation research center of the longmen grottoes research institute, told china news weekly that since 1971, fengxian temple, where the lucena buddha is located, has been systematically reinforced and restored for the first time. after a lapse of 50 years, in july 2022 , fengxian temple once again completed the 228-day large-scale water leakage control and the reinforcement and protection of dangerous rock masses. after another major renovation 50 years later, the longmen grottoes research institute took the opportunity to conduct archaeological research and data collection at the same time, relying on scaffolding, one for three purposes.

on april 13, 2022, staff conducted survey operations at fengxian temple of longmen grottoes. picture/visual china

taking advantage of the rare "full hall frame", from june to july 2022, lu wei, director of the historical and humanities research center of the longmen grottoes research institute, led a team to conduct a comprehensive archaeological survey of fengxian temple, thus obtaining the latest information about the longmen grottoes. archaeological results. residues of green, red, black and other painted pigments were found on the surface of the lushena buddha's body. gold and silver elements were detected on the face, and gold foil was found. when it was built in the early tang dynasty more than a thousand years ago, the lucena buddha was probably "covered with gold foil" and "dressed in colorful clothes". you can imagine how gorgeous it looked.

the white substance retained on the surface of the samantabhadra bodhisattva on the right side of the lushena buddha is uniform in thickness and tightly combined with the rock. after x-ray fluorescence analysis, the main component is lead white, that is, basic lead carbonate, which was called hu powder, lead powder, gouache in ancient times... there are precise records in "tiangong kaiwu" and "compendium of materia medica". lead white was an important pigment in ancient paintings and cosmetics. it not only provided a good interface for pigment adhesion and gold foil bonding, but also played a certain role in resisting natural weathering in the later period.

fengxian temple is located in the southern section of the west mountain of longmen. it is the largest and most representative cliff niche excavated in the longmen grottoes. the lucena buddha inside is the statue with the highest artistic level, the most rigorous overall design, and the largest scale in the longmen grottoes. picture/visual china

the right eye of puxian bodhisattva retains a complete eyeball. after testing, it is found that the texture is glass, while the left eye is made of two pieces, and the half near the nose has fallen off and is lost. during this close observation, lu wei found that samantabhadra's eyes were slightly asymmetrical. the right eye was narrow and long, and the angle of the large corner of the eye (near the bridge of the nose) was very small, about 30°. the shape of the eyeball was regular and symmetrical, while the left eye had a large corner. the angle is relatively large, about 45°, and the eyeball on the side with the larger corner is slightly trapezoidal. "this is what the craftsmen did intentionally." lu wei told china news weekly that samantabhadra bodhisattva is standing beside the buddha lushena, his body is slightly turned to the left, and his asymmetrical eyes are most likely to take into account the perspective effect. , "this cannot but make people marvel at the ingenious conception and sculpture craftsmanship of the ancients."

it can be said that fengxian temple represents the highest achievement of sculpture art in the early tang dynasty. chang qing, a professor at the school of art of sichuan university, told china news weekly that after buddhism was introduced to china in the han dynasty, the art of grotto sculpture also emerged. the construction boom and artistic peak of buddhist grotto art occurred in the northern wei and tang dynasties. several major grottoes in china among the temples, only the longmen grottoes held an important historical position during the two artistic peak periods.

the protector god (left) and king kong of fengxian temple in longmen grottoes. picture/visual china

according to the inscription on the stele, the longmen grottoes were excavated during the reign of emperor xiaowen of the northern wei dynasty. emperor xiaowen tuobahong was an emperor who left an important mark in chinese history. in the early southern and northern dynasties, the xianbei ethnic group unified the north in the northern wei dynasty. emperor xiaowen reformed customs and forced the xianbei people to use han surnames, wear han clothes, and speak chinese. the use of thunderous means to accelerate national integration also profoundly affected the development of han civilization.

