Introduction to the best places to visit in Longmen Grottoes

Luoyang Longmen Grottoes are a world cultural heritage with extremely high ornamental value. There are many interesting tourist attractions in Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area. It is recommended that when friends go to visit, they can visit the must-see tourist attractions first, and then introduce them to everyone!

1. Fengxian Temple

Fengxian Temple is the largest and most exquisite group of cliff carvings in Longmen Grottoes. Because it belonged to the royal temple at that time, it is commonly known as "Fengxian Temple".

2. Qianxi Temple

Qianxi Temple is the first large cave at the northern end of Longmen West Mountain. It is more than nine meters high, nine meters wide and nearly seven meters deep. It was built in the early Tang Dynasty more than 1,300 years ago. The caisson on the top is a shallowly carved lotus. The Lord Buddha Amitabha sits on the Sumeru Platform, with his disciple Ye Jia on the left and Ananda on the right. The two disciples next to him are Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Dazhi Bodhisattva. Amitabha Buddha and the two Bodhisattvas on both sides are collectively known as the Three Saints of the West, that is, the Three Saints in charge of the Western Paradise, and are the objects of Buddhist Puritanism.

3. Binyang Cave

Binyang Middle Cave is a representative cave in the Northern Wei Dynasty. "Bin Yang" means the sun that welcomes birth. The three Binyang buildings were excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty and were built by Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty for his father, Emperor Xiaowen. The Binyang Middle Cave is horseshoe-shaped in plane, with a dome on top and a lotus cover carved with double lotus flowers in the middle.

4. Ten Thousand Buddhas Cave

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Cave is named after the 15,000 small Buddhas carved in sequence on the north and south sides of the cave. The cave has a structure of front and back chambers, with two lions in the front chamber and one Buddha, two disciples, two Bodhisattvas and two heavenly kings in the back chamber. It is the most complete cave in Longmen Grottoes. There is also a Bodhisattva statue on the south side of the cave entrance, which is an exquisite example among the many Bodhisattva statues in the Tang Dynasty in Longmen Grottoes. The Bodhisattva is 85 centimeters tall, with his head tilted to the right and his body in an "S" shape. The whole posture is very elegant and dignified.

5. Lotus Cave

The Lotus Cave is named after the large lotus carved in high relief on the top of the cave. It was excavated during the Northern Wei Dynasty. The lotus is a symbol of Buddhism, which means emerging from the mud and remaining unstained. Therefore, Buddhist grottoes are mostly decorated with lotus flowers, but large and exquisite high-relief lotus flowers like those on the top of the Lotus Grottoes are rare in Longmen Grottoes. The flying figure of the lotus ring is light, with a slim waist and long skirt, and a free and easy posture. The lotus roof of the Great Hall of the People is designed based on this lotus flower.

6. Guyang Cave

Guyang Cave is located in the southern section of Longmen Mountain and was excavated in 493 AD. It is the earliest excavated cave in the Longmen Grottoes with the richest Buddhist content and the highest calligraphy art. It is large in scale and majestic. The four characters "Guyang Cave" are engraved in regular script on the north wall of the cave.

Yangdong is the place where the royal nobles of the Northern Wei Dynasty concentrated their vows and statues. These dignitaries did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to dig caves and Buddhist shrines to plant merits, pray for blessings and avoid disasters, and left behind a treasure of calligraphy - the Longmen Twenty Pins. There are 19 products in ancient cave dwellings and another product in Cixiang Kiln. "Twenty Products of Longmen" refers to the inscriptions on twenty different statues selected from the Northern Wei Dynasty, recording the time of carving, characters and uses of the Buddhist niches.

The characteristics of the 20th grade are: the font is regular and generous, the momentum is strong and simple, and the structure and strokes are between Han Li and Tang Kai. Kang Youwei, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once strongly advocated the use of Weibei style writing in the whole society. "Twenty Chapters of Longmen" still has infinite artistic charm to this day. They attract countless overseas friends to cross the ocean every year just to witness this wonderful calligraphy with their own eyes.

7. Prescription Cave

Fangzi Cave is named after many Tang Dynasty prescriptions engraved on the cave door. There are more than 150 kinds of medicinal prescriptions engraved on both sides of the cave, and the medicinal materials involved can be found among the people, which greatly facilitates the common people. "Dongfang Fang" is the earliest existing stone prescription in my country and occupies an important position in the research of traditional Chinese medicine.

The current location of Old Dragon Cave is carved from a natural cave, with a long horseshoe-shaped cave

8. Old Dragon Cave

Kanjing Hall was first built in During Wu Zetian's period, it was a double-room structure. There are dozens of niche statues on the cliff wall of the front room. The main tomb chamber is 1170 cm deep, 1116 cm wide and 825 cm high. Its four walls are vertical, and there are 29 ancestors carved on the lower parts of the three walls (11 on the front wall and 9 on the two walls), with a height of 180cm. This grotto, which only carves Arhats and not Buddha statues, looks like a large Zen hall, which may have been excavated by Zen Buddhism. It is the largest cave in the east mountain of Longmen, Kanjing Temple, with 29 statues of Arhats who spread the Dharma well preserved.

9. Huijian Cave

Xiangshan Temple is located in Xiangshan West Au, 13 kilometers south of Luoyang, the ancient capital of the Thirteenth Dynasty. The West Mountain Grottoes of Longmen Grottoes are separated by water and face each other across the river. They are connected to the Dongshan Grottoes and Baiyuan of Longmen Grottoes and stand side by side. It is named after the fragrant kudzu vines that grow abundantly.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the Indian monk Bhabharata (Rizhao) was buried here and a Buddhist temple was rebuilt for her body. Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang, named it "Xiangshan Temple" and rebuilt the temple. Wu Zetian often traveled with her relatives, leaving a good story about "Fu's Golden Cannon in Xiangshan". Later, Baiyin Juyi of Henan Province donated 60-70 million yuan to rebuild Xiangshan Temple, and the temple was named "The Legend of Magical Treasures of the Past Dynasties". The first sentence at the beginning of this article is a praise for Xiangshan Temple, "Luodu is the best in the surrounding suburbs, the first temple in Longmen, the tenth temple in Longmen, a tourist attraction, and the first temple in Xiangshan." Bai Juyi died and was buried next to the Master Man Pagoda in Xiangshan Temple.

10. Kanjing Temple

Baiyuan, located on Pipa Peak in the East Mountain of Longmen Scenic Area in Luoyang, is the cemetery of Bai Juyi, a poet from the Tang Dynasty.

11. Xiangshan Temple

"Twenty Chapters of Longmen" refers to the inscriptions and postscripts of the twenty statues in Longmen Grottoes during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is a representative of the calligraphy of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Weibei inherited Han Li and opened Tang Kai, which has the charm of Li Kai and Li Kai. Among them, 19 are in Guyang Cave and 1 is in Cixiang Cave. His calligraphy art developed and evolved on the basis of Han Li and Jin Kai, forming a unique style that is dignified, generous, simple and simple, with both official script style and regular script elements. It is the essence of the calligraphy art of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the representative of the "Weibei" style.

12. Baiyuan

In 1936, to celebrate Chiang Kai-shek’s 50th birthday, the local government chose the south side of Xiangshan Temple to build a two-story building called Songjiang Villa.

13. Inscription on the Stele

Before the road at the foot of Dongshan Mountain was opened, there was a platform on the boulder. Legend has it that when Fengxian Temple was built, Wu Zetian personally led hundreds of officials to visit Longmen and presided over the grand consecration ceremony. A huge band played drums on this platform to entertain the people, so later generations called it the drumming platform. The three holes adjacent to the drum beating platform are called the three holes of the drum beating platform.

There are seven statues in the cliff niche at your current location, three of which are seated and four of which are standing. This kind of statue combination is extremely rare in Chinese cave temples. The main Buddha in the middle, Maitreya Buddha, appears as the successor of Sakyamuni. Wu Zetian used Maitreya belief to create public opinion for her ascension to the throne, and later called herself "Cishi" (Maitreya), which promoted the popularity of Maitreya belief. It was under this historical background that the three cliff niches appeared. With the fall of the Wu and Zhou regime, the three cliff shrines also stopped working. Although this group of statues is a semi-finished product, it provides valuable information for people to understand the excavation procedures of grotto statues.