The History and Brief Introduction of Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes is one of the treasures of stone carving art in China, and now it is a world cultural heritage, a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction. Longmen Grottoes is located 13 kilometers south of Luoyang, Henan Province, and it is also called the three treasures of ancient Buddhist grottoes art in China along with Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu and Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi. Longmen Grottoes were carved in the Northern Wei Dynasty when Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang (AD 494), and then went through the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties until the Northern Song Dynasty.

in p>1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in the State Council. There are more than 1, Buddha statues, more than 2,3 grottoes and more than 2,8 inscriptions. Among them, "Longmen 2" is the essence of calligraphy in Wei Bei, and Chu Suiliang's "The Monument of Yique Buddhist Shrine" is a model of regular script art in the early Tang Dynasty.

The Lushenafo in Fengxian Temple is said to be modeled after the sculpture of Wu Zetian.

Wei Cave-In 495 AD, Qiu Huicheng, the imperial clan of Wei Dynasty, began to dig Guyang Cave in Longmen Mountain. From 5 to 523, Wei Xuan Wudi and Wei Xiao Ming Di successively dug three large caves in the north, south and middle of Binyang Cave. The construction of Shiyang Cave and Binyang Cave cost more than 8, people, and they also dug prescription caves and lotus caves dug in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

Grottoes in the Northern Dynasties were all located in Longmen Mountain, and the Guyang Cave was built for more than 5 years from the time of wisdom to the end of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, showing numerous China art forms, and the giant Buddha's posture changed from the majestic Yungang Grottoes to the gentle and amiable Longmen Grottoes. The Buddha statues represented by the main Buddha in Binyang Middle Cave have smiles on their faces. Longmen Grottoes show more China art Buddha statues than Yungang Grottoes.

Tang grottoes-The most prosperous period was the Tang Dynasty, accounting for more than 6% of the total grottoes. The grottoes excavated during Wu Zetian's reign accounted for the majority of the grottoes in the Tang Dynasty, which was related to her long-term existence of Luoyang. Fengxian Temple is the most representative Tang grottoes, with two Bodhisattvas 7 feet high, and Jia Ye, Ananda, King Kong and God King each 5 feet high (the length of the Tang Dynasty). The scale is the first in Longmen Grottoes. It took four years, and Wu Zetian paid 2, yuan herself.

Longmen Twenty Pieces are precious works of calligraphy art in Weibei style. Representing the tablet style of Wei Dynasty, it is upright and generous, vigorous and powerful, and it is a font in the transition from official script to regular script, with 19 items in Guyang Cave.

Extended information:

The main statue in Fengxian Temple is the sitting statue of the giant Buddha of Lushena. This is the largest Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes, with a height of more than five feet and one foot, and a single ear is five feet and seven inches long. Lushe, that's the image of Tathagata in the Western Heaven, which means "the light shines brightly", but the people in Luoyang call this image "the image of Wu Zetian". According to the people around Longmen Mountain, the giant Buddha in Lushena was modeled after Wu Zetian.

Legend has it that one year Tang Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian lived in the palace in Luoyang, the eastern capital. One morning, Wu Zetian was dressing. Tang Gaozong praised: "Zitong (the emperor's pet name for his empresses) is good-looking, elegant and graceful, and has the manners of a bodhisattva." Wu Zetian was secretly happy when she heard this. She had a brainwave and immediately wiped away her tears.

Gao Zong said in surprise, "Why is Zi Tong so sad?" Wu Zetian sobbed and said, "Even though there are thousands of good things in front of me, I am still a pile of dead bones after a hundred years. Who knows what I look like?" Gao Zong said: "What's the difficulty? The lonely painter made a beautiful portrait for Zitong. " Wu Zetian coquetry said: "Although the portrait is good, it is only a thin piece of paper and cannot be circulated for thousands of years." Now, the emperor can be in trouble.

after thinking for a long time, I couldn't think of a way out, so I had to ask Wu Zetian, "In your opinion?" Wu Zetian smiled and said, "Your Majesty said that my concubine has the appearance of a bodhisattva. Why don't you make a statue on Longmen Mountain?" Tang Gaozong suddenly realized and said, "What's the difficulty!" So he ordered a painter to paint a portrait of Wu Zetian, and ordered people to dig nine large open-air Buddhist shrines on the half cliff of Longmen Xishan, named Fengxian Temple. After the preparations were ready, Emperor Gaozong ordered people to select skilled masons and carved a big Buddha statue according to the portrait of Wu Zetian.

In order to make this statue more exquisite and immortal, Wu Zetian also donated 2, yuan for powder. After the big Buddha statue was molded, it was named Lushena Buddha. Lushena Sanskrit means to shine brightly, and Wu Zetian named her word "Shu (reading photos)", which means "the sun and the moon are in the sky" and also means to shine brightly.

Therefore, this statue not only looks like Wu Zetian, but also has exactly the same meaning of its name. The local people can't get used to the word "Lushena", so they simply call it "the statue of Wu Zetian". To this day, the people on Longmen Street still call it that.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Longmen Grottoes