in 493 ad, emperor xiaowen summoned his ministers in pingcheng (today's datong, shanxi), the then capital, to announce the dispatch of troops to attack the southern dynasties. in fact, the southern expedition was just an excuse for him, and the real purpose was to move the country south to luoyang. later, emperor xiaowen privately issued an edict to king rencheng, saying that the xianbei people came out of the northern prairie and moved to pingcheng. although they had abundant materials, pingcheng could only be a good place for military use, but did not meet the conditions for civil administration.

in this year, emperor xiaowen broke through the obstruction of xianbei's conservative forces and moved the capital from the remote pingcheng to luoyang in the central plains. it was during the northern and southern dynasties that buddhism began to develop rapidly in china. the poem says: "there are four hundred and eighty temples in the southern dynasties." in the northern dynasties, it was popular to dig grottoes. after the capital was moved, in order to ease class conflicts, emperor xiaowen, who was "good at talking about zhuang lao and especially good at interpreting meanings", vigorously supported buddhism and moved the skilled craftsmen of the yungang grottoes in pingcheng to luoyang. the sound of axes chiseling through the clouds and cracking stone began to be heard in the sky above longmen canyon. .

the guyang cave, excavated in 493 ad, is the earliest cave excavated in the longmen grottoes. it may have been built on the initiative of emperor xiaowen. a group of princes, nobles, important ministers, and military generals who supported emperor xiaowen's move to the capital also took the lead in guyang cave. there are niches and statues carved in the middle. since emperor xiaowen officially implemented the sinicization policy after moving the capital, the stone sculptures in longmen grottoes at this time have obvious chinese characteristics. they are no longer as majestic and rough as the first and second phase statues of yungang grottoes, but tend to be lively, gentle, and delicate, with a slender face, straight chest, and thin shoulders. the carving of the clothing lines uses a straight knife method. it is a typical "beautiful and clear image" admired by the han people in the southern dynasties. later known as the "twenty pins of longmen", the essence of calligraphy art in the northern wei dynasty, there are 19 pins in this cave.

in 499 ad, only 6 years after the capital was moved, emperor xiaowen died at the age of 32. the following year, emperor xuanwu began to build the three binyang caves to pray for his father, emperor xiaowen. the relief sculpture of "the picture of emperors and empresses paying respect to buddha", which has many characters and is a masterpiece in the history of chinese art, is located in binyang middle cave. the clothes, hats, and honors in the relief faithfully record the clothing characteristics of emperor xiaowen's promotion of sinicization. the sakyamuni buddha enshrined in the center of the main wall of the cave is wearing a cassock with a wide belt and a "u" shape on the chest, revealing the sloping collar and knot of the inner robe. the huge cassock droops, almost covering the entire body. square pedestal. comparing it with the cultural relics unearthed in the southern dynasties during the same period, we can see that this is a typical central plains costume. this kind of costume changes the "right shoulder style" of yungang grottoes. the changes in the statues are a direct result of emperor xiaowen's restructuring.

in the binyang middle cave of longmen grottoes, the lotus caisson supports feitian. photography/photo courtesy of zhang yaguang/longmen grottoes research institute

"beautiful bones, clear statues" and "favorable clothes and broad belts", this kind of sculpture art suitable for the aesthetics and culture of the han people in the central plains region is called the "central plains style". it can be seen in the shinto stone carvings and other cultural relics in the tombs of the northern wei dynasty. once this style was formed, its influence spread outwards with luoyang as the center, becoming a unified style of the times for the north and the south.

emperor xiaowen succeeded. this relocation of the capital integrated more than 1 million immigrants, including xianbei and other ethnic groups in the north, into the central plains, making luoyang once again the cultural center of the north and even asia, and laid the foundation for the prosperous tang civilization. the construction of longmen grottoes, which lasted for hundreds of years, also kicked off from here.

tang style

when history reached emperor xiaoming, the grandson of emperor xiaowen, civil strife broke out in the court. after several life-and-death palace struggles, in 528 ad, the 19-year-old emperor xiaoming was poisoned by his biological mother, and the northern wei dynasty collapsed. afterwards, although buddhism was still respected by the emperors, and buddhism and buddhist art continued to develop in the process of sinicization, luoyang first became a battlefield for the eastern and western wei dynasties, and later lost its status as a political and cultural center and its ideal glory. the construction of the third binyang cave was abandoned, and only the middle binyang cave was completed.

