Longmen

Longmen Grottoes

synonym

Longmen (Longmen Grottoes) generally refers to Longmen Grottoes (national key cultural relics protection units in Luoyang City, Henan Province)

Located in Luoyang City, Henan Province, Longmen Grottoes is the largest stone carving art treasure house with the largest number of statues in the world. It is rated as "the highest peak of Chinese stone carving art" by UNESCO,

It ranks first among the major Grottoes in China.

Now it is a world cultural heritage, a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAAA tourist attraction.

The dragon's gate was dug by Dayu during the flood control, and the legend of fish leaping over the dragon's gate also happened here. Its grottoes were first excavated in the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and finally in the late Qing Dynasty. After more than 10 dynasties, it has been built for more than 1400 years. It is the longest grotto in the world.

A large number of colored drawings were used in the construction, but now most of them have faded.

It is densely distributed on the cliffs of the East and West Mountains of Yishui. It is one kilometer long from north to south. There are 2345 caves with more than 110000 statues

Together with Mogao Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, they are known as the three largest Grottoes in China

Later, Maijishan grottoes are called the four major grottoes.

Most of the statues in Longmen Grottoes were built by royal nobles. They are the only royal Grottoes in the world.

Lushena Buddha carved by Empress Wu according to her appearance

After the news of building a paradise in Ziwei city of Luoyang Imperial Palace was introduced into Japan, Emperor Shengwu vowed to "build a temple in Nara".

In addition, Emperor Xiaowen chiseled Guyang cave for Empress Dowager Feng, the statue of Lanling's grandson in Wanfo cave, Li Tai built Binyang South cave for the eldest granddaughter, Princess Wei chiseled Jingshan temple, and Gao Lishi built wuliangshou Buddha for Tang Xuanzong.

Longmen Grottoes make the grotto art present the trend of sinicization, which is the "milestone" of Chinese Grotto Art.

After being built in Tianzhu, Silla, tuhuoluo, Kangguo and other countries, we found European patterns, ancient Greek pillars and so on, which can be called the most international Grottoes in the world.

There are more than 2860 inscriptions in Longmen Grottoes. His masterpieces are "Longmen 20 products" and "Longmen Shuangbi" (Yi que Buddha niche stele by Chu suiliang and Longmen inscription stele by song Zhenzong),

It is a masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy.

Historical evolution

Yu chisels the dragon's gate

The Longmen Mountain excavated by Dayu is where the Longmen Grottoes are now. "Shuijingzhu" records: "in the past, Dayu dredged Longmen to pass the water, and the two mountains were opposite each other. It looked like a que. The Yi River passed through it, so it was called the Yi que."

Before Yu chiseled Longmen, Longmen Mountain was a connected whole, regardless of the East and West.

Yi water accumulated in the south of Longmen Mountain, which was blocked by the mountain and couldn't flow out to the north, forming a vast ocean and often flooding. Therefore, Dayu chiseled the Longmen Mountain and divided it into East and West, and the Yi River flowed northward from the middle of the two mountains. Longmen mountain can be regarded as the general name of East and West Mountains. After it was divided into two parts by Yishui (Yihe River), the East Mountain was named "Xiangshan" after Wu Zetian built Xiangshan temple, while the West Mountain continued to be called "Longmen Mountain".

It is said that during the flood period, Luoshui and Yishui were blocked and formed a large ocean, similar to the barrier lake. Of course, the scale formed in that period was much larger than that of the barrier lake. The people were in dire straits and drowned a lot. Dayu even suffered from the flood, so he led the people to dredge the Luoshui River and let it flow into the Yellow River, while the Yishui river was blocked by the Longmen Mountain, so he dug the Longmen mountain to make the Yishui River and the Luoshui River converge and flow into the Yellow River, thus solving the flood here.

a fish leaping over the dragon gate -- have passed a competitive examination

The legend of fish leaping over the dragon's gate took place in the location of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. Li Bai's gift to Cui Shiyu: "the Yellow River's three foot carp originally lived in Mengjin, but it didn't become a dragon when it came back, so it was accompanied by ordinary fish." "Mengjin" in the poem is the county under the jurisdiction of Luoyang, which is adjacent to the Yellow River in the north.

It is said that after Yu opened up the yique, the current was fast. Carp swimming in the Yellow River of Mengjin (now Luoyang county) retrograded along the water of Luo and Yi. When they swam to the Longmen of yique (now Luoyang Longmen Grottoes), the waves were surging and they wanted to turn over. The one who jumps is a dragon, but the one who can't jump leaves a black scar on his forehead. Therefore, Li Bai, the great poet of Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem to Cui Shiyu: "the three foot carp of the Yellow River originally lived in Mengjin, but it didn't become a dragon when he ordered it. He came back with all the fish."

Fish leaping dragon's gate, also known as carp leaping dragon's gate, carp leaping dragon's gate, etc. It is a metaphor for the success of Zhongju and promotion. It also refers to going against the current, striving for success or promotion.

The battle of yique

Before the excavation of the Yi que Grottoes in Longmen, there was a battle of Yi que. In the 22nd year of King Nan of Zhou Dynasty (293 BC), general Bai Qi led the Qin army to defeat the 240000 allied forces of Wei and Han in Longmen of yique, which completely wiped out the road of the Qin army's eastward advance. It can also be said that Bai Qi's war of fame.

