Understand the four grottoes and know that "stone" is power.

The four grottoes have different stones.

There are four grottoes in China in Dunhuang, Gansu, Datong, Shanxi, Luoyang, Henan and Tianshui, Gansu. They are built on stones, because stones are different.

Wisdom of conglomerate murals and clay sculptures in Mogao Grottoes

In 366 AD, a happy monk came to Dunhuang.

In the south of Dunhuang, he happened to see the Buddha's light rising from the Three Dangers Mountain in the distance (now some people think it is a mirage), and was deeply moved, so he decided to dig a Buddha's cave here.

Finally, he took a fancy to a nearby valley.

Panorama of Mogao Grottoes. The lush place is the former Daquan Valley, and the Mogao Grottoes are behind the cliff (located on the west side of the valley). In the distance is Mingsha Mountain. Monk Leno stood there and saw the golden light shining on the Sanwei Mountain opposite (in the evening, the golden light appeared in the east). The Mogao grottoes sit west to east, facing the Three Dangers Mountain. Photography/Wu Jian

Due to the uplift of the earth's crust and the undercutting of the river, relatively vertical rock walls are often formed on both sides of the river, which can be used as the foundation of grottoes.

Moreover, rivers provide a guarantee for the growth of plants. In the vast desert, there are mountains, water and greenery, which is really a treasure (it is said that later generations of craftsmen will dig here with farming water for several years).

However, there is also a stony problem of rocks.

In the 4.6 billion-year history of the earth, different environments will form different rocks. Different rock layers also have different thicknesses.

On this rock wall, it is mainly conglomerate formed in Quaternary.

On the land surface, the formed rocks will be broken into large and small cuttings under geological activities or weathering. These cuttings will enter the river and be transported for various reasons, and will be worn again during transportation.

If the sediment is not transported for a long time because of the change of conditions, the debris particles are still large and eventually formed as "conglomerate". If it is transported far away before deposition, the debris particles will be smaller and eventually form "sandstone".

As you can imagine, due to the uneven structure of conglomerate, the hardness is inconsistent everywhere, which is fragile and the surface is rough, which is not conducive to carving.

So the craftsmen thought of using mud.

After chiseling out the shape of the cave, they first painted coarse grass mud mixed with sand and wheat straw on the stone wall, then painted fine grass mud, and finally ended up with fine mud mixed with cotton or hemp. This process is called "ground warfare", which can make the wall flat and solid.

Then, you can paint directly on the surface of the battlefield, or you can paint with a layer of white powder before painting (painting is done after the wall is dry, and painting is often wet after the Tang Dynasty, which is more permeable and not easy to fade), thus forming murals.

As for the Buddha statue, the wooden frame is used as the bone, reed grass is tied to it, rough mud is used to shape the approximate shape, fine mud is used to depict the skin, expression, beard and hair, clothing and other details, and finally painting is made.

What is the composition of the paint?

Most of them are made of inorganic minerals. For example, red is cinnabar, red lead, realgar and red alum; Yellow has orpiment and Lithuanian; Green is stone green and verdigris; Blue is lapis lazuli, ultramarine and azure; White has lead powder, chalk, gypsum, zinc oxide and mica; Black is mainly ink.

And minerals, mostly from rocks. Mud is also mostly formed by weathering of rocks. Although there is no concrete carving with stone here, it is another art with "stone".

The Journey to the West in Mogao Grottoes (White Horse Carrying Sutra). This painting technique emphasizes lines, which is different from the former. Photography/Wu Jian

Yungang Grottoes | On the fine sandstone, the starting point of all petrochemical statues.

In 460 AD, Wen Chengdi, a Xianbei ethnic group in the Northern Wei Dynasty, decided to start digging caves at the southern foot of Wuzhou Mountain in the western suburb of Pingcheng (now Datong).

How did you choose this position?

The Mogao grottoes are selected in a valley, which is also a valley.

The downward cutting of Shili River (now diverted) and the uplift of the earth's crust have formed a natural cliff here, which can be directly used. Moreover, it is surrounded by mountains and waters, which is very conducive to the sacrifices of the royal family and the people.

Where's the stone?

It is mainly fine sandstone formed in Jurassic.

Its structure is more delicate and uniform, and it can be directly used as the surface of sculpture, without using mud to replace it. Therefore, Yungang Grottoes became the starting point of pure stone carving.

In stone carving, there are two techniques: negative engraving and positive engraving. The former makes the pattern concave and the latter makes the pattern convex.