the first large-scale creation of statues in the longmen grottoes began in ad 493 and ended in ad 528, which lasted for a total of 35 years, including emperor xiaowen, emperor xuanwu and emperor xiaoming of the northern wei dynasty. the two southern and northern caves of binyang that were not completed in the northern wei dynasty had to wait in the stone walls beside the yi river for more than a hundred years. it was not completed until the taizong period of the tang dynasty.

on the evening of june 5, 2020, tourists watched the longmen grottoes against the lights. picture/visual china

in the tang dynasty, the development of buddhist art reached its peak, and emperor taizong restored luoyang's status as the eastern capital. at that time, the prince cheng qian was not taken seriously by li shimin, and all the princes were eager to covet the throne. the second son li tai was the most outstanding. he knew that li shimin missed empress changsun very much after her death, so he prayed for empress changsun at longmen grottoes and continued to dig the north and south of binyang. two caves... perhaps because this move was only to accumulate political capital and the project was quick rather than refined, the binyang south and north cave completed in the early tang dynasty were completely different from the binyang middle cave in the northern wei dynasty in terms of craftsmanship and artistic value. .

li tai would not have thought that these two caves could not help him win the throne because of "excessive force." however, in the north cave, there was a statue with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger pointing upwards, and the thumb was broken, resulting in the accidental formation of "scissor hands." "the buddha statue became popular on the internet more than a thousand years later. the second stage of large-scale excavation of longmen grottoes started with him and reached its peak under the hands of his younger brother tang gaozong li zhi and wu zetian.

at this time, people's aesthetics were very different from the "beautiful bones and clear statues" of the northern wei dynasty, which advocated a healthy and plump body. therefore, tang dynasty statues usually have pleated necks, round faces, broad shoulders, bulging chests, and the use of carvings on clothing lines. round knife method. after the reign of emperor xuanzong of the tang dynasty, the statues became more plump than those in the early tang dynasty.

the statues of the tang dynasty inherited the northern wei dynasty's tradition of absorbing han national culture, and further created a vivid and natural realistic style. for example, the images of "ji le tian" in many reliefs have been chinese-styled during the northern wei dynasty, but they often fly and soar on the ceiling of caves, the backlight of buddhas and the lintels of niches. their graceful dancing postures are very different from the postures of dancers in life. , their lower bodies, especially their legs, look like clouds floating in the sky. the caves excavated in the tang dynasty allowed these goddesses to return to the human world and dance standing on the ground. their healthy dance postures were closer to reality and secular life. buddhist grotto art had been perfectly integrated with chinese culture, aesthetics and practical life at that time.

among the statues of the tang dynasty, the one that best represents the atmosphere of the prosperous tang dynasty is undoubtedly the lucena buddha. this is the largest buddha statue in the longmen grottoes and the most representative of the longmen grottoes. it is said to have "rare appearance, like the moon and the sun." according to the "records of the great lushena statue niche in longmen mountain, heluo shangdu" engraved in the 10th year of kaiyuan (722) of emperor xuanzong of the tang dynasty at the north end of the lushena buddha statue base, the big buddha was built first, and then the buddhist temple was built. when carving the buddha statues in the caves, we did not adopt the method of digging all the caves. instead, nine large statues of one buddha, two disciples, two bodhisattvas, two heavenly kings, and two powerful men were carved out of the mountain in the open air.

the buddha statue was completed in ad 675. since the exact year of construction is unknown, the archaeological community has various opinions on the construction period, ranging from 3 years, 5 years, 10 to 20 years, which is difficult to unify. after research, lu wei believes that 10 years is an estimate that is more consistent with historical facts.