In the war, Qin general Bai Qi, aiming at the weakness that the Han and Wei armies wait and see each other and do not want to attack first, used a small number of troops to clamp down the main Han army of the coalition, and used the main force to attack the weak Wei army. The Wei army was unprepared, rushed to the battle and was defeated. The Han army was shocked, and its flank was exposed. It was attacked by the Qin army and fled in rout.

Bai Qi seized several Wei cities and most areas to the east of Anyi, South Korea. Wei and South Korea sought peace through secession. After the war, South Korea lost all its elite. The state of Qin expanded to the Central Plains with irresistible force.

Baiqi drum arena is located in the east of Longmen Bridge. It is said that it was the place where Baiqi drum assisted in the battle of yique.

Excavation of Grottoes

In the past, it was thought that the construction of Grottoes in Longmen area was from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, but it was not.

The Grottoes in Longmen began to be excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and finally in the late Qing Dynasty. After more than 10 dynasties including Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been built for more than 1400 years. It is the longest built grotto in the world.

Of all the caves in Longmen, about 30% are in the Northern Wei Dynasty, 60% in the Tang Dynasty, and only about 10% in other dynasties.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, the representative caves include Guyang cave, Binyang middle cave, Lianhua cave, etc.

The statues of the eastern and Western Wei dynasties were mostly carved with small niches on the walls of the caves of the Northern Wei Dynasty. There is no great change in the niche shape, and the niche decoration tends to be simplified. In addition, the general yeting ordered Zhao Zhen to make Maitreya statues in the first year of Wuding in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

In the Northern Qi Dynasty, the five Buddha statues in the prescription cave are the characteristics of the statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In addition, there are 22 statues of sheheyi of Yanjun in the Northern Qi Dynasty.

During the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the representative Grottoes included the statue niche of dalushena, Jingshan temple, Wanfo cave, Huijian cave, etc., which was the heyday of Longmen Grottoes.

In Song Dynasty, there are "cross volume stele" of Chen Tuan and "Longmen inscription stele" of song Zhenzong. In order to protect the statue of Lushena, nine wooden eaves were built, commonly known as "nine rooms".

In the Ming Dynasty, five square and semicircular inscriptions were carved on the outer lintel of Huijian grottoes. The inscriptions were all made on March 31, the year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong visited Longmen in 1750 and left a royal stele Pavilion in Xiangshan temple. In 1900, the Allied forces of the eight powers invaded China and Empress Dowager Cixi fled to the West. When he returned to Beijing, he visited Guyang cave through Longmen and ordered that Sakyamuni, the main Buddha in the cave, be renovated into a statue of Laojun, which was renamed Laojun cave.

geographical environment

"In the suburbs of Luodu, where mountains and rivers are the best, Longmen is the first." ——Bai Juyi, Tang Dynasty.

Longmen Grottoes is located in the southern suburb of Luoyang, the ancient capital. The two mountains are facing each other, the Yishui river flows in the middle, the Foguang mountain scenery is beautiful, and it is the tianque spectacle described by Su Guo in Song Dynasty as "two towering mountain gates, one water flowing together".

The origin of the name

According to shuijingzhu: "in the past, Dayu dredged Longmen to pass the water. The two mountains were opposite each other. It looked like a que. The Yi River passed through it, so it was called the Yi que."

Longmen, also known as yique, where the East and West Mountains face each other, and the Yihe River flows through it. From afar, it looks like a natural gate que, so it was called "yique" in ancient times. "On both sides of the Strait, the mountains and cliffs are cut off, and the opposite is like a gate, but the dragon can cross it, so it's called Longmen."

In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang, emperor of the Sui Dynasty, once climbed Mang Mountain to the north of Luoyang and saw yique in the south of Luoyang from a distance. He said to his attendants, "isn't this the gate of the real dragon emperor? Why didn't the ancients build their capital here? " A minister flattered to answer, "the ancients do not know, just waiting for your majesty you." After hearing this, Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty built the city of Tokyo in Luoyang. The main gate of the Imperial Palace, Ziwei City, was opposite to yique. From then on, yique was called Longmen by people.

Main attractions

Longmen Grottoes consists of Xishan grottoes, Dongshan grottoes, Xiangshan temple and Baiyuan.

Xishan Grottoes

There are more than 50 large and medium-sized caves in the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties on the cliff of Xishan.

The representative caves in the Northern Wei Dynasty include Guyang cave, Binyang middle cave, Lianhua cave, huangfugong cave, Weizi cave, Putai cave, huoshao cave, Cixiang kiln, Lu cave, etc;

The representative caves of Sui and Tang Dynasties are: Dalu Shina statue niche, Qianxi temple, Binyang South cave, Binyang North Cave (the above two caves and their top decoration were completed in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the Buddha statues were completed in Sui and early Tang Dynasty), Jingshan temple, cliff three Buddha niches, Wanfo cave, Huijian cave, Jingtu hall, Longhua temple, Jinan cave, etc.

Chinese PinYin : Long Men