There are 15000 Buddha statues in Wanfo cave of Longmen Grottoes

We left three caves in Binyang and went up to see ten thousand Buddha Caves. The shape of the ten thousand Buddha cave is a square flat roof, with a lotus caisson carved on the top. Around the caisson, there is a large script: “the first year of Yonglong in the Tang Dynasty (AD 680) was completed on November 30, with Yao shenbiao as the chief supervisor, Yun Chan Master in the inner Daochang, and 15000 shrines.” There is an inscription on the north side of the tunnel entrance: “Samana Zhiyun, empress dowager, Prince Zhu Wang, built 15000 statues in one niche.”. The two inscriptions are complementary to each other, which explains the reason why Shimo people wanted to make statues for Shimo. Yonglong is the year of LiZhi of Gaozong. The eunuch is a female official in the palace. Samana Zhiyun and neidaochang waybill division refer to the number of bhikuni Zhiyun. Because the cave was built for Zhiyun, it is also called “Zhiyun cave”. Emperor refers to Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty and Empress Wu Zetian. Because there are 15000 Buddha statues carved on the spoon, it is also called “ten thousand Buddha cave”

The main name of the cave is Amitabha Buddha. It has round light and body light. Jieqi sits on the Xumi seat of yinfulian girdle, one hand is close to the body, and the other hand is on the chest. This gesture shows that Amitabha is saying to his disciples, so it is called “saying seal”. In the middle of the lotus seat, there are four armless supporting rooms with bare chest, muscle protrusion and bold body. There are 54 lotus flowers carved on the cliff above the Buddha’s backlight, each of which sits on a Bodhisattva. The posture is vivid, full of variety, unique and original. In addition, on the north and south walls, there are carved Kabuki people, which are divided into Kabuki and Kabuki. There are many musical instruments with hands, such as zither, Zhu, Ba, Gan Xi, flute, West waist drum, etc. This is the “sitting part” band of the Tang court. The dancers play, play, or fiddle with the strings as if they could play a beautiful melody. It’s a magic place for craftsmen to show the dancing and music scenes in the court of Tang Dynasty vividly.

In addition to the two masters of relief, there are two stone lions outside the original cave, that is, the exquisite works of relief in the Tang Dynasty of Longmen, which were stolen in the 1930s. It exists in Boston Art Museum and Wilson Art Museum in Kansas City.

Translate »
Translate »