Dafosi Grottoes

Dafosi Grottoes

Dafosi Grottoes in Binxian County, located at the foot of Qingliang mountain beside Xilan Road, ten thousand meters west of Binxian County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, is the largest group of Grottoes in Shaanxi Province and an important geographical coordinate of the silk road.

The Dafosi grottoes were first excavated in the northern and Southern Dynasties and large-scale excavated in the early Tang Dynasty. They were basically completed in the second year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign (628). There are 446 niches and more than 1980 exquisite statues in the temple. It is an important Buddhist grotto temple near Chang'an, the capital of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty Giant Buddha is the largest in Guanzhong area. It reflects the spread of stone carving Giant Buddha art from the western regions to the East and its popularity in Guanzhong area. It is praised as "the first wonder in Guanzhong" by Bi Yuan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty.

In January 1988, the Dafosi grottoes were listed as the national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council

. On June 22, 2014, at the 38th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Doha, Qatar, Dafosi grottoes, as a site of 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.

geographical position

Dafosi Grottoes in Binxian county is located in Dafosi village, Chengguan Town (formerly shuilian township), 10km west of Binxian County, Shaanxi Province. It is adjacent to the verdant Qingliang mountain in the South and Jinghe River in the north. It is adjacent to Dafosi village in the East and 312 National Highway in the north. It is 120 kilometers away from Xianyang and 150 kilometers away from Xi'an.

The geographical coordinates are 107 ° 59 ′ 32.4 ″ e, 35 ° 04 ′ 24.4 ″ N and 833-838m above sea level.

Historical evolution

Dafosi grottoes were first excavated in the northern and Southern Dynasties, and large-scale excavation in the early Tang Dynasty, with a history of 1300 years.

Zhangba Buddha cave is the earliest one in the Great Buddha Temple. One Buddha and two Bodhisattvas are carved according to the cliff. The typical "stone fetus clay sculpture" statue shows the obvious characteristics of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It shows that the cave was excavated in the northern and Southern Dynasties.

Amitabha, the main Buddha of the Great Buddha grottoes, has a chronological inscription on the side of Ji Letian at the bottom left of the backlight: "it was made on November 13, the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty.". This is the only information left to the world about the statue in the Great Buddha grottoes. According to the huge quantities of the Great Buddha grottoes, many researchers believe that it will take at least ten years to chisel the grottoes. Ten years have passed since the second year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign (628), which is the first year of emperor Gaozu's Wude reign (618). In Chenzhou, there was a famous "shallow plateau war". Xue Ju and Xue rengao, known as the "overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty", occupied Longxi, harassed Chenzhou and threatened Chang'an. Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, sent Li Shimin, king of Qin, to lead his army westward to fight against Xue family. After several exchanges of victory and defeat, Xue's army was finally annihilated at the end of the first year of Wude in qianshuiyuan (now changwubei), and the Western calamity of the Tang Dynasty subsided. It's a war of great loss for both sides. Therefore, after the war, grottoes were built in memory of the dead and the souls of the dead.

In terms of shape, the Dafo cave, the main cave of Dafo temple, inherits the practice of digging a worship tunnel on the horseshoe shaped plane behind the main statue in Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang when Buddhism was introduced to China from India in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. From the structure point of view, the top of the Great Buddha Grottoes adopts the horizontal herringbone drape form of the most popular wooden houses in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. From the perspective of carving techniques, the backlight carving behind the Buddha shows the Buddhist art tradition of the Northern Dynasties.

One Buddha, two disciples, two Bodhisattvas, two heavenly kings and two Hercules are built on the main wall of the West cave of Luohan cave, which is a popular nine statue in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

According to some inscriptions and inscriptions in the niches, most of the works in Qianfo cave are from the reign of Empress Wu Zetian. The most important inscription in the cave is located on the lower left side of the Maitreya statue niche on the main wall of the central column, which is of great reference value for inferring the statue of the Great Buddha cave. It is another evidence that Li Shimin built the Great Buddha cave to surmount the dead soldiers after the "shallow water tableland war".

In the Tang Dynasty, the "Huichang Dharma disaster" resulted in the destruction of the heads of most of the statues in the Dafosi grottoes, which is a pity for later generations.

Main attractions

There are more than 130 Grottoes in Dafosi grottoes of Binxian County, which are carved and imaged. They are scattered on a three-dimensional cliff about 400 meters long. There are 446 niches and more than 1980 statues, which are divided into five parts: Great Buddha cave, thousand Buddha cave, Luohan Cave (Buddha cave), Zhangba Buddha cave and monk cave.

Cave 87 in the East is called "dongku"; cave 12 in the middle is called "Zhongya", that is, "mingjingtai"; cave 8 in the west is called "Xiya". Dongya and Zhongya caves are relatively dense. The "Great Buddha Grottoes" were excavated earlier, the largest in scale and the best preserved. Secondly, the "Thousand Buddha cave" and "Luohan cave" were excavated during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty.