on the south side of fengxian temple, the yaksha is at the feet of the heavenly king. picture/visual china

as empress, wu zetian spent 20,000 guan of powder money to finance this huge project in the third year of xianheng (672). it was equivalent to more than 6 million yuan in modern times based on the grain prices at that time. this move became her strong belief in buddhism. mark. according to legend, the lushena buddha was carved according to the appearance of wu zetian. judging from wu zetian's political ambition to become emperor in the future, shi jiazhen, the director of the longmen grottoes research institute, does not think she will be very religious. sponsoring the construction of the lucena buddha is to serve political goals - to prepare for the spiritual step by step in becoming emperor. , foreshadowing of faith, but to say that the buddha was carved entirely according to her appearance would underestimate her wisdom. "it should be that part of her image was blended into it."

in sanskrit, lushana means bright and shining. in 684 ad, wu zetian named herself "wuzhao", which means the sun and moon are thousands of miles clear, and the buddha not only resembles empress wu in shape, but also has the same meaning as wu zetian's name.

now, standing at the foot of the lucena buddha and looking up, my eyes meet the buddha's slightly looking down eyes. the smile on the lips of the buddha seems to be there or not. because of the feminine grace in the face, the buddha seems to be more peaceful and compassionate. the facial image of the lucena buddha is hailed as a model in the history of chinese sculpture. it is a combination of divinity and humanity and represents the highest peak of chinese stone carving art. many overseas media call it the "mona lisa of the east". longmen grottoes shi jiazhen, the director of the institute, lamented to china news weekly: "this is really wronging the lucena buddha. the mona lisa is a two-dimensional painting, and the buddha is a three-dimensional stone sculpture that is more than 1,300 years old. regardless of the technical level or the load it carries, cultural and historical values ​​are not a heavyweight.”

the second large-scale opening of caves and statues in longmen grottoes was from about 636 to 746 ad, after four emperors: tang taizong, tang gaozong, wu zetian, and tang xuanzong. among all the caves in longmen grottoes, 60% are from the tang dynasty, about 30% are from the northern wei dynasty, and only about 10% are from other dynasties. according to statistics from the longmen grottoes research institute, during the half century that wu zetian participated in and took charge of state affairs, a total of 296 statues with dating dates were found in the longmen grottoes, accounting for 66% of the chronological inscriptions of the tang dynasty.

during this period, luoyang actually played the role of the capital and was the ruling center of the country at that time. the longmen grottoes, located on the outskirts of luoyang, became the supreme ruler's display of imperial power, emotional residence and buddhist belief due to its buddhist culture and special geographical location. the carrier was closely related to the social politics at that time and also led the cultural mood at that time. at this time, the statues in longmen grottoes reached their peak both in terms of quantity and artistic attainment. the huge aesthetic influence not only radiated throughout the country, but also formed the style of temple and cave statues that was popular in south korea and japan - "datang style".

in 752 ad, empress guangming of japan admired the lucena buddha built by wu zetian, and imitated the bronze lucena buddha built in todaiji temple in nara, the capital of japan at that time, which is now called the "nara great buddha". the seokguram grotto in gyeongju, south korea was built in the 10th year of king gyeongdeok of silla (ad 751). the style of the buddhist statues was also deeply influenced by the statues of the tang dynasty.

on the north side of the six lions cave, there are relief lions. photography/photo courtesy of zhang yaguang/longmen grottoes research institute

the "resurrection" of emperors and empresses paying homage to buddha

after the prosperous tang dynasty, buddhist activities in luoyang gradually declined, and the development of chinese grotto sculpture art moved south to sichuan and other places. by the northern song dynasty, longmen grottoes sculptures had ceased. the yi river still flows, reflecting the longmen mountain and xiangshan mountain on both sides of the river, as well as the caves stretching out on the mountain cliffs. since the tang dynasty, this place has been a scenic spot. bai juyi once wrote: "the suburbs of luodu are surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers, and the first one is longmen." when the emperors, generals and ministers left, longmen grottoes became a scenery for the people living here, and it was also a place to pray to gods and worship buddha. during the yuan, ming and qing dynasties, although no more statues were added to the grottoes, many literati came to inscribe them. engraved inscription. it was not until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that it was discovered by the world again.

