Longmen Grottoes

One of the three largest Grottoes in China has a long history. It has been excavated for more than 500 years, with more than 97000 Buddha statues.

Here, the East and West Mountains face each other. The Yishui river flows in the middle. It looks like a natural gate. The grottoes are densely distributed on the cliffs, 1 km long from north to south.

Longmen Grottoes is the most classic scenic spot in Luoyang, among which the most shocking one is the statue group of Lushena Buddha, which is half a mountain high.

Here is beautiful scenery and pleasant climate. Choose a peony blooming season to enjoy the cultural heritage left by ancient people.

Longmen Grottoes is one of the treasures of Chinese stone carving art. It is now a world cultural heritage, a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAAA tourist attraction. It is located on Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain on both sides of Yihe River in Luolong District, Luoyang City, Henan Province. Longmen Grottoes, Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Maijishan grottoes are known as China's four major grottoes. Longmen Grottoes were excavated during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After that, they have been built on a large scale for more than 400 years in the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Song dynasties. They are 1 kilometer long from north to south. Today, there are 2345 grottoes, more than 100000 statues and 2800 inscriptions. Among them, "twenty products of Longmen" is the essence of calligraphy and Wei tablet. Zhu Suiliang's book "the monument of Yi Gu Shrine" is a model of regular script art in the early Tang Dynasty. Longmen Grottoes have lasted for a long time and spanned many dynasties. With a large number of physical images and written materials, they reflect the development and changes of ancient Chinese politics, economy, religion, culture and many other fields from different aspects, and have made great contributions to the innovation and development of Chinese Grottoes art. In 2000, it was listed as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Fengxian Temple

Fengxian Temple is a group of cliff type group sculptures with the largest scale and the most exquisite art in Longmen Grottoes. It is commonly known as "Fengxian Temple" because it belongs to the royal temple Fengxian Temple at that time. The cave was built in the early period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. Empress Wu Zetian sponsored twenty thousand yuan in the third year of Xianxiang (672 A.D.), and finished in the second year of Shangyuan (675 A.D.), with a length of more than 30 meters and a width of more than 30 meters. The Buddha statues in the cave clearly reflect the artistic characteristics of the Buddha statues of Tang Dynasty. They are rich in face shape, drooping in ears, perfect in shape, peaceful, warm and friendly, which are extremely moving. The inscription on the north side of the lotus seat of the main Buddha is called "the statue niche of the great Lushena". There are nine statues here. The main Buddha in the middle is the great Lushena Buddha and Sakyamuni's Bodhisattva. According to the Buddhist scriptures, Lushena means light everywhere. The statue is 17.14 meters high, head 4 meters high and ears 1.9 meters long. The face of the statue is plump and mellow, the top of the head is wavy hair lines, the eyebrows are curved like crescent moon, attached with a pair of beautiful eyes, gazing slightly below. Straight nose, small mouth, showing a peaceful smile. The ears are long and slightly drooping, and the chin is round and slightly protruding forward. She is harmonious, peaceful and comfortable. She is dressed in a through shoulder cassock with simple and unsophisticated patterns. The concentric circles of patterns set off the head portrait with extraordinary brightness and holiness. The whole statue of Buddha is like a wise and kind-hearted middle-aged woman. It is respectful and fearless. It has been commented that in shaping this Buddha, she perfectly combines noble sentiment, rich feelings, open mind and elegant appearance. Therefore, she has great artistic charm.

JIAYE, the experienced and mature elder disciple, Ananda, the gentle and intelligent younger disciple, the reserved and dignified Bodhisattva, the valiant and vigorous king of heaven, the aggressive warrior and the main Buddha, together constitute a group of art group images full of modality and texture.

There are many small rectangular niches behind the nine body statue of Fengxian Temple. In order to protect the statue niches, people built wooden structure eaves buildings according to the niches in the song and Jin Dynasties. These buildings affected the ventilation of the Buddha statue and accelerated the weathering of the Buddha statue, so they were later demolished.

With its grand scale and exquisite carving, Fengxian Temple's large-scale art group sculpture stands at the peak of Chinese stone carving art. It has become a model of Chinese stone carving art and a symbol of the great era of Tang Dynasty.

Qianxi Temple

Qianxi temple is the first cave at the north end of the west mountain of Longmen. It is more than nine meters high and nine meters wide, and nearly seven meters deep. It was built about 1300 years ago in the early Tang Dynasty. The caisson on the top of the cave is a lotus flower. Amitabha, the main Buddha, sits on the stage of Xumi, with a plump face, a raised chest, and a slanting garment pattern. His body is well proportioned and his expression is wise. His whole posture gives people a sense of serenity and kindness. On the left side of the main Buddha is the elder disciple JIAYE, and on the right side is the younger disciple Ananda. Next to the two disciples are Guanyin Bodhisattva and dashizhi Bodhisattva. In particular, the dashizhi Bodhisattva in Nanbi has a plump shape and a quiet manner. There are 1:1 copies on display in the Palace Museum. Amitabha Buddha and the two Bodhisattvas on both sides are called the western three saints, namely the three saints who are in charge of the Western Paradise. They are the objects of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism.

