Binglingsi Grotto

Binglingsi Grotto

Binglingsi grottoes, located on the cliff on the west side of dasigou in Jishishan, about 40 kilometers southwest of Yongjing County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China, were excavated on the cliff of dasigou on the North Bank of the Yellow River in the early Western Jin Dynasty (about the 3rd century A.D.), and were officially established in the first year of Jianhong of the Western Qin Dynasty (420 A.D.). It was first called Shuku in Tang Dynasty, which means "ghost cave" in Qiang language. It is called Longxing Temple in Tang Dynasty, Lingyan temple in Song Dynasty, and Bingling temple after Yongle year in Ming Dynasty. Bingling is a simplified form of Xianba Bingling in Tibetan language, which means "Thousand Buddha" and "100000 Maitreya Buddha island".

There are 183 niches, 694 stone sculptures, 82 clay sculptures and about 900 square meters of murals. They are distributed on the 200 meter long and 60 meter high cliff on the west side of dasigou. The main body of the Grottoes is the "natural Buddha" (cave 169) of the Tang Dynasty, which is located at the height of the cliff, and many small and medium-sized niches in the middle of the cliff.

On June 22, 2014, at the 38th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Doha, Qatar, Bingling Temple grottoes, as a site in the "Silk Road: road network of chang'an-tianshan corridor" jointly applied for World Heritage by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, were successfully included in the world heritage list.

Historical evolution

In history, the records of Bingling temple can be seen in the article "River" in Volume 2 of shuijingzhu written by Li Daoyuan of Northern Wei Dynasty. In shuijingzhu, it is recorded that there are two caves beside the cliff of Hexia. One is the Tang Shu cave, 45 feet high. Xi'er Li, sometimes a bright cave, is 100 Zhang high, 20 Zhang wide and 30 Zhang deep, with five ancient books in it. " It can be seen from the records that the scenery here is beautiful, with thousands of peaks competing for beauty, and the cliff is like a knife, which is very suitable for the construction of temples.

Name evolution

Before the Western Han Dynasty, this area was inhabited by Qiang people. According to textual research, this cave was called "Tang Shu cave" before the Northern Wei Dynasty. The so-called "Tang Shu" is the transliteration of "ghost cave" in Qiang language. Therefore, Jishishan is called tangshushan, and the river water is also called tangshushui, which indicates that it was once an area under the control of the Qiang people. It can also be seen that this place is a mysterious place in the eyes of the ancients. At the same time, it is also the main traffic route of Longxi section of the "Silk Road". It is the only way to get to Liusha via Qinghai, and the western region of Central Asia leads to Western Asia. Therefore, it is called "Linjin ancient ferry" on the right south line of "Silk Road". Qifu family of the Western Qin Dynasty once spent three years to build a bridge on the nearby Yellow River, known as "the bridge is fifty feet high", so the Western Qin Dynasty once chose this place as the capital of the country.

It is said that FA Xian, a famous monk in Jin Dynasty, crossed the Yellow River to India to learn Buddhist scriptures and left his inscription. The Western Qin family believed in Buddhism, and employed tanmopi and xuangao, the famous eminent monks in the Central Plains and western regions, as the great masters of protecting the country. Tanhong and xuanshao monks also visited the Western Qin Dynasty. Xuanshao, an eminent monk, died in Bingling temple. It can be seen that there was a custom of "digging immortal caves to live in Zen" in the Western Qin Dynasty at that time. By the Tang Dynasty, Tang Shushan had become a Buddhist jungle, renamed Lingyan temple, and the powerful Tubo regime once occupied it. In the Song Dynasty, the Fifth Sun quesilo, the Buddhist king of Zanpu of Tubo, established the Tibetan regime of quesilo with Qingtang (now Xining) as the center in 1032, and occupied the whole Hezhou area. Bingling temple was also owned by him. Lingyan temple in Tang Dynasty was renamed Bingling Temple transliterated in Tibetan, which is still in use today.

Construction history

According to the records of shidaoshi's Fayuan Zhulin, the excavation history of Bingling Temple Grottoes can be traced back to 265 A.D. Among the numerous caves in Bingling temple, the one with the longest history, the most important and the most valuable is cave 169, which sits in the West and East. In 1962, in the sixth niche of the cave, an inscription of ink calligraphy was found in the Western Qin Dynasty, which was "made on March 24 in the first year of Jianhong (420 A.D.)". In addition, an inscription of "the image of the great Zen master tanmopi" was also found in the statue of monks. In the third niche, there are inscriptions of ink calligraphy in the fourth year of Yanchang (515 A.D.). The inscription of grotto 169 is the earliest one with a clear chronology in the existing Grottoes in China so far. More than 100 years earlier than the earliest inscription found in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The discovery of the inscription of cave 169 provides a reliable basis for the study of the construction age of the Bingling Temple grottoes. At the same time, it also has an important reference value for the dating of other Grottoes in China. Since then, Bingling Temple Grottoes have gone through the continuous excavation, construction, repair and expansion of the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, song, yuan, Ming and other dynasties, including the Tubo Dynasty period, the quesiro Tibetan regime period and the long-term operation of Tibetan Buddhism. The scale has gradually expanded, forming a famous grotto temple with two styles of Tibetan and Han, which is second only to Dunhuang grotto temple.

