In northwestern China, where the Loess Plateau is covered, there is a place called Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes
This place attracts countless tourists from all over the world every year, and it preserves a large number of Buddhist cultural scriptures, sculptures and murals.
This place is a place where all scholars who study Buddhism are fascinated, and the name of Dunhuang is like a sacred and inviolable existence.
The murals in Dunhuang are even more famous all over the world, and are even called a miracle in the history of world art
。
In the Dunhuang murals, it is easy to see the traces of the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, and you can also feel the evolution of Buddhist culture after it was introduced to China from India, especially the "flying sky" image in the Dunhuang murals.
"Flying heaven" is actually a kind of expression in Buddhist painting, and Buddhist painting refers to Buddhist painting, which is a kind of suggestive picture of Buddhist thought, and it is also a portrait that believers who advocate Buddhism often visit.
Although Buddhist worship is more of a Statue of Buddha, the importance of Buddhist paintings should not be underestimated.
Although the Buddha statue sculpture is more majestic and three-dimensional, the Buddha painting can express more detailed, more able to express the expression of the Buddha's demeanor and posture.
Therefore, in Buddhist aesthetics, Buddha paintings are as important as Buddha statues
Therefore, it is not difficult to see the important role of "Feitian" in Dunhuang murals, if you want to study Dunhuang aesthetics and Dunhuang culture, "Feitian" is a very good entry point.
I. After the "flying" art in Indian Buddhism was introduced to China, a unique Chinese "flying sky" was formed.
When you think of Dunhuang, you will think of the Mogao Grottoes, and when you think of the Mogao Grottoes, you will think of the greatness of human civilization, and you will think of the treasures of Buddhism, of which the "flying sky" is even more admired by the public.
With the rise of Dunhuang's cultural industry in recent years, many things about Dunhuang are well known to everyone, especially the "Flying Dance" is surprising to everyone.
It can be said that the "flying sky" technique can represent a symbol of Dunhuang art, and it is also the most prominent feature of Dunhuang
The image of "Feitian" represents not only the superb art of painting, but also a kind of cultural integration and the crystallization of the exchange of Chinese and foreign national cultures.
The image of "Feitian" was not created in China, but was introduced to China from India
It is well known that India is the birthplace of Buddhist culture, and the "flying sky" is a kind of imaginary god in Buddhism, representing the messenger who transmits happiness and happiness in Buddhism.
Although "flying" is a state of flight, unlike the gods in Western culture, the "flying goddess" does not have wings
That is to say, the "flying" image does not need to use the presence of wings to make people feel the feeling of soaring.
The reason why such an effect can be achieved has a lot to do with the painting technique of "flying", although "flying" does not rely on wings,
But when painting, the painters will use other things to form a contrast, thus achieving a visual feeling of the goddess flying in the sky.
For example
"Flying Sky"
The streamers worn on the body are the best object of contrast, and the ethereal feeling of the streamers and the flow without gravity restrictions greatly enhance the feeling of flying, plus the painters are drawing
When I always paint the goddess's posture very lightly, I can also achieve the feeling of flying.
Second, the sinicization and evolution of Indian Buddhist "flying" art
During the Western Han Dynasty, because Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, a road connecting Chinese and Western civilizations appeared "Silk Road"
The opening of the Silk Road not only promoted the mutual exchange between China and the West, but also promoted the mutual integration of Chinese and Western cultures.
Dunhuang is an important hub on the Silk Road, where different cultures converge and flow to different territories.
Indian Buddhist culture was also gradually introduced to China during this period, and "Flying Heaven" naturally settled on the land of China.
After Buddhism and "Feitian" were introduced to China, they did not directly adapt to the land of China, but were constantly infiltrated by Chinese culture and constantly integrated by Chinese culture in the long river of history.
After a long period of adaptation, it has developed into the current Chinese "feitian" culture and unique artistic expression.
1. The situation when Feitian first entered China
Some historical books record that in 265 AD, the Indian Buddhist "Feitian" culture had been introduced to China, and in the process of the development of "Feitian", it experienced the rise and fall of dozens of dynasties, which lasted more than a thousand years.
The period of the initial introduction and breakthrough of the "Feitian" culture is considered to be the Northern Liang and Northern Wei dynasties
During this period, the influence of "flying sky" had just entered China, and the performance shown by all aspects was also unsatisfactory.
Because the early "feitian" was naturally not integrated, pure Indian Buddhist culture, so the early "feitian" was mostly a strong western style, but the "feitian" of the two periods still had obvious differences.
In the Northern Liang Period, because "Feitian" had just been introduced to China, the image of "Feitian" was biased towards the western region in terms of shape, color, clothing, etc
Moreover, the Chinese painters in this period did not have a very good grasp of the painting techniques of "Feitian", so most of the "Feitian" in this period used bold brushes and bold and rough colors.
By the Time of the Northern Wei Dynasty, "Feitian" had already shown signs of Sinicization
In particular, the change in the face of the "flying" goddess, at this time, the painters have tried to change the western face to the Chinese qingxiu female face, and the figure has become closer to the proportion of Chinese women.
