Gongyi Grottoes Temple

Gongyi Grottoes temple was founded in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is one of the large Grottoes excavated by the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties successively carved niches here, leaving a large number of precious statues and inscriptions. After more than 1500 years of wind and rain, there are 5 caves, 1 thousand Buddha niche, 3 cliff Buddhas, 7743 Buddha statues, 186 inscriptions and other inscriptions. The carvings in the grottoes are meticulous, rich in connotation, natural, vivid and refined; the composition of the emperor and Empress's Buddha worship is perfect and well preserved, which fully shows the grand scene of the Northern Wei Dynasty Royal family going to worship Buddha. It is a representative work of the Northern Wei Dynasty's stone carving art and can be called a national treasure.

Cave Temple

synonym

Gongyi grotto Temple generally refers to the grotto Temple (temple in Gongyi City, Henan Province)

The grotto temple is located in Siwan village, Heluo Town, northeast of Gongyi City, Henan Province. It is located on the South Bank of the Yellow River, the North Bank of Yiluo River and Dali mountain under mangling mountain. Built in the second year of Xiping (517) of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the grotto temple was originally named Xixuan temple in the period of Jingming (500-503). It was renamed Shifang Pure Land Temple in the Song Dynasty and grotto temple in the Qing Dynasty. It is an important Buddhist grotto in the Central Plains. The place where Xuanzang became a monk in Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and many other emperors worshipped Buddhism here.

The grotto temple is open to all medical workers nationwide free of charge from the date of resumption of operation to December 31, 2020.

Brief introduction to temples

The cave temples excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty have a history of more than 1400 years. There are five caves, one thousand Buddha niche, 255 small Buddha niches, three cliff Buddhas, 7743 Buddha statues and more than 200 inscriptions. Among them, the picture of emperor and empress worshiping Buddha is an existing stone carving in China (another one in Longmen Grottoes no longer exists), which is of great research and appreciation value.

The grotto temple is surrounded by mountains and water, with elegant environment and beautiful scenery. It is known as the holy land of "xiwuyanyun" and "grotto evening bell" is one of the eight sceneries in Gongxian County.

Cultural relics protection

In 1982, the State Council listed the grotto temple as a national key cultural relic protection unit, and it is a national AAA scenic spot.

Construction history

According to the record of the stele of guxixuan Temple of Emperor Xiaowen of the later Wei Dynasty (662), Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty founded Jialan here. The stele was rebuilt in 1494, the seventh year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty. It says: "since the reign of emperor Xuanwu of the later Wei Dynasty, there have been many caves carved with stones and tens of thousands of Buddha statues. There is no one in the world who can hold a candle." Later, the eastern and Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty successively built caves and chiseled statues here. The existing wooden buildings in front of the grottoes were built in the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

Layout structure

The grotto temple is adjacent to Luoshui in the South and back to Dali mountain. The upper part of the mountain is a loess layer with a thickness of 4.50 meters, and the lower part is a rock layer with a thickness of 20 meters. The grottoes are built on the rock. At present, there are 5 main caves, 1 thousand Buddha niche, 3 cliff statues and 328 ancient statues niches.

There are 7743 statues, 186 inscriptions and other inscriptions. There are 3 inscriptions of statues in the Northern Wei Dynasty, 10 in the eastern and Western Wei dynasties, 29 in the Northern Qi Dynasty, 2 in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, 85 in the Tang Dynasty, 2 in the Song Dynasty and 30 in the unknown era.

Before the founding of the people's Republic of China, the caves of the grottoes were seriously stolen. More than two-thirds of the caves 3, 4 and 5 and the thousand Buddha niches were buried by mud and sand. In 1954, the silt in the caves was cleaned up and a new protection room for the grotto temple was built. Since 1973, the state has allocated funds for many times to carry out comprehensive chemical bonding, pointing and repairing. In addition, large drainage ditches, walls and other buildings were built. Since 1954, shikusi primary school has been responsible for the protection.

Grotto temple, established in 1987 Gongxian grotto Temple heritage preservation.

Important position

The grotto temple was excavated after Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. It combines the external influence of Buddhist art with the Han art in Central China. It gets rid of the characteristics of deep eyes, high nose, beautiful bones and thin in the early Northern Wei Dynasty. Instead, it has a square face, a calm look and a static statue style. Therefore, the carving here not only retains the strong artistic characteristics of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also breeds the sprouts of carving art in the Northern Qi and Sui dynasties, forming an artistic style of transition from the Northern Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, which occupies an important position in the history of carving art.

In the overall design of Gongyi Grottoes temple, the prominent feature is the use of the wide two-way continuous border decoration at the top of the inner and outer walls of the grottoes, resulting in the integrity and magnificent tone of the overall pattern. The location of the statues in the Grottoes is mainly based on the sitting Buddha and standing Buddha, which are the first to be seen by the visitors when they enter the grottoes. In addition, the small Thousand Buddhas with two neat walls give people a prosperous and lofty aesthetic feeling. When the visitors turn away from the grottoes and face the inside of the gate, there is a solemn and large picture of Buddha worship, which can deepen the religious impression of the visitors.

