Characteristics of the Maijishan Grottoes in the Past Dynasties

The Maijishan Grottoes were built about 1,600 years ago during the Later Qin period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, and went through the Western Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Over the years, there have been continuous excavations and repairs. Due to earthquakes in the past dynasties, the central cliff collapsed and collapsed, so the cliff was naturally divided into two parts: the east cliff and the west cliff. There are currently 194 caves numbered. The characteristics of the eras represent the caves’ later Qin Dynasty (AD 384-417), the founding stage of Cave 74 and 78, the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386-534), the glorious development stage, the graceful and clear statues of Cave 115, Cave 133, and the Western Wei Dynasty (AD 535-556). ) Refined and improved stage, elegant and clear statues in Cave 127 and 121, Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581 AD), innovation stage, beady and jade-like, Cave 4, 62, and 44, Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD), new development period, plump and exaggerated, Cave 37, Early Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-712) New development period Full and exaggerated Cave 5. Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.) Large-scale reconstruction period Realism and truth-seeking Cave 165 Key caves Cave 74 and 78 are the earliest caves in Maiji Mountain. Most believe that It was excavated in the Later Qin (or Western Qin), or it may be thought that it was excavated after Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty restored the law. It is a large open niche with a square plan and a flat arch, and a "concave" shaped high altar base is cut into the cave. The shape and specifications of the two caves are the same. There are three Buddhas on the three walls, which are the theme of the three generations of Buddha. The Buddha statue has a round face, thin eyebrows and big eyes, a high nose and thin lips, a tall body, and a shoulder-length or half-shoulder cassock, which is an early Buddhist art style. Most of the murals in the cave have fallen off and their contents are difficult to decipher. There are two layers of murals in Cave 74. The bottom layer has been blurred, and the upper layer only has several flying figures painted on both sides of the Buddha.

The Northern Wei Dynasty was the period of great development of caves in Maiji Mountain. There are 88 caves in total, accounting for nearly half of all caves. The early representative caves are Cave 80 and Cave 128, which are mainly small and medium-sized caves with flat squares and flat roofs. The walls of the caves are in the form of small niches or statues carved in upper and lower layers. In addition to the three Buddhas as the main body, the themes of the statues have begun to appear again. A new theme of two Buddhas, Sakyamuni and Many Treasures, sitting side by side and preaching the Dharma.

The representative caves in the middle period include caves 76, 115 and 155. The shape of the cave is not much different from that of the early period, but the style of the statues has changed greatly, and the faces tend to be more handsome. Among them, there are statues of Buddhist disciples in cave 115 and seven Buddhas on the lintel, which are all new contents.

In the late Northern Wei Dynasty, due to the near-flooding development of Buddhism in society at that time, the number of cave niches in Maiji Mountain was large and large in scale. It was the heyday of Maiji Mountain’s grottoes and statues. The most representative ones are 121, 127, 133, 135, 142, etc., which are square or nearly square palace-style caves with many niches. The main themes of the statues are still three Buddhas, but one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas also appear at the same time. The combination of the second disciple. The sculptures were influenced by the Central Plains, and the mainstream of the statues are those with lavish clothing and elegant belts, and elegant bones. Among them, Cave 133 (Ten Thousand Buddhas Cave) has 27 clay sculptures, 18 statue steles (especially the No. 10 Buddha Story Monument is precious), and more than 3,000 Feitian and Thousand Buddha statues, which is the largest number of statues in the Maijishan Grottoes. Cave. The murals include large-scale Sutra paintings and Jataka story paintings, with the murals in Cave 127 being the best preserved. His important works include the Western Pure Land Transformation, Vimalakirti's Transformation, Satuna's Sacrifice to Serve the Tiger, Suizi Jataka, etc. In particular, its Jingbian paintings are the earliest and most mature large-scale Jingbian paintings from the Northern Dynasties existing in domestic grottoes, and have had a positive impact on the large-scale Jingbian paintings of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

There are 12 existing caves in the Western Wei Dynasty, represented by Cave 43, 102, and 123. They are mainly small and medium-sized caves, and cliff-style caves have appeared, such as Cave 43 (regarded as Queen Wen Yifu's "Silent Tomb"), the statue appears a combination of one Buddha, two Bodhisattvas, two disciples and two powerful men. The paintings of Manjusri and Vimalakīrti sitting opposite each other in Cave 102 and the boy and girl in Cave 123 are all representative works of extremely high standards.

There are 44 cave niches in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, represented by caves 3, 4, 26 and 62. Cave 4 (also known as Shangqifo Pavilion and Sanhua Pavilion) is the largest and highest grotto in Maiji Mountain. It is a single-eaves veranda-style cave with seven beams and eight columns, a flat-arch caisson, 31.7 meters wide and 15 meters high. It is the largest existing cliff pavilion building and has very important value in the history of ancient Chinese architecture. The statues of the Northern Zhou Dynasty were mainly composed of seven Buddhas, inheriting the characteristics of the delicate bones and clear statues of the Western Wei Dynasty, and changed into the style of "short and colorful faces", which ushered in the plump and round statues of the Tang Dynasty.

Due to earthquake collapse during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, very few caves were preserved, with Cave 5 (Niuertang) being the representative one. The rows of murals of donors on the outer wall of the cave are precious information for studying Tang Dynasty costumes and other aspects.

In the Song Dynasty, few caves were opened in Maiji Mountain, but many early statues were renovated. The Song Dynasty reconstruction of the Guanyin Bodhisattva statue and the supporting figures in Cave 165 are of a high level, reflecting the secular characteristics of the Song Dynasty statues.