| Â Mogao Caves, also called Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into a cliff wall of Mingsha Mountain about 25km southeast of the oasis city in the Gobi desert, Dunhuang. The honeycombed caves, enjoying a millennium long construction from the 4th to the 14th centuries and marking the height of Buddhist art, are the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures. At its height, the cave complex had thousands caves. A total of 492 grottoes remain after thousand years vicissitude, covered with 45,000-square-metre fascinating murals. There are also 2,400 painted statues and over 250 residential caves. Almost every grotto exhibits a group of colorful clean-cut paintings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and other religious paintings, or social activities of different dynasties. The caves carved on the cliff wall provide voluminous research materials for the study of all aspects of the social life, such as religion, art, politics, economics, military affairs, culture, literature, language, music, dance, architecture and medical science in mediaeval China. The splendid culture and art unearthed here stimulates worldwide interest and now a new international subject called Dunhuangology forms.
The mural paintings remained can be divided into seven categories, including the jataka stories depicting beneficence of Sakyamuni in his previous incarnations, sutra stories depicting suffering and transmigration, traditional Chinese mythology and so on.
Although the religious scriptures are primarily Buddhist, written in Chinese, Uygur, Tibetan, Turkic and other languages, they are not limited to Buddhist. Taoist, Manichean and Confucian scrolls are also part of the collection.
Unfortunately, due to the corrupt and impotent governments after the later Qing dynasties, Mogao Caves has been plundered of most treasures of the treasure trove by heinous thieves like Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Langdon Warner and Albert von Le Coq by theft, mostly, and unfair transactions. Then they were transported to Britain, Germany and other places.
According to history record, in the year 336, a monk called Le Zun came near Mingsha Mountain and suddenly had a vision golden rays of light shining upon him like thousands Buddhas there. He started to carve the first grotto to memorize the accident and show his respect to the Buddha. Other pilgrims and travelers followed for the next thousand years.
During the Northern Wei dynasty found by Turkic speaking Toba tribe, pilgrims restarted to hew grottoes after proceeding years of turmoil with reflection of their ideal heaven world of the painful material world. Now there are 40 Northern Wei caves left. Shadows of Indian Buddhism still can be seen from the clothing, hair and facial features of Buddhas. The finely chiseled sculptures in the Wei caves show large heads, wide faces, large noses, thin lips, high cheekbones and curly hair, with slim and ethereal figures. The females are high breasted. The Buddhas, bodhisattvas and disciples are quite and serene, in strong contrast with the aggressive and fierce devils. The Wei paintings often depict the patrons who paid for cutting caves as servants of Buddhas or supplicants, usually small in size.
In the short lifespaned Sui dynasty, Mogao Caves continued to boom and marked the end of foreign influence and transited slowly to the more indigenous styles of central China. There are now 78 Sui caves left. The statues produced then are mostly in good condition and more formal than the Wei statues. Fuller face, longer earlobes, loosely draped clothing and disproportionate upper body show typical Sui style. Jataka stories are still the main theme while more varied subjects appear. The feitian, or asparas become more pretty and elegant and gain perfect images. Lotus flowers and other symmetrical patterns are frequently used as decorations on the ceilings.
By the Tang dynasty, the caves welcome their most splendid time. There are still more than 220 Tang caves. These caves reflect the highest artistic achievements. Most caves are square and have three levels to lodge bigger sculptures which were gradually neglected than paintings during the Tang dynasty, but artistically
successful in accomplishment, gentle and realistic. The flying apsaras finally reach highest artistic achievements. Buddhas come to have less distinction with men and they wear ornaments and jewels and dressed like Tang nobles. The images of patrons become bigger and tend to occupy important places in the murals. The themes of murals have more stories of Buddhist scriptures instead of jataka stories. Cruising scene of aristocrats make its debut as painting theme also.
During the Five Dynasties, there was no place left on the cliff, some caves were enlarged or repainted. As a result, old paintings have thus been discovered lying under new ones. Surprise to the discovery is all these dynasties left.
Many caves were restored during the Yuan dynasty. The murals depict various Indian mandalas and bodhisattvas. Some caves were decorated in Tibetan style. After the Mongol reign, there was no artistic development. In the Ming dynasty, Dunhuang was once abandoned, and the caves gradually faded into the sand of the Gobi desert until the idiotic Taoist priest discovered the treasure house in beginning of the 19th century. |
