Longshan Grottoes Taoism

Longshan Grottoes is a key cultural relic protection unit in China. It is the largest Taoist Grottoes in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.) in China. Located at the top of Longshan mountain, 20 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, the main cave was excavated in the sixth to eleventh year of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty (1234-1239 A.D.). There are eight caves in total, namely, xuhuang niche, Sanqing niche, woru niche, XuanZhen niche, three great mages niche, Qizhen niche and two debating niches.

Transportation: take bus No.308 at the north exit of the railway station and get off at "Xizhen". After getting off, walk north for 100 meters. Go up the mountain from a path marked by "Nanlao cement factory" on the west side of the road and pass by "Longshan ski resort" all the way. It's not too far to the foot of the mountain

Longshan Grottoes Taoism

Longshan Taoist grottoes are located in Tianlong mountain, about 40 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. They are distributed on the south slope of the East and West peaks. They were first built in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and then went through the Northern Qi, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, with a total of 25 caves. It belongs to grayish white sandstone, which is easy to be carved and weathered. Among them, Dongfeng Grottoes 12, Xifeng Grottoes 13.

brief introduction

Longshan Grottoes is a key cultural relic protection unit in China. It is the largest Taoist Grottoes in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.) in China. Located at the top of Longshan mountain, 20 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, the main cave was excavated in the sixth to eleventh year of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty (1234-1239 A.D.). There are eight caves in total, namely, xuhuang niche, Sanqing niche, woru niche, XuanZhen niche, three great mages niche, Qizhen niche and two debating niches. There are 66 stone statues of Taoism, 8 cloud dragons in relief, and many stone carvings such as double phoenix caisson and crane. The style of the statue is simple, concise and solemn, with simple clothes and distinct folds, which is quite different from that of the Buddhist grottoes. Some niches have inscriptions of the Yuan Dynasty on both sides and front walls. The combination of statues mostly takes the form of Buddhist statues without obvious characteristics. For example, the main wall of Sanqing cave is carved with the highest deities of Taoism, namely, Yuanshi Tianzun, Taishang Daojun and Taishang Laojun. On both sides of the cave are the sun gods sitting and standing alternately. On the west wall is Li Zhiquan's Zhuwen. On the front, the main statue (Yuanshi Tianzun) is 1.7 meters high, and on the left and right, the supreme Daojun and the supreme Laojun are 1.65 meters high respectively; on both sides, the God on duty is 1.6, 1.5 and 1.4 meters high. Most of the statues are broken, and only one third of them are in good condition. Lying in the middle of the cave (or Shengxian cave) is Lu zushengxian. Lu Dongbin wears Taoist clothes and lies on his right side of the pillow, just like nirvana of Buddha. The two Taoist children stand around. Among the three master niches and Qizhen niches, the top of the phoenix pattern and dragon pattern caisson are quite exquisite and can be called the best. The sculpture of Longshan is simple and honest, but lack of change and inflexible.

Digging time

At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was divided into the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. Although they all took "Dawei" as their national name, they were actually puppet regimes. The Eastern Wei Dynasty was Regent by Gao Huan. In 550 A.D., his son Gao Yang became emperor and changed Wei to Qi, which was called "Northern Qi" in history. Taiyuan was called Jinyang in ancient times. It was the other capital of Gao's family in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (534-550) and the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577). Gao Huan once built a summer palace in Tianlong mountain, which made Buddhism flourish rapidly here and started a large-scale construction project of grotto temples.

It was mainly excavated in the sixth year of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty (1234), and was built under the leadership of song Defang. Song Defang, named piyunzi, was born in Yecheng, Laizhou, Shandong Province. Born in the 22nd year of Jin Dading (1882), he was a disciple of Qiu Chuji. In the fourth year of Xingding, he went to Naiman state in the western regions (today's kebuduo area of Inner Mongolia) to meet Genghis Khan, the Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty. Three years later, he returned to Yan and was granted the title of "National Teacher". His disciples were favored and later promoted to the sect. He traveled between Dadu, Pingyang and Zhongnanshan to preside over the ceremony.

Distribution of Grottoes

From top to bottom, the grottoes are divided into three groups from west to East. The virtual emperor niche is located on the top of Longshan mountain. There are statues of Yuanshi Tianzun and 20 statues of xuhuang Daojun on the two walls. The Sanqing niche is located under the virtual emperor niche. In the middle of the niche, there are stone statues of Yuanshi Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun and taishanglaojun, 1.5 meters high, with 6 statues of real people and 6 statues of waiters on the two walls. The reclining niche is located on the east side of Sanqing niche On the stone platform, there is a lying statue of song Defang with a natural and peaceful look. Later, there are two waiters standing in silence. On the top of the niche, there are four Dragon circles. It is a realistic sculpture of "jade dragon plate method", the method of cultivating Qi of Quanzhen Longmen sect of Taoism. From the west to the East, there are statues of taoist founder Zhang Daoling and his sons Zhang Heng and sun Zhang Lushi in the three day master's niche, each 1.35 meters high, and eight waiters standing in awe.

The shape and technique of the statue have the characteristics of Tang Dynasty. There are three statues in the XuanZhen niche. The main statue is xuanzhenzi zhangzihe, a famous figure in the Zhengyi sect of Taoism. Its carving method and shape are the same as those of the master of three days. There are three stone statues of piyunzi, his younger martial brother Li Zhiquan and his disciple Qin Zhian in the niche. There is a boy holding a Book standing on the side of the niche at the small door on the right side, and he can't bear to leave after listening to the Scriptures. It is very interesting to live. On the wall of the niche, there are well preserved eulogies of piyunzi's achievements and inscriptions of self praise poems, which are the true portrayal of the practice life of Taoists in Yuan Dynasty. Among the Longshan grottoes, Qizhen niche, also known as Xuanmen ancestral niche, is the most valuable one to visit and explore the ancient. There are nine statues, with green dragon, white tiger, crane and cloud dragon carved on the side of the door, which not only symbolize the fairyland of the holy mountain, but also truly reflect the scene of the seven sons of Quanzhen Taoism preaching the Scriptures.