Related allusions

Fifteen pictures of emperor and empress offering sacrifices to Buddha in the grotto temple are carved with the support of Emperor Xiaowen and empress Wenzhao in the Northern Wei Dynasty. With rigorous composition, skillful techniques and distinctive characters, they can be regarded as treasures in the Buddhist art garden. Because another picture of emperor and empress offering sacrifices to Buddha in Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang was stolen abroad, the picture of emperor and empress offering sacrifices to Buddha in the grotto temple has become a unique product in China, which is even more precious. In terms of subject matter, Gongxian grotto temple's treatment of "vimo change" is very prominent.

"Vimalakirti" belongs to the series of "Jing Bian". As a home practitioner, Vimalakirti's profound study of Buddhist principles has made the Buddha admire. The image of Jushi has a great attraction to the Han scholars. While Buddhism is gradually accepted by the Han people, the expression proportion of vimo Jushi in Buddhist art is also increasing. In the image building, it is more and more vivid and full of inner strength.

The first niche on the north side of the east wall of the first cave in Gongxian County, Gongyi City, has a picture of "the view of Weimo and Manjusri sitting opposite each other". Vimo's eyebrows drooped, his eyes slightly looked down, his left hand raised a fan, his index finger upturned, and he looked confident and calm. It seemed that he was arguing that he was really a "Bodhisattva's way" of "showing that he was qualified to be born, and that he was constantly observing impermanence, and that he was not greedy"; showing that he had a wife and concubine, and that he was often far away from the mud of five desires ".

Sculpture art

The spirit contained in the image of Vimalakirti reflects the potential influence of Han Scholars' aesthetic intention on the grotto statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At the bottom of the inner wall of the grottoes, the sculptures of Ji lotian, God King and powerful man are also expressive. At the foot of the east wall of cave 3 and at the foot of the southwest wall of Cave 4, there are sculptures of Ji Yue Tian, which are also the portrayal of the performance of secular bands. All of them are the reappearance of realistic musical instruments, such as Juzhen, pipa, bamboo flute and double-sided drum. The top of Ji Yue Tian is made in a bun, with a round neck shirt inside and a short sleeve cardigan on the outside, with a single-minded manner and a leisurely atmosphere, which gives people a kind feeling of life.

There is also the so-called "God King" image in the high relief at the foot of the wall, with a fuller face and a complacent look, which seems to be a copy of the image of the powerful nobles and generals at that time. At the lower end of the wall and on the top of both hands, the strong man and the strange beast are full of flesh and muscle, powerful and powerful. Without exception, these subjects are completed by high relief technique, which is quite rough and has both shape and spirit, showing the simple and simple carving style of the grottoes.

Grotto statues

In the third cave, there is another pair of "flying Apsaras" with curved honeysuckle patterns underneath. Flying Apsaras are thin, smart and light in shape. The elegant face and slender fingers of the scholars in the Southern Dynasty show the style of Qing Lei. After the sweep of the ribbon and skirt hem on a very large range of publicity, strengthen the rhythm of flying. The pleated lines carved on the image plane are smooth and simple, which also adds the movement of flying in the air.

The carving technique of Gongxian Grottoes temple is quite refined, and the artistic generality of image modeling is very high. For example, the head of the main Buddha in the first grottoes, the outline lines from the eyebrow to both sides of the nose are clear and capable, the eyes are not processed in detail, only round arc balls are carved, the upper and lower eyelids are carved with shallow lines, and the two corners of the lips are slightly upturned, all of which have implicit and vivid effects. The overlapping pleats also show a neat and dry appearance I'm very proficient in flat Sabre technique.

The main Buddha statues in Gongxian grottoes are mainly in sitting posture, with natural drooping clothing patterns, overlapping front and bottom of the seats, soft turning and in line with the structure, reflecting the continuous maturity and enrichment of carving techniques.

The first Grotto

The first grotto is a square, 6 meters high and 6 meters wide. On both sides of the door are carved "the picture of emperor and empress worshiping Buddha", and the remaining three walls are carved with Buddha statues and stories. Carved in the corner of the wall God King, monsters, musicians and so on. The three on the left are the emperor's Buddha worship, and the three on the right are the empress's Buddha worship. There are three layers and six groups in the picture. Each layer is led by bhikkhu and bhiksuni. The emperor and empress, their attendants, and their support reflect the religious belief of the royal family. The empress and the empress were supported by maids and guided by monks. The composition of Buddha worship is harmonious, the knife technique is skilled, and the shape is realistic, which fully shows the craftsman's artistic skills. There is a square pillar in the middle and a Buddhist niche carved on all sides. Each niche is carved with a Buddha, two disciples and two Bodhisattvas. The smallest one is under the Buddha seat, with a pair of stone lions on both sides, crouching and wearing fur, which is vivid. The back light of the Buddha statue is engraved with flame patterns, with symmetrical flying Apsaras, metaplasia and lotus flowers on both sides. Huiyue Feitian, who plays Pipa and horizontal flute, is lively and lifelike, forming a group of symmetrical and coordinated stone carvings dominated by Buddha. Each side of the base of the square column is carved with a warrior, and under the warrior are carved gods with different poses. On each side of the square pillar, there is a vertical curtain composed of Huasheng, lotus, drooping scales, colored bells and streamers. The carving is exquisite, beautiful and solemn. These sculptures

Chinese PinYin : Gong Yi Shi Ku Si