2. The stage of the integration of "Feitian" and Chinese culture
The period of integration of "Feitian" with Chinese culture began in the Western Wei Dynasty and ended in the Sui Dynasty
During this period, there were mainly two forms of "flying" images, one was the flying image that followed the western region, and the other was the improved Central Plains flying image.
The meaning of "Feitian" integration into Chinese culture is actually a kind of religious integration
The "Feitian" originates from Indian Buddhism, and its integration object is the chinese indigenous religion Taoism, so Dunhuang Feitian is actually the fusion and innovation of the Buddhist Tiantian and the Taoist Yu people.
The two flying images of the Western Wei Dynasty coincided with the important stages of the integration of the two religions and cultures
The artistic feature of the Central Plains Feitian image is Luoyang, Henan, from the plains of China.
Because the First Appearance of the Central Plains Feitian in the Western Wei Dynasty is the artistic painting style brought by Wang Rong of Dongyang from Luoyang, which combines the original feitian image of Dunhuang to create a unique Zhongyuan Feitian.
In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the artistic pursuit of "Feitian" became how to integrate Chinese brushstrokes and line techniques
Such an artistic expression is also the Northern Zhou
A distinguishing feature from other dynasties.
Moreover, the "flying sky" of the Northern Zhou Period also has a feeling of returning to the basics, and its painting style returns to the technique when the "flying sky" was just introduced in the Northern Liang Period, but it is much more colorful than the Northern Liang Period in terms of shape.
And in this period, there was also a "flying U-shaped posture",
This kind of styling design is actually to be more visually lifelike,
"U-Shaped"
Gives the feeling of being more unaffected by gravity and thus making this period
Even more ethereal.
When the art of "flying" developed to the Sui Dynasty, it was the period when the image of "flying sky" was the most, and it was also the period with the most variety and the richest posture in the Mogao Grottoes, and the Sui Dynasty paid more attention to the dynamic beauty of "flying sky".
The biggest difference between the Sui Dynasty and other dynasties is that "four different kinds"
The first is that the face shape and figure are plump and some are thin, more all-encompassing; the second is that the dress style has long sleeves and short sleeves and skirts are more colorful; the third is that the flight posture has the change of flying upward and downward, flying alone and flying in groups; the fourth is that the flying posture is no longer a "U-shaped posture".
3. The unique new image period of "China Feitian"
After arriving in the Tang Dynasty
Ushered in a period of innovation, but also entered a mature period, in the Tang Dynasty period can be said to be the most prosperous time, whether it is the use of color or the image of art has been greatly improved,
It can be said that in the Tang Dynasty, the artistic achievements of "Feitian" reached the most perfect state.
The Tang Dynasty was prosperous and prosperous, and this prosperity was manifested in all aspects of the Tang Dynasty, and the development of Dunhuang culture was naturally influenced by the social development of the Tang Dynasty, and the murals were expressed as scenes depicting a large number of large-scale Buddha sayings.
There have also been changes in the design of the "Flying Sky" shape
The streamers have become longer, some have grown to the point where they need to be rolled up, the lines are more rounded, and the colors are more colorful than ever.
On the whole, it has a high degree of compatibility with the social aesthetics of Datang,
Therefore, the image of the "flying sky" of the Tang Dynasty has shown a complete Chinese cultural form
Third, the tempering of Chinese culture for "feitian" has achieved the world-famous Dunhuang culture
Although the artistic prototype of "Feitian" was introduced to China from India,
However, the "flying sky" art that remains in the Dunhuang murals today, and even the entire Dunhuang culture has been extremely sinicized, which is an art form belonging to Dunhuang in China, and it is also very different from Indian Buddhism.
Chinese civilization is the foundation of "Dunhuang Feitian" and the driving force for birth, a crystallization of Chinese national culture, and one of the three major regional cultures in China.
The reason why "Feitian" is the foundation of Chinese culture is because in the development process of "Feitian", there has always been a Chinese artistic spirit of "Dragon Flying Phoenix Dance".
Moreover, the development of "Feitian" to the mature period is a Chinese-style artistic expression, whether it is the appearance, clothing style and flying posture.
In particular, the chinese dotted line art has a great influence on Dunhuang Feitian
This can be seen from the characteristics of world art, the West pays attention to the decomposition of the face and muscles, and the rounded lines and "S-shaped" curves like Dunhuang Feitian are unique to Chinese painting.
On the whole, "Feitian" is a complex composition, a multicultural fusion,
In art, it has all the characteristics of Indian culture, Western culture and Central Plains culture, and then through the creation of Chinese artists, it has achieved the treasure of this world's art.
Whether it is Dunhuang culture or "feitian" culture, it will always be passed down to the world and appreciated by the world.
bibliography:
[1] Dunhuang Art Aesthetics, Yi Cunguo, Shanghai People's Publishing House
[2] "Research on the History of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes" should be assisted by Gansu Education Publishing House
[3] "For the Pigments Used in Chinese Buddhist Mural Paintings" Duan Shuye Miyata Shun Kumagaya Noriko
[4] Korean Buddhist Art Dictionary, Yu Sheng-hsiung, Korea Color Culture Society