Introduction to each cave

Before the Yuan Dynasty, there were two caves of Taoist statues in Longshan, which were discovered by song Defang when he visited the Western Hills of Taiyuan. Song Defang rebuilt Haotian temple and excavated three caves. The existing caves No.4 and No.5 are full of the style of Song Dynasty. The caves No.1, No.2, No.3, No.6 and No.7 are square in shape and thick in clothing. They are all in the style of the early Yuan Dynasty. The eighth grotto is very small in scale. The body of the stone carving is covered with clay sculpture for later generations. Among them, the first, second and third grottoes are actually one cave with three floors, and the sixth and seventh grottoes were excavated by song Defang.

The first cave is named xuhuang niche. The cave has a circular plane and a niche carved on the front. There is a sitting statue of Yuanshi Tianzun in the niche. The head is no longer there, and the clothes are draped on the seat. It is natural and smooth. There are ten statues of waiters carved on both sides. The clouds are twining at the feet, and the halo is carved on the head. It seems that it is a worship ceremony for the Taoist gods. There are two dragons carved on the top of the cave, which have been weathered.

The second cave is called Sanqing niche, which is the largest of all the caves in Longshan. The middle one is Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun, the left one is Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun, and the right one is Taiqing moral Tianzun, namely Taishang Laojun. The main image on the front, the real person and the waiter on the left and right. His face is dignified, his clothes are heavy, and his hands are arched in front of his chest. The excavation age is the same as that of cave 1.

The third cave is a reclining niche. There are two carved tablet niches on the left and right of the cave. A rectangular high platform is carved on the front. On the platform, a reclining statue is one meter and eight long. It is similar to the man. It is said that it is the place where piyunzi sits. In fact, it should be a simulated statue carved in imitation of Buddhism Nirvana when Quanzhen Taoist practiced the elixir.

The fourth cave is a three-day master's niche with a flat square surface and three statues, each with a pointed arch niche and one main statue. Each of them looks like a bun with smooth clothes. The waiters are slender and slightly curved, which is full of song style. Cave 5 is a XuanZhen niche with three stone statues carved inside. The main statue sits at the beginning. The waiters stand on the lotus stands on both sides. The style of clothing, technique and statue is the same as that of Cave 4. It is a Song Dynasty work.

The fifth hole is the niche of the three day mage.

Cave 6 is a niche for five emperors. The main statue of cave 6 is a first-class one, sitting in a dignified and dignified manner. The left and right waiters are modest and modest. A woman is carved in the right corner to half cover the door, and her face and clothes are the same as those of cave 1. It was carved in the early Yuan Dynasty.

The seventh cave is Qizhen niche, also known as Xuanmen ancestral cave. It is divided into two rooms, the inner room is carved with the statue of Wang Chongyang's seven disciples, and the outer room is carved with the statue of dragon and white tiger, which has been stolen and chiseled. The statues are arranged on three sides, three on the front, two on each side, and the image of a waiter.

The eighth cave is a niche for distinguishing Taoism, which is very small in scale. There are clay statues of Sanhuang and Guanyu in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are 78 Taoist statues in the eight caves.

artistic characteristics

Although the scale of the Grottoes is small, the carving technique is peculiar and the face is square and round. The clothing is heavy and thick, the line is succinct, the style is rough, the life breath is rich. Most of the statues in China's grottoes are made of Buddhist themes. The contents of the grottoes are all Taoist gods and ancestors. As far as we know, they are still isolated in the sea. They can also be called the representative works of Taoist statues in the Yuan Dynasty. In 1957, it was announced as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units at the provincial level.

The two caves of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the three caves of the Northern Qi Dynasty are all square caves with three walls and three niches. The combination of the statues of the Eastern Wei Dynasty has three statues. They are the three Buddhas of Sakyamuni, Maitreya on the left wall and Amitabha on the right wall. In the Western Wei Dynasty, it was changed into five statues, and Maitreya Buddha sitting on his back was changed into Maitreya Bodhisattva sitting on his feet. The image of the Eastern Wei Dynasty is thin and simple, which is still the style of "beautiful bone and clear image". The images of the Northern Qi Dynasty are less dynamic, and the emphasis is on the carving of the physical structure. The sculpture language is perfect. At the same time, we can also see the focus on the architectural structure in the niche shape and cave shape, which can accurately reproduce the original appearance of the wooden architecture at that time.

The origin of Grottoes

Shanxi is one of the areas where the Mongols ruled earlier in the Southern Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty. It is also one of the areas where Quanzhen Taoism, a branch of Taoism, developed greatly in the early period. Except for a small number of Taoist worshippers in Sanqing, most of the statues in Longshan grottoes are worshipped by the sect as the founder of the mountain. Today, when the Yuan Dynasty statues such as the Changchun Palace (the predecessor of baiyun temple in Beijing) of Abbot Qiu Chuji have not existed for a long time, the sculptures with Quanzhen Taoist characteristics are well preserved in Longshan grottoes, which are very valuable.

The only cave in the Sui Dynasty has a famous inscription on kaihuang's stone chamber. It can be seen that the cave was built in the fourth year of kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty (5

Chinese PinYin : Long Shan Dao Jiao Shi Ku