Why is the Buddha's head missing in Longmen Grottoes?

Compared with destroying Buddha and stealing Buddha, the natural erosion of 1500 years is also one of the reasons for the damage of Buddha's head.

The first two reasons belong to the looting and destruction of the Buddha's head in Longmen Grottoes, but natural erosion is an inevitable law, and this destruction is gradual and unintentional. Due to the characteristics of carving Buddha, the finer the carving, the more vulnerable it is to natural erosion. In a Buddha statue, the head of Buddha is undoubtedly the most soulful part, which is called "opening face" by people in the industry. Fine expression can be seen in the head.

However, this delicate expression has also seriously eroded the Buddha's head. Even under normal weather conditions, wind, rain, light, temperature changes and even soil erosion will cause serious damage to the Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes. Especially in extreme weather conditions, such as natural disasters, mudslides, earthquakes and even floods, it will inevitably have a scouring effect on Buddha statues.

For example, the most iconic Lushena Buddha in Longmen Grottoes, because of its huge scale and volume, the people below are very small, so the destruction or even theft of the giant Buddha in previous dynasties has nothing to do with this Buddha statue, so this Buddha head is preserved intact. However, the hands and feet of Rushena Buddha were dismembered, and the reason for its dismemberment was not man-made destruction, but wind, sun and flood erosion, which eventually led to the collapse of the stone body.