Tibetan Buddhism

In 676 ad, the Tibetan regime of the Tubo Dynasty, which dominates the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and Central Asia, has become the most powerful military empire in Western China since the Han and Wei dynasties. With the expansion of the territory of the Tubo Dynasty, Tibetan Buddhist culture developed eastward, and its influence was also extensive and deep. In 763 A.D., after the Tibetan occupation of Longyou, in addition to the presence of Tibetan soldiers, a large number of Tibetan immigrants moved north and East. Numerous statues and murals were built in the Bingling Temple grottoes, and the grottoes were rebuilt and redrawn. Tibetan Buddhist culture began to have a direct impact on these areas. Especially in the Sakya period of the Yuan Dynasty, when Tibetan Buddhism was in the late Hongqi period, because Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, respected Tibetan Buddhism as the national religion, the powerful Sakya monks settled in Bingling temple and redrawn a large number of murals in the caves of the former generation of Bingling Temple. The Buddhist statue art flourished and developed in Bingling temple. Later, with the decline of the Yuan Dynasty, the position of Sakya sect in Tibet was replaced by the Kaju sect, which made the Kaju sect spread and influence in Bingling temple. Bingling temple is located in a remote and deep cave. Most of the caves excavated were built by the monks of the Gaju sect, whose style is particularly mysterious. During this period, there were also Tibetan Buddhist monks of the gadang sect who settled in Bingling temple to preach and open Grottoes for statues.

The Gelug Sect, which emerged in the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, is the most influential sect in Bingling temple. Jiang qinque Jie, the fourth disciple of zongkaba, who was granted the title of "great benevolent Dharma king" by Emperor Yongle, once passed by Bingling Temple twice to preach Buddhism when he went to Beijing on behalf of zongkaba. After that, the Gelug Sect carried out a series of activities to promote Buddhism in the temple, renovating and redrawing the temple buildings, caves and murals of Bingling Temple twice in succession. Among the redrawn caves and niches of Bingling temple, the Gelug murals accounted for more than 80%. In addition, some new caves have been rebuilt, thus forming a unique style of coexistence of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism in Bingling Temple grottoes.

In the second year of Shunzhi reign of Qing Dynasty, the reincarnation system of living Buddhas was established in Bingling temple. At this time, the Buddhist hall was densely covered, the monks' houses were all over the ditch, and the number of monks increased greatly. There are more than one thousand and eight hundred monasteries. There are more than 60 small and medium-sized monasteries in Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. During this period, Buddhist statues, sculptures, murals and other art treasures left over from the history of the grottoes and temples were well protected and increased. At the same time, various kinds of copper Buddha statues, painted clay statues, woodcut sculptures, murals, Thangka and other Tibetan Buddhist art for worship in the temple also developed rapidly. It is said that there are tens of thousands of Thangka treasures, including the third Dalai Lama Suo Nanjiacuo and jiamuxiang III of Labrang Temple all made a special trip to Bingling temple to worship.

Key Grottoes

Cave 169

The 169th cave is the largest scale, the earliest and the most abundant cave in Bing Ling Temple. It is the essence of the Grottoes in Bing Ling Temple. It is located above the Tang Dynasty Buddha at the north end of the grottoes, more than 50 meters above the ground. It was originally a natural cave. It is 26.75 meters wide, 15 meters high and 19 meters deep. There are 24 Buddhist niches in the cave. The most representative niches are niches 6 and 7. The sixth niche is located in the north wall of the cave, which is a semicircular three petaled lotus type back screen niche. There are two statues of Bodhisattva and one Buddha in the niche. The statues are vivid and expressive. His forehead is wide and round, his eyebrows are thin and curved, his eyes are big and long, his nose is high, his lips are thin, his expression is solemn, he is wearing a half shawl cassock, and he sits on the lotus platform. The lines are natural, smooth and dynamic. Bodhisattva's hair is in a bun, and his facial expression is basically the same as that of the Buddha. He has long hair and bell shaped earrings. His upper body is exposed, and he wears collar and arm shaped earrings. His upper body is exposed, and he wears collar, arm and bracelet. He wears a big skirt under him. He holds the towel belt with his left hand hanging down and his right hand holding the towel belt in front of his chest. He stands on a semicircular lotus stand. The face, chest and limbs of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are painted in white, the eyebrows, eyes and ears are outlined in ink, and their dresses are painted in color. Buddha and Bodhisattva also painted their backs and necks. The Buddha's round back and neck light are painted with flame patterns. In the backlight, there are five pieces of Jiyue, each on the left and right. They are all in a high bun. The upper body is exposed, the lower body is in a skirt, and the feet are exposed. They hold the konghou, beat the waist drum, and play the Panpipe in different postures. On the upper left side of the statue, there are four words of "wuliangshoufo". On the south side of the statue, there are four words of "Guanyin Bodhisattva" on the upper right side. On the north side, there are four words of "dedashi Bodhisattva" on the upper right side. From the north wall of the niche to the top of the Bodhisattva, there are painted ten square Buddhas. The upper and lower rows are high in bun and round face. They are wearing shoulder coat, Zen seal and sitting in a knot. The Buddha's face is painted white, and his eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth are outlined with ink lines.

Cave 126

Cave 126. It was excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It has square plane, low base and dome. It is 3 meters high and 2.9 meters deep. There are two Buddhas and two Bodhisattvas sitting in the niche. Fojun

Chinese PinYin : Bing Ling Si Shi Ku