the first foreigner to introduce longmen grottoes to the world was japanese scholar okakura tenshin. in 1893, okakura tenshin, who was traveling in china, accidentally discovered the longmen grottoes. he praised in his diary: "longmen grottoes are a museum in themselves." when he returned to japan, he used photos of binyang cave to make slides and held lectures, and longmen grottoes quickly became famous. since then, french sinologist edward chavan, american collector charles lang freer, japanese scholar sekiyoshi sadao and others have come one after another.

at the end of the qing dynasty and the beginning of the republic of china, as these scholars continued to publish research monographs and photos about the longmen grottoes, disasters began. they inadvertently provided catalogs with photos to greedy cultural relic traffickers and thieves. luoyang scholar zhao zhenhua stated in "the history of robbery and excavation of the longmen grottoes" that the period when the longmen grottoes were most severely man-made almost ran through the first half of the 20th century. in 1918, when seki yezada came to longmen grottoes again after 12 years, he was surprised to find that among the 16 large niches that he had photographed in guyang cave in 1906, which represented the best of the buddhist art of the northern wei dynasty, 10 of the statues were well preserved at that time. nine of the buddha statues had their heads stolen. the pinnacle of relief art in the northern wei dynasty, "the emperor and the empress paying respect to the buddha," which he had photographed, was reduced to mottled remains shortly after his second visit to china.

in his book "history of longmen" edited by lu wei, he introduced in detail the history of the theft and sale of "pictures of emperors and empresses paying respect to buddha". in just three to five years, the intact reliefs that had been passed down for more than 1,400 years were turned into pieces of rubble by the hands of thieves and left their motherland and homeland. after several twists and turns, they are now collected by the metropolitan museum of art in new york and the nelson museum in the united states.

once cultural relics leave the country, returning them is never easy. gao junping, director of the information and data center of the longmen grottoes research institute, lamented to china news weekly: "back then, the "picture of emperors and empresses paying respect to buddha" was stolen and sold, and there was a contract signed." the person who signed the contract was yue bin, a beijing cultural relics dealer. to make a profit, he produced many fake fragments, and then sold the genuine and fake fragments of "the picture of empresses and empresses worshiping the buddha" abroad in batches. the chisel thieves he hired back then had primitive tools. in the rush to commit the crime, some stonemasons used fire and water to peel off the reliefs, resulting in large pieces as big as table tennis bats and small pieces as big as fingernails. once removed from their original context, cultural relics become "fragments" of culture. although the nelson museum spliced ​​the fragments together, the fragments acquired were only enough to piece together 2/3 of "empress wenzhao's worshiping buddha picture", and due to the technology at the time it is backward, with limited reference materials, many errors during restoration, and the charm of the murals is no longer there. wu hung, director of the east asian art research center at the university of chicago, once told the media, "the chinese culture they carry has therefore become superficial, superficial and scrawl, and is no longer complete." this will also bring huge benefits to future digital restoration. difficulty.

in 2018, the longmen grottoes research institute began to digitally restore the "empress wenzhao worshiping the buddha". "the progress is relatively slow. there are more than 4,000 pieces, including fakes. they need to be screened to determine whether they are genuine pieces. finding each piece's exact location is full of hardships and trivialities." gao junping said.

jia zhuofei, a professor at the art department of xi'an jiaotong university who participated in the digital restoration project, still remembers that when he saw the old photos of the nelson museum splicing the fragments of "empress wenzhao's ceremony to buddha" at the east asian art center of the university of chicago in 2018, he almost cried because those messy pieces look like a pile of stone trash.

over the past few years, scholars participating in the project first identified more than 2,000 fragments retained in the nelson museum's warehouse. these fragments were considered to be fakes when the museum was splicing them together. after research, they found that some of them were genuine. subsequently, the team scanned the remaining relief wall of the binyang middle cave of longmen grottoes, completed the data collection of the discrete cultural relic entities and the matrix, and then restored the relief shape and original situ. on the computer, they adjusted the lens distortion of the old photos, aligned the common feature points between the old photos and the remnant wall, made the orthographic projection of the remnant wall and the orthographic projection of the old photo overlap, and obtained the original contours and accurate position of the relief on the remnant wall, and then drag the virtual "pieces" one by one and carefully compare their positional relationship on the relief outline of the remaining wall model. this is a complex process that integrates academic, technical and artistic aspects.

