Lubanyao Grottoes

Lubanyao Grottoes

Lubanyao grottoes, a part of Yungang Grottoes, is located on the South Bank of Shilihe River, about 700 meters west of Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province.

General situation

According to the style of the statue, it was excavated in the middle period of Yungang in the Northern Wei Dynasty (466-494 A.D.), and was built in the Liao Dynasty. The caves are about 60 meters long and 4 meters high, with an area of 240 square meters. There are three existing caves.

historical origin

Lubanyao grottoes are an integral part of Yungang Grottoes. According to shuijingzhu, "the water of wuzhouchuan flows to the southeast again. On the side of the water, there are shizhihuanshe and grottoes, where bhiksuni lived. Its water turns to the East and flows to the south of jinglingyan. " Lubanyao grottoes and Yungang Grottoes face each other across the river. The geographical location is very consistent with the description of shuijingzhu. Therefore, it is inferred that lubanyao Grottoes is a part of Yungang Grottoes, not an independent temple. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism prevailed, and the number of monks and nuns increased sharply. In the early Taihe period (477), the number of monks and nuns in Pingcheng (today's Datong) alone reached 2000, and there were 100 temples. The inscription of the statue of bhiksuni huiding in the 13th year of Taihe (489) in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the appearance of the statue stele of bhiksuni tanmei in the 4th year of Jingming Dynasty (503), and the records of "monk temple in the East" and "nun temple in the west" along the coast of wuzhouchuan in the Tang Dynasty further indicate that it is possible to say that lubanyao grottoes are nun temples. It is said that in the early days of the excavation of Yungang Grottoes, craftsmen were taught carving techniques by Luban, so they opened a grotto statue on the west side of Yungang Grottoes and offered sacrifices at the four seasons. The grotto was named Luban kiln.

On April 23, 1966, it was announced as a municipal cultural relics protection unit in Datong City, and on June 6, 2016, it was announced as the fifth batch of provincial cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province. In 2014, the Archaeological Institute of Datong City carried out the archaeological excavation of the remains on the top of the mountain.

Site scale

The plane of cave 1 is oval. The door of cave 1 collapses partially. There are some statues on the outer wall. There are lion statues on the left and right of the door. The four walls of the cave are full of niches carved with thousands of Buddhas. Now, the upper three layers are still in the circular arch niches. The Buddha statues are only carved in different sizes. They have no open face. They are covered with a cassock with a straight shoulder and a partial right shoulder. There are 66 niche statues. On the other layer, the remains of the lintel and the uneven arrangement of the niches can be seen. The triangular pattern is carved on the niches, and the lining is connected with the cave top by a folding curtain. There is no carving on the cave top.

Cave 2 is located in the south of cave 1. The door of the cave is arched, and the external wall has some statues. There are six layers of statues on the four walls of the cave. The first layer is the statue of the warrior, with reverse hair, Hu Xiang, naked upper body, calf nose pants, hands up. In the second to fifth layers, there are sculptures of Zen sitting Buddha, with two kinds of clothing: right shoulder and through shoulder cassock. The lines are engraved with boat shaped backlight, and some of them are red. The existing 61 statues are relatively complete, with rock protrusions between layers. The sixth layer of carved double-layer triangular pattern lining is connected with the cave top by folding curtain. The top rock is broken. In the center of the cave, a low platform is built with blocks of stone. There are nine sitting Buddhas in the niche lintel, with through shoulder cassock. The two upper corner sculptures support the statues of heaven and man. There are several square holes on the cliff. There are bricks and tiles of Liao Dynasty on the ground in front of the cave.

Cave 3 is located about 5 meters to the south of cave 2. It was discovered in the 1990s when villagers cleaned up the waste soil. The arched cave door is exposed, and the dragon head and three statues of heaven and man are left on the north side of the outer wall. The cave roof collapses, and the cave is full of waste earth and stones. Several layers of thousand Buddha niches can be seen on the north side of the arch. Three layers of mudstone can be seen on the south wall of cave 3. The upper layer of mudstone is located at the top of the cliff and is weathered and eroded. Due to the collapse and extrusion of the roof of the cave, the South external vertical wall also leans outward, forming a dumping dangerous rock mass.

Rescue and reinforcement

After 1500 years of vicissitudes, under the influence of long-term natural forces, the lubanyao Grottoes collapsed and were seriously damaged. The third grotto was still buried by accumulated soil, and its internal preservation was unknown. The cracks in caves 1 and 2 are vertical and horizontal, and the overall stability is poor. Most of the stone carvings are not well weathered, and the disease is serious. Due to the long-term unattended state, there are many weeds and soil in the cave.

In the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, there was a small coal mine not far from the south side of the grottoes. In front of the grottoes, there was a coal transportation road. The coal ash, dust and road vibration raised by coal trucks had a great adverse impact on the grottoes. In recent years, the nearby small coal mines have been closed down gradually, and some greening has been carried out around the caves. The preservation environment of the caves has been slightly improved, but the diseases existing in the caves have not been treated.

In June 2017, Yungang Grottoes Research Institute and Liaoning nonferrous metals investigation and Research Institute compiled the design scheme for the rescue and reinforcement project of lubanyao Grottoes in Datong, which was approved by Shanxi Provincial Bureau of cultural relics. In April 2018, according to the requirements of Yungang Grottoes Research Institute of "minimum intervention, protection first, rescue first, protection of the authenticity and integrity of cultural relics and their historical environment", construction began to enter the site to carry out protective restoration of the grottoes.

historical significance

Lubanyao Grottoes is another Northern Wei Dynasty Grottoes temple after Yungang Grottoes. Its shape is similar to the early Yungang Grottoes, but its scale is small. It is an important part of Yungang Grottoes. Although it is not as magnificent as Yungang Grottoes, its shape and statue characteristics are still one of the important material materials for the study of Northern Wei grottoes. It is of great significance to the study of the history of Buddhism, grottoes and Buddhism in Datong The composition of temples in Yungang area of Northern Wei Dynasty is of great value.

Address: on the hill on the West Bank of Shilihe, about 2km west of Yungang Grottoes, southern suburb of Datong City

Longitude: 113.13689422607

Latitude: 40.110778808594

Ticket information: market price: 40.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Lu Ban Yao Shi Ku