The Great Buddha Grottoes

The Great Buddha cave is the center of the whole temple, and also the largest cave in the Great Buddha Temple. The direction of the cave is 15 degrees north by East. The inner plane of the cave is approximately semicircular, with 70 niches and 1001 statues. The plane is approximately convex, 34 meters wide, 18 meters deep and 24 meters high. The overall structure of the upper part of the cave is dome type.

Amitabha Buddha, the main Buddha in the cave, sits in the middle of the cliff, with a height of 20 meters, a head height of 5.2 meters, a shoulder width of 13 meters, a hand height of 4.5 meters, a finger height of 2 meters and a nail cap of 0.5 meters. It is said that it can make all living beings feel at ease and have no fear. It is said that it is solemn and dignified to sit on the lotus platform with bare chest and waist. The whole figure is solemn, dignified and majestic Vivid.

The inscription "made on November 13, the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty" is engraved on the lower left side of the back light of the Giant Buddha. It is judged that the grottoes were founded in the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (628).

There are two Bodhisattvas on both sides of the Great Buddha. On the west side is Guanyin Bodhisattva, and on the east side is dashizhi Bodhisattva. They are all 17.6 meters high, wearing a crown, a gorgeous necklace, and a large skirt with sheep intestines.

There are two round carved lace behind the head of the Buddha and seven Buddha rings sitting on it. Twenty two exquisite flying music guard the Maitreya Buddha Pavilion, presenting a happy scene of the Western Paradise, forming a rich and peaceful backlight. In addition, there are more than 400 small statues of different shapes in the niches. This cave is a large-scale, majestic statue and exquisite carving. It is a treasure house of ancient shaping art.

On the west wall of the Great Buddha grottoes, song Zhonghong visited Qingshou temple and wrote: "grapes cover wild fruits and mountains Come here to record xuansu day, visit Youzhong, find zhengguannian... " "Xuansu day" in the poem is "Xuanhe day" and "Zhenguan year" is "Zhenguan year". This poem was written in the year of Xuanhe and xinchou of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, which shows that the great Buddhist temple was built in the year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty.

In addition, from the analysis of the shape, statue style, subject matter and dress characteristics of kaikuo, it seems that it is a work of the late Northern Dynasty, which shows that the initial kaikuo statues in Tang Dynasty followed the pattern of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The surface of the giant one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas in the cave has been reconstructed by later generations, while the head light and backlight behind the Giant Buddha still retain the carving content and shape when the cave was opened.

On the surface of the halo behind the Buddha, which is a symbol of holiness, there are patterns of flame, flowers and rolled grass, among which there are many flying music and relief sculptures of sitting Buddha, showing a harmonious and happy atmosphere in the Buddhist world. These small seated Buddhas in the back light have low bun, square face, plump and thick body, and also retain many of the characteristics of the statues since the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

Thousand-Buddha Cave

Qianfo cave, located in the east of the Great Buddha cave, is a large central pillar cave with a plane similar to a square. Because the cave is not too high, and the central pillar is relatively wide, only a few large niches on the front of the central pillar seem to have some planning, while other niches on the wall are arranged in a disorderly and disorderly way, which is the result of continuous carving after the cave is chiseled.

There are 696 statues in thousand Buddha cave. According to some inscriptions and inscriptions in the niches, most of them should be the works of Empress Wu Zetian during her reign. The themes of the niches include single Buddha, double Buddha, one Buddha with two Bodhisattvas, one Buddha with two disciples, one Buddha with two Bodhisattvas, one Buddha with two disciples, one Buddha with two Bodhisattvas, and the Buddha's Bodhisattvas of dizang. Some add heavenly kings and powerful men to the statues of Buddhas, disciples and Bodhisattvas.

The common style of these Buddha statues is: they all have the body characteristics of bulging chest, thin waist, wide crotch, moderate proportion of head and body, and full and healthy body. It is a new type of art developed from the plump Buddha statues of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In particular, some standing Bodhisattvas clearly show the beautiful female body contour, coupled with the swaying crotch to the side, such as the dancing posture, perfectly depicting the charm and graceful of Bodhisattvas. This is the embodiment of the positive spirit brought about by the flourishing age of the Tang Dynasty in the Buddhist art of birth, and it is also a typical artistic style of statue in the Tang Dynasty.

Luohan cave

Located on the west side of the Great Buddha cave, Luohan cave is composed of four small grottoes, with more than 100 statues of different sizes and heights. The interior can be divided into the main chamber and the East chamber. The East chamber is a vertical rectangle with a depth of 9 meters and a width of 1.65 meters. The main chamber is horseshoe shaped with a depth of 6.5m and a maximum width of 6.3m.

The eastern part of the main chamber is connected with the eastern chamber, which is similar to the Grottoes in other parts of the country

Chinese PinYin : Da Fo Si Shi Ku