at present, the virtual restoration of the original scale of "empress wen zhao's worshiping the buddha" has achieved initial results, and the virtual restoration of "wei emperor xiaowen's worshiping the buddha" is about to start.

when can the cultural relics really go home? shi jiazhen believes that chinese cultural relics dispersed overseas in history should be faced rationally. the return of physical objects is a long process. at present, "digital restoration of cultural relics may not be the most perfect ending, but it is a better choice under current conditions." in his vision, digitization is also the best way to maximize the art and history behind the grottoes. made available to the public.

as a henan native, he often laments that longmen grottoes are more like a tourist attraction in people's minds. people come in a hurry, walk around, take pictures, and leave in a hurry. he believes that there must be tourists who are thirsty for in-depth understanding of history and art, or who have the potential to cultivate such knowledge. at present, the caves of longmen grottoes are not open. there is a fence at the entrance of the cave. people can only look at the door. shi jiazhen plans to open some caves in the future. of course, the number of people must be strictly limited. at the same time, with the help of digital restoration technology, "look at the current statues and reliefs. what it was like, and then look at what it was like back then, wouldn’t the sense of gain be stronger?” he will also share the results of digital restoration with foreign museums. since the cultural relics are currently overseas, they should not be shared with any “superficial” ones. ", superficial and scrawled" feelings are connected, but should be complete and profound. after all, they all carry heavy chinese history and culture.

on the south side of fengxian temple, disciple ananda. photography/photo courtesy of zhang yaguang/longmen grottoes research institute

the capital played a key role

not long ago, a "schematic map of buddhist grottoes spreading eastward to china" was circulated on the internet. a series of arrows, from west to east, marked the route of the spread of buddhist cave temple art eastward to china. from the bamiyan grottoes in afghanistan and peshawar (gandhara) in pakistan, it spread eastward to xinjiang, china, and then to dunhuang. from dunhuang, it spread eastward to zhangye and wuwei, and then divided into several roads that converged eastward, forming the datong yungang, luoyang longmen and other grottoes...

chang qing, a professor at the school of art of sichuan university, often encounters this question when giving lectures on grotto art in various places - "in the process of the spread of grottoes from west to east..." there are always people who regard dunhuang mogao grottoes as the origin of the development of chinese grottoes. source. he told china news weekly: "this is really a common misconception."

historically, the spread of cave temples has been attributed to the spread of buddhism. as art, grottoes serve buddhist teachings. the reason why the grotto is called the grotto temple is that it is also a place for buddhists to practice and is a supplement to the temple. when the cave temples were formed in various historical stages, it was naturally the cities located at the center of religion that played an important role.

if there is any relationship between the existing major grottoes in china, chang qing believes that the key lies in who was in the leading position at different times. during the northern wei dynasty, after emperor xiaowen moved the capital, the longmen grottoes were undoubtedly inherited on the basis of the yungang grottoes when they were first built. at the same time, the yungang grottoes and longmen grottoes also influenced the northern wei dynasty grottoes in dunhuang, bingling temple, maiji mountain, longdong and other places. the excavation of nanjing played a key role, and the grottoes and buddhist art of the southern dynasties represented by nanjing also influenced yungang and longmen. in the tang dynasty, the second peak of grotto development, chang'an and luoyang influenced the formation of grottoes in dunhuang, guangyuan, sichuan, anyue reclining buddha temple and other places at that time.