Generally speaking, most of the early stone carvings were intaglio carvings, because the technique is relatively simple. After all, only the stones in the pattern can be shaved off by subtraction, but the latter needs to deal with all the stones except the pattern.

In Yungang Grottoes, because stones are suitable for carving, you can see many examples of "positive carving".

In addition, it is precisely because of the dense rocks and thick strata here that it can support the excavation of large Buddha statues.

In the later period, people pursued exquisite and gorgeous decoration, and then used mud and pigments.

Longmen Grottoes | On carbonate rocks, the peak of stone carving art.

Yungang Grottoes have only been excavated for 34 years, and Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang in order to control the Central Plains. In 500 AD, his son Xuan Wudi ordered the excavation of grottoes in Xindu.

He chose a magical place in Luoyang called yique. Que is a building on both sides of the ancient palace, and here, Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain are sandwiched between the Yi River, as if guarding the gate of the territory.

How did this happen?

200,000 years ago, geological movements "arched" carbonate rocks formed in Cambrian into Longmen Mountain. Because carbonate rocks are easily dissolved by water, there are many caves in the mountains. They crisscrossed and developed, and finally cracked a canyon and cut mountains. Legend has it that the Yi River was dredged here, and today's scene was finally achieved.

Carbonate rock here is a kind of biological or chemical sedimentary rock, which is different from clastic sedimentary rocks such as conglomerate and sandstone and is mostly formed in terrestrial environment. It is mainly formed by biological or chemical action in the marine environment. It is delicate and soft, especially suitable for carving details.

Rocks are composed of minerals. The hardness of minerals will affect the hardness of rocks. The main minerals in carbonate rocks are much softer than those in sandstone.

Therefore, compared with Yungang Grottoes, the stones here are superior and do not need too much mud to participate, which eventually becomes the peak of pure stone carving art in the Grottoes.

To what extent are stones easy to carve? For example, take a closer look at the clothes lines in the left half of the picture above. It is a kind of "positive engraving" with gentle radian, which not only creates a shadow effect, but also gradually highlights from top to bottom, which is much more exquisite than the carving with only geometric patterns in Yungang Grottoes. In addition to the craftsmanship of craftsmen, whether stones are handy is also a very important factor.

Whether macroscopic or microscopic, the stone carvings in Longmen Grottoes are fine works.

In addition, the inscriptions on Longmen Grottoes are also very famous, partly because only the right stone can reproduce the most vivid charm of details.

It is worth noting that because of tectonic activities, the rock strata here are inclined, so the grottoes are basically distributed along the inclined direction.

Maijishan Grottoes | On sandstone, there are lifelike clay sculptures.

In 534, the Northern Wei Dynasty was divided into the Western Wei Dynasty and the Eastern Wei Dynasty. With the help of the royal family, Chang 'an, the capital of the Western Wei Dynasty, began to expand the nearby Maijishan Grottoes (also excavated along the Silk Road with the development of Buddhism in the Five Lakes and Sixteen Countries, built behind the Mogao Grottoes and in front of the Yungang Grottoes).

Why did you choose here? It's really because Maijishan is so special.

It is a solitary peak in Xiaolongshan Mountain at the western end of Qinling Mountains, belonging to Danxia landform. This landform is mainly formed by the erosion and weathering of iron-bearing red glutenite by running water, and its two biggest characteristics are red and steep.

For believers, this steep mountain can add a lot of color to their sense of sacredness and seclusion, which is naturally a favorite choice.

The rocks here are mainly sandstone formed in Tertiary, which is finer in texture than Mogao Grottoes and thicker in structure than Yungang Grottoes, and is not suitable for large-scale carving. So choose clay sculpture.

However, it is also different from the Mogao Grottoes. The conglomerate in Mogao Grottoes is easy to be broken, and the combination is not close enough, so apart from large Buddha statues, stones are rarely used as skeletons.

But the rocks here are hard, and although the surface is not suitable for carving details, it can be used as a skeleton support. Therefore, the practice of "clay sculpture with stone tires" is common here, so that the stone tires are integrated with the cliffs and the foundation is more solid.

Because mud is easier to shape details than stone, the clay sculpture here pays special attention to expression. Sometimes it is as big as a real person, so it is particularly vivid.

In this way, from the stone point of view, grottoes are not limited to Buddhist culture, sculpture art, historical features and dynasty changes, but one of the wonderful combinations of earth gifts and human wisdom.

In this sense, it transcends religion and shows another kind of "unity".

-End-

The author is happy.

Tu Tu | Wu Jian

Cover Map | Jin Liang

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