Preamble:
Gazing at the millennium, the mirror feels the world
The grottoes originated from the caves dug by primitive ancient humans for seclusion and religious activities, and people carried out artistic activities such as carving and painting in the caves to express religious beliefs, and this practice of artistic creation in natural caves gradually evolved into cave art.
The earliest grottoes were a form of Buddhism in India, and the grottoes in China were originally excavated in imitation of the Indian grotto system, which flourished during the Tang Dynasty.
Stone carvings in the oldest way, leaving the most immortal civilization. The four most famous grottoes in mainland China are Datong Yungang, Luoyang Longmen, Tianshui Maijishan and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes.
Yungang Grottoes
"Sitting for a thousand years, remember the eternal smile of the Buddha"
Yungang Grottoes, formerly known as "Lingyan Temple", is located in Datong City, Shanxi Province, excavation began in the Northern Wei Dynasty, after thousands of years after the expansion of many dynasties, and finally formed this magnificent landscape today.
Yungang Grottoes is the largest grotto in the mainland, there are 45 existing main caves, 252 large and small cave niches, more than 51,000 statues, the outstanding representative of Chinese Buddhist grotto art in the 5th to 6th centuries AD.
The tallest Buddha statue in the grotto is in the fifth cave (big Buddha cave), sitting up to the Buddha is 17 meters high, standing at the foot of the Buddha statue looking up, very shocking.
Cave 8 has the only "toothy smiling Bodhisattva statue" in Yungang Grottoes.
Cave 9, known as the "World Architecture Museum", can be seen here Greek Ionian columns, Neptune Trident and other buildings.
Cave 12, also known as the music cave, the cave is colorful, there are a whole row of heavenly palace musicians, flying heavenly musicians.
Cave 20, there is the most famous Buddha in the Yungang Grottoes, Lin Huiyin also sat on the right knee of the Buddha to leave an image.
"If you look at the Yungang Grottoes, you can't just look at his statue, but also look at the history behind him. Yungang Grottoes is different from other grottoes, the grottoes can often see a lot of statues of two Buddhas sitting side by side, it is precisely because the Yungang Grottoes were excavated when the Northern Wei Dynasty Emperor Xiaowen and the Empress Dowager Feng were in power, so there is this landscape.
The stone grows old, leaving traces of the wind across all beings.
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes
"Colors have been circulating for thousands of years, and they still shine brightly. ”
Mogao Grottoes, located in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, it was excavated from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, flourished in the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, and is one of the treasures of ancient Chinese grotto art.
The grottoes are a combination of architecture, sculpture and murals, and there are still 492 caves, more than 2,400 statues of the past dynasties, and about 45,000 square meters of murals, which is the largest existing "treasure house of world art".
Dunhuang sculpture
Dunhuang color sculpture has more than 30 meters high colossal statue, there are also more than 10 centimeters of small statues, a total of more than 3,000 colored sculptures, including more than 2,000 round sculptures, more than 1,000 shadow sculptures.
There is a nine-story Buddha in Cave 96, which is 35.5 meters high and 12 meters wide between the knees, which is the first Buddha in Mogao Grottoes and the first indoor Buddha in the mainland.
Dunhuang Murals
Dunhuang murals are known as "wall museums", with 45,000 square meters of murals, represented by the four major Rui beasts, namely the nine-colored deer, the blue bird, the winged horse and the Shoubaolong, which have a unique image and meaning.
The name Dunhuang reveals the vicissitudes of history and the mystery of art. Mr. Yu Qiuyu said that looking at the Mogao Grottoes is not to look at the specimens that have been dead for a thousand years, but to see the life that has lived for a thousand years.
It is said that the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, a cave of art for the rest of the catastrophe, I think this place is more like a thick history book, every cave, every mural, all record the changes of thousands of years of civilization, tell the accumulation of history.
Maijishan Grottoes
"All appearances are false, and if you see things that are not appearances, you will see them as they are. ”
Maijishan Grottoes, located in Maiji District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province, Maijishan Grottoes is located on the north side of the west end of the Qinling Mountains, is a solitary peak in Xiaolong Mountain, 142 meters high, because its mountain shape is very similar to the farmer's wheat stack and gets its name.
It was built in 384 A.D., and has gone through the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang and other dynasties, and has a history of more than 1,600 years this year. There are 221 existing cave niches, 3,938 statues of various types, 10,632 bodies, and 979.54 square meters of murals.
The sculptures and murals in the grottoes are beautiful, the faces and postures of the grotto statues have the "Hu Maung Fanxiang" of the early Northern Wei Dynasty, and then there are the "beautiful bones and clear statues" of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Sui and Tang dynasties "thick and straight, round and jade", which records the aesthetic changes of the times.
Maijishan Grottoes is the stone carvings and murals excavated by the ancients on the cliff of more than 140 meters, it is called "the living sculpture on the cliff", the location of the cave is extremely thrilling, and the caves are all accessible by the volley plank road erected on the cliff face. The ancients once praised these projects: "Between the cliffs, the carved stones become Buddhas, and there are thousands of niches and thousands of caves." Fragmented from manpower, it is suspected to be a miracle. ”
The 133 Special Cave is the most worth visiting in the Maijishan Grottoes, there is a Buddha statue called the "Oriental Smile" in the grotto, after thousands of years of ups and downs, these statues still give the world a corner of tranquility with a compassionate and gentle face.
Longmen Grottoes
"Walking up the stairs, looking up and meeting the solemn and compassionate eyes of Luscher, you will feel that I have come from afar to come to this appointment. ”
Longmen Grottoes, located in the southern suburbs of Luoyang City, Henan Province, on both sides of the Yi River, Longmen Grottoes have a total of 2,345 large and small cave niches, more than 100,000 statues, more than 2,800 inscriptions, famous for its many exquisite stone carving Buddha statues, is one of the four major grottoes in the mainland, is the artistic treasure of the world cultural heritage.
Binyang Three Caves were built in the Northern Wei Dynasty, it is said that Emperor Xuanwu prayed for the blessings of his parents Emperor Xiaowen and Empress Wenzhao, and the famous "Emperor and Empress Buddha Map" was originally in this cave.
There are 15,000 small Buddhas carved in the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave, so it is named "Ten Thousand Buddha Cave".
Lushena Buddha is the most representative Buddha symbol of Longmen Grottoes, the Buddha statue is 17 meters high, the image is realistic and shocking, according to legend, this statue is cast according to the statue of Wu Zetian.
Lotus Cave, because the top of the cave is carved with a huge lotus flower of 3m and gets the name, its main statue of Sakyamuni, the whole body is 5.10 meters high, different from other Buddha statues, this Buddha statue is a standing statue, wearing a robe, it seems to be Shakyamuni Buddha not far away, all the way to the dust, from the distant India to China to spread Buddhism.
The victory of mountains and rivers is the first of the dragon gates. The Longmen Grottoes are not only a treasure of ancient Chinese stone carving art, but also a witness of ancient Chinese history.
Conclusion:
Dynasties are changing, statues are weathered in time, only faith has never changed for thousands of years.
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