Overview
Chinese Name: 云冈石窟
English Name: Yungang Grottoes; Wuzhoushan Grottoes; Yun Gang Shi Ku
Location: Datong, Shanxi
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Brief Introduction
Yungang Grottoes is located in the southern foothills of Wuzhou Mountain 武州山 and the north bank of Wuzhou River 五州河 about 16 kilometers west of Datong City, Shanxi Province. There are 45 major caves, 252 large and small niches, and more than 51,000 stone statues, which is one of the largest ancient grottoes in China.
Yungang Grottoes was announced by the State Council as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in China in 1961, was listed by UNESCO on December 14, 2001, and was rated as the first batch of national 5A-level tourist attractions by the National Tourism Administration on May 8, 2007.
Three historical periods of the Yungang Grottoes
The early grottoes are now Caves 16 to 20, also known as the Five Tan Yao cave 昙曜五窟. Excavated in 460-465 AD, it was the first phase of the Yungang Grottoes. It is said to show the infinity of the power of the Northern Wei 北魏 emperors; In the center of the five grottoes are carved huge statues of Buddha, symbolizing the five emperors of the Five Dynasties of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The Yungang Grottoes in the middle period present complex content, exquisite carving art characteristics are very different from the early grottoes, carving modeling pursuit of neat and gorgeous, from the cave shape to the carving content and style have obvious Chinese characteristics.
After the late Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang 洛阳 (494), although the large-scale excavation of the Yungang Grottoes stopped, the custom of chiseling statues spread among the middle and lower classes, who made full use of the old skills of Pingcheng to excavate a large number of small and medium-sized caves in Yungang.
What are worth visiting and seeing？
The Flying Apsaras
The Flying Apsaras飞天 originated in India, but after arriving in China, according to the needs of Chinese Buddhism and the aesthetic and psychological needs of the nation, it has been greatly transformed and has become a wonderful flower in the Buddhist art garden. In China, one of the most important features of The Flying Apsaras is not to rely on wings to fly but to fly in the air with the streamer of the dress, which is more romantic and detached.
Introduction to each grotto
The first cave and the second cave are double caves, located at the eastern end of the Yungang Grottoes. The center of the cave is carved with two square tower pillars, the rear wall is a statue of Maitreya 弥勒, the four walls of the Buddha statue are mostly weathered and eroded, and the two sides of the south wall cave door are carved with Vimal 维摩 and Manjushri 文殊.
The third cave is the largest grotto in Yungang, the front wall is about 25 meters high, and it is said to be the Tan Yao Translation Scripture Building 译经楼, the cave is divided into front and back rooms, and the upper part of the front room is chiseled out of a Maitreya cave room, and a pair of three-story square towers are chiseled out left and right.
In the fourth cave, a rectangular column is carved in the center of the cave, six Buddha statues are carved on the north and south sides, and three Buddha statues are carved in the east and west. Above the gate of the south wall, the cave is the Northern Wei Zhengguang Chronicle 正光纪年 (520-525 AD), which is the latest surviving memory of the Yungang Grottoes.
The fifth cave, located in the middle of the Yungang Grottoes, is a group of two caves with the sixth cave. The cave is divided into front and back chambers, and the main statue on the north wall of the back room is the third Buddha, and the central sitting statue is 17 meters high and is the largest Buddha statue in the Yungang Grottoes. The four walls of the cave are full of carved Buddha shrines and Buddha statues.
On both sides of the arch, two Buddhas are carved into the sky sitting on top of the Bodhi tree 菩提树, with beautiful lines. In front of the two caves, there are five four-story pavilions, and the existing building was rebuilt in the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651 AD) in the early Qing Dynasty 清朝.
The seventh cave, in front of the cave, is built with a three-story wooden eave, and the cave is divided into two rooms. The upper floor of the front wall of the back room is inscribed with a bodhisattva sitting on the throne of Leo. On the east, west, and south walls, there are carved statues of Buddha shrines, and the six bodhisattvas on the arches of the south wall are beautiful and realistic.
Heritage value
The Yungang Grottoes vividly record the historical trajectory of the development of Buddhist art from India and Central Asia to Chinese Buddhist art, reflecting the process of gradual secularization and nationalization of Buddhist statues in China. A variety of Buddhist art statues have been integrated into the Yungang Grottoes as never before.
The Yungang Grottoes are the beginning of the “sinicization” of grotto art. The Chinese palace architectural style carvings that appeared in the middle of Yungang Grottoes, as well as the Chinese-style Buddha statue niches developed on this basis, were widely used in the construction of later cave temples.
Yungang Grottoes, Shanxi, China
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