Binyang cave

Binyang middle cave is a typical cave in the Northern Wei Dynasty. "Binyang" means to welcome the birth of the sun. The three caves in Binyang were excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. They were built by Emperor Xuanwu for his father, Emperor Xiaowen. It started in 500 AD, lasted 24 years, and employed 800000 2366 people. Later, due to the palace coup and the death of Liu Teng, the host, only one of the three planned caves (Binyang middle cave, South cave and North cave) was completed, that is, Binyang middle cave. The main statues of South cave and North cave were not completed until the early Tang Dynasty.

In the middle cave of Binyang, there is a horseshoe shaped plane with a dome. In the center of the cave, there is a lotus cover made of double lotus flowers. Around the lotus are eight jiluotian and two people who support heaven and man. They flutter in their clothes and soar around the lotus canopy in the wind, with beautiful and moving posture. Shakya Muni. He was the founder of Buddhism. His original name was Gautama Siddhartha, and he was the son of King Jingfan of ancient India. He lived at the same time as Confucius in China and was 12 years older than Confucius. He became a monk at the age of 29. After six years, he became a Buddhist and founded Buddhism. As the beauty of thinness was advocated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Sakyamuni's face was thin, his neck was slender, and his body was slender. The pattern of the clothes is dense, and the carving technique is the straight knife technique of the Northern Wei Dynasty. As Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out a series of Sinicized policies after moving his capital to Luoyang, the costumes of the main Buddha in the cave changed from the right shoulder cassock of Yungang Grottoes to the wide robe and large sleeve cassock. All the second disciples and Bodhisattvas of Sakyamuni. Two Bodhisattvas look like a smile, elegant and honest. There are also statues on the left and right walls, each of which is a Buddha and two Bodhisattvas, wearing a broad robe and cassock.

On the north and south sides of the front wall of the cave, there are four layers of exquisite relief from top to bottom. The first level is the relief with the story of Vimalakirti as the theme, which is called Vimalakirti. The second level is two stories about Buddha. The third layer is the famous picture of emperor and empress worshiping Buddha. The fourth layer is the relief of "ten gods king". Especially in the third floor of the emperor and empress, they reflect the Buddhist activities of the palace, carved out the Buddhist pious, serious, quiet state of mind, accurate shape, exquisite production, representing the high level of development of life custom painting at that time, with important artistic value and historical value. Unfortunately, it was stolen abroad in the 1930s and 1940s. They are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Nelson Museum of art in Kansas.

The South cave in Binyang was excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, but the main Buddha statues in the cave were all completed in the early Tang Dynasty. Amitabha Buddha is the main Buddha in the cave. His face is full, his shoulders are broad, and his body is plump, which reflects the Tang Dynasty's style of taking fat as beauty. Binyang South cave is the fourth son of Emperor Li Shimin of Tang Dynasty. Li Tai, the king of Wei Dynasty, chiseled it on the basis of the abandonment of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was built for his mother, the eldest granddaughter, and belongs to the work of the transitional period.

Myriad Buddha Hole

Wanfo cave is named after 15000 small Buddhas carved on both sides of the cave. The cave is a front and back chamber structure. The front chamber is made of two powerful men and two lions, and the back chamber is made of one Buddha, two disciples, two Bodhisattvas and two heavenly kings. It is the most complete combination of statues in Longmen Grottoes. There is a beautiful lotus flower on the top of the cave. Surrounded by the lotus flower is an inscription: "it was completed on November 30, the first year of Yonglong in the Tang Dynasty. Yao shenbiao, the great supervisor, and the Buddhist master of neidaochang, 15000 statues are like a niche.". It shows that the cave was excavated under the leadership of Yao shenbiao, the second grade female official in the palace, and Zen master Zhiyun of neidaochang. It was completed in 680 A.D., the first year of Yonglong reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. The main Buddha in the cave is Amitabha, sitting on a double lotus seat. His face is plump and mellow, and his shoulders are broad. The simple and smooth clothing pattern uses the carving technique of Tang Dynasty round knife. The "fearless seal" of the Lord Buddha shows that he is fearless and self-centered between heaven and earth. The main Buddha sits on the lotus throne and carves four vajras on the waist. The vigorous and vigorous posture is in sharp contrast with the calmness of the main Buddha, which also sets off the tranquility of the main Buddha. There are 52 lotus flowers behind the main Buddha. On each lotus, there is a Bodhisattva. They sit on their side, hold the lotus, or whisper. They look different, like different groups of girls. Fifty two represents the order of Bodhisattva from the beginning of practice to the final Buddhahood, namely, ten faiths, ten dwellings, ten actions, ten directions, ten places, equal awareness and wonderful awareness.

There are 15000 small Buddha statues on the north and south walls of the cave, each of which is only four centimeters high. On the wall bases of the north and south walls, there are six Kabuki musicians. The Kabuki dances in the melodious music. They are light and graceful.

The whole grottoes are resplendent, showing people the ideal land of the Western Paradise, and setting off a warm and cheerful atmosphere of Buddhahood.

There is also a Bodhisattva statue on the south side of the cave entrance, which is an exquisite example of many Bodhisattvas of Tang Dynasty in Longmen Grottoes. Bodhisattva is 85 cm high and has a head

Chinese PinYin : Long Men Shi Ku