"it is the central government that influences the local areas." lu wei told china news weekly that the spread of buddhism in china has received influence from india and central asia in different historical periods. in the process of buddhism's continuous sinicization, the capital, which is located at the center of religion, has played a key role. the shape and content of chinese cave temples in the past dynasties have long been separated from the indian model, and generally imitated the main halls located in ground temples in the capital area in various historical periods.

during the prosperous tang dynasty, chinese buddhism reached its peak, with numerous sects and sects, and the famous "ten longmen temples" surrounding longmen grottoes. in his later years, bai juyi lived in seclusion in xiangshan temple, one of the "ten longmen temples" of the tang dynasty, for more than ten years, so he was named "xiangshan jushi". in 2020, the luoyang longmen grottoes research institute released an important archaeological result-the discovery of the tomb tower of bohara, an indian monk who entered china in the tang dynasty, at the xiangshan temple site. according to the "biography of the huayan sutra" written by fazang of the tang dynasty, dibohara had profound spiritual practice. he translated more than ten buddhist scriptures in chang'an and luoyang during the late emperor gaozong and wu zetian periods of the tang dynasty.

the longmen grottoes of the tang dynasty not only contained royal statues, but also people from india (today's india), silla (today's korea), tocharo (siberia), kang (central asia) and other countries also came to luoyang to create caves and statues.

lu wei lamented that whether the prosperous monasteries, eminent monks from afar or statues of outsiders, they all reflected the openness, tolerance, prosperity and central position of luoyang city in religion and culture, an important node on the silk road. these frequent exchanges and exchanges brought the "datang style" of the longmen grottoes to the border cities of dunhuang and other places, and also influenced the sculptures in japan, south korea and other places.

for example, the colored sculptures in the mogao grottoes in the early tang dynasty have completely adopted the round sculpture method, with round faces, paying more attention to realism and closeness to real life. when wu zetian came to power, she loved to build giant buddhas. she first spent money to finance the construction of the luchena buddha, and then in the first year of yanzai (694), she ordered xue huaiyi and others to build a giant buddha. influenced by this trend, the dunhuang area had a large statue the following year. lingyin zen master and yinzu layman jointly invested in the construction of the tallest buddha statue in mogao grottoes. the face of this statue also has female characteristics. the grotto where it is located is now numbered as cave 96 in the early tang dynasty. unfortunately, this statue was built in the late tang dynasty. , the early song dynasty and the qing dynasty, only the buddha's head still retains the plump and round appearance of the early tang dynasty, and the other parts have lost the tang style.

various disagreements and controversies in the archaeological community almost accompany the development of this discipline, and the same is true for the archeology of cave temples. different scholars have their own ideas about the relationship and influence of the caves and the origin of art among various cave groups. chang qing remembers that when he graduated with a master's degree in the late 1980s, his mentor su bai, the pioneer and founder of chinese cave archeology, took several of their students to inspect the yungang grottoes. mr. su's student in the 1960s and the then dunhuang researcher fan jinshi, the vice president of the hospital, also went. at that time, regarding the earliest caves 268, 272, and 275 in the mogao grottoes, su bai disagreed with the "northern liang theory" of the dunhuang academy and proposed a new theory of the "northern wei theory". he judged that these caves were all northern wei grottoes. , they accepted the influence of yungang phase ii.

as for the artistic origin of the mogao grottoes, some scholars represented by su bai support the "eastern theory", but scholars from the dunhuang academy are more inclined to the "local theory". that year at yungang grottoes, su bai and fan jinshi were walking in front, followed by chang qing and several classmates. he heard su bai pointing to the huge statue of maitreya bodhisattva crossing his legs in cave 17 and saying to fan jinshi: "you look at this, does it look like your 275 in dunhuang? look at this again, who influenced whom?" fan jinshi followed quietly and never answered.

arguments are arguments, chang qing said, “there are always different views on archaeological results.” people who study grottoes see most of the friction, collision, and then exchange and integration between different cultures. as a form of religious art, the scope of the grotto temple extends far beyond religion and art. from what angles should we understand the historical background and social microcosm behind the excavation of the grottoes? these questions may always have different answers.

even among the different answers, these cave temples scattered all over the country all show how buddhism influenced the people at that time after it was introduced to china, and how it gradually became sinicized while integrating with chinese society. and the openness with which china, which was constantly changing throughout history, tolerated different nationalities, different cultures and different civilizations. with this historical perspective, perhaps today we will know better how to treat each other.