Posted ByChina7day
Among the colorful religious art carvings in Longmen Grottoes, those that can directly reflect the secular social life at that time, I think they should belong to a large number of supporting artificial statues that are connected to the side or side of the Buddha statues and are full of vivid artistic atmosphere and personality. Of course, the Buddha worship map also belongs to the supporting human statues.
As one of the important themes in the Grottoes in the Central Plains of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Buddha worship map not only vividly reflects the features of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also reflects the real life of the times. At the same time, it also contains rich cultural connotation, as well as aesthetic and appreciative artistic atmosphere. From the Buddha worship map, we can appreciate its rich connotation and beautiful images, no matter from the creation Type composition or clothing accessories, both reflect the artistic characteristics of Longmen Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the regional cultural characteristics and social and cultural connotation, so it has a high cultural value.
The relief statues and vows of the Buddha worship map in Longmen Grottoes not only provide us with the image data to study the social life history and costume history of Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also provide us with the valuable data to study the history of Longmen Grottoes. Since the Wei, Jin and southern and Northern Dynasties, opening caves and painting wall sculptures have become a relatively stable profession, from which folk craftsmen have exerted their talents and achieved outstanding results. They have accumulated rich creative experience and become a powerful force to promote the development of Chinese art history.
At present, the relief of Buddha worship pictures and the relief of supporting people in different times in Longmen Grottoes show the development process and fine cultural tradition of the relief of traditional figures in Heluo area. At the same time, the art of composition and modeling embodied in the relief also has a good reference value for the art creation of figure sculpture in the new era. The Buddhist sculpture movement in the Northern Wei Dynasty is extremely enthusiastic. Before and after the construction of Longmen Grottoes and the relocation of Xiaowen emperor to Luoyang, Luoyang area is an important birthplace of Han culture, full of the self-confident atmosphere of Han culture, never repel any foreign culture, and never be melted by foreign culture, with a strong spirit of integration. After the capital moved to Luoyang, the nobility of Tuoba Xianbei came to the Central Plains. Its rulers accepted the advanced cultural system of the Han nationality. With the vigorous promotion of the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism had a huge advantage in the field of ideology and culture, However, in front of the traditional culture of the Han nationality, it was quickly dissolved in the intangible. The reform of Emperor Xiaowen’s Sinicization made Luoyang area appear new social features and cultural thoughts, showing new cultural interest and aesthetic consciousness. As a true portrayal of people’s behavior of worshiping Buddha at that time, the figure of worshiping Buddha naturally preserved the social mood at that time, and the spirit of Han culture was naturally injected into such grottoes, but there was still a process of cultural integration. For example, in the figure of worshiping Buddha at Longmen Grottoes, the Chinese clothes with wide sleeves and long skirts in characters’ clothes actually absorbed some characteristics of Hu clothes, But generally speaking, Hanfu is still the mainstream, Hufu has changed, and individual differences between different nationalities still exist, which shows the unique features in the process of cultural integration, and shows the cultural value contained in the Buddhist map.
In particular, the stolen “emperor” and “empress” two pictures of Buddha worship in Binyang cave of Longmen Grottoes are the center and the most outstanding part of the whole statue group. From the above analysis of the figures’ body shape, hairstyle, umbrella cover, Yu Bao and other honor guard systems, we can see that the policy of Sinicization carried out by Emperor Xiaowen has made remarkable achievements, which is exactly a reflection of cultural integration. Therefore, this work not only has important historical literature value, but also from the perspective of religious history and art history Research, or from the historical value and cultural value to measure, emperor and empress Buddha map can be said to be worthy of the national treasure.
In a word, Longmen Grottoes contain many kinds of cultural elements, which have distinctive characteristics of the times, and also reflect the characteristics of Heluo regional culture, providing important material materials for the study of Northern Wei Grottoes culture. Through the investigation and analysis of this cultural heritage, we can see the material living conditions and contents of the people of all ethnic groups in the Central Plains in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which is of positive significance for us to fully understand the general level of the social material culture in this historical period and the spiritual outlook of the ancient people formed on this basis. The basic analysis of the Buddha worship map and the specific situation of this kind of image also reflect the fact that the Buddhist religious stratum in Luoyang area contains the elements of the northern Hu people around the 12th year of Taihe (488). At the same time, it has a typical cultural relic value and significance for the study of the ethnic structure in the Central Plains before the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital.