Documentary--the Longmen Grottoes

cctv.com 08-27-2003 19:54

Longmen Grottoes are located at the south of Luoyang City, Henan Province. Longmen used to be called Yi Que (Gate of Yi River). When Luoyang became the capital of Sui Dynasty, Yi Que was renamed 'Longmen' (Gate of the Dragon) because the imperial palace was just opposite the gate. Here two mountains confront each other with the Yi River traversing northward between them. The world-known Longmen Grottoes were excavated here.

Then, who made the decision to make the grottoes here at Longmen, Luoyang? And why? According to the epigraphs kept in the grottoes, the answer should be closely related to the facts that the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang and that the royalty advocated Buddhism, as well as that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei paid great emphasis to piety.

The Northern Wei Dynasty, established by the Xianbei people, had a tradition of making stone temples. Any emperor who was enthroned would immediately build a grotto for the new empress. Before the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, it had built the Yungang Grottoes at Pingcheng, which is now Datong, Shanxi Province. Apart from the traditions they had, another reason for them to be fond of building grottoes is that the stone statues are easy to maintain. Another reason is that the Northern Wei Dynasty was one of the most outstanding dynasties that advocated Buddhism in Chinese history. Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei Dynasties was the first to embrace Buddhism. He built temples, pagodas and statues at Pingcheng, the old capital, for the convenience of the monks. When Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, Buddhism spread quickly thanks to the influence of Han culture and the promotion of emperor Xiaowen. The heat of building temples, pagodas and grottoes came to climax in Luoyang and other cities in the north. Luoyang, as the capital, became also the center for Buddhism. The monks and craftsmen from the old capital were all concentrated at Luoyang and began to build great scale grottoes and statues for the Northern Wei royalties. This symbolizes the birth of Longmen Grottoes.

Apart from the two reasons mentioned above, another reason for the building of Longmen Grottoes was the piety of Emperor Xiaowen. Emperor Xiaowen was brought up by his grandmother Emperor Dowager Feng, who was a Han people. Emperor Xiaowen received profound Han culture from her. When Empress Dowager Feng passed away, Xiaowei kept in mourning for three years before he started preparing to move the capital southwards. After relocation of the capital, Emperor Xiaowen built the Longmen Grottoes to memorize Empress Dowager Feng.

What, then, is the relationship between Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, as they were both built by Emperor Xiaowen? As the projects of chiseling statues moved from Yungang to Longmen in large-scale, the sculptures in Longmen Grottoes inherited the artistic characteristics of Yungang Grottoes. As for the subject matters, the Yungang Grottoes mainly concentrated on the Buddhist Trinity. The Buddhist Trinity refers to the three forms of the Buddha, namely, the past, the present and the future, the Sakyamuni Buddha, the Amitabha Buddha and the Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, which are the three musts that an ordinary monk should study. We could find this ideology in Northern Wei statues at Longmen Grottoes. Comparing to early works in Yungang Grottoes at Datong, the stone sculptures at Longmen Grottoes showed great progress. The carvings of early works at Yungang Grottoes are generals and simple. With even and straight carvings, the statues lack a sense of reality. The main statues are usually stately and callous, frightening the viewers at their first sights. While the Longmen Grottoes have more sense of reality. Sakyamuni reveals his smile in the cave, with his clothes changed into Han style, covering his right shoulder which used to be naked. The Buddha statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty reveal the taste of the aristocrats, preferring a kind of slim appearance and sagacious facial expression. Some statues inherited the trait of Yungang Grottoes, which was to imitate the emperors' images to make Buddha statues. The dominators wanted to rule the world forever as the representatives of Gods.

How long did it take to build the Longmen Grottoes? According recorded history, people started to build the Longmen Grottoes in A.D. 493, which was the 17th year of Taihe in Northern Wei Dynasty, when Emperor Xiaowen relocated the capital to Luoyang. The construction ran through Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, North Qi, North Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and was not finished even in Ming Dynasty. Two blooming periods of building the Longmen Grottoes were the Northern Wei Dynasty and the first one hundred years of Tang Dynasty.

Longmen Grottoes are a well-preserved great-scale grotto mass. According to incomplete statistics, more than 2000 niches, over 60 Buddhist pagodas, over 100,000 Buddhist statues and 2800 steles are kept there. The Longmen Grottoes are qualified to be a museum with abundant and profound stone sculptures. It is reputed as the three greatest stone sculpture treasure houses in China together with the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang (Gansu Province) and the Yungang Grottoes (Shanxi Province).

The first 35 years from the time when Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei Dynasty relocated its capital to the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, were the first blooming period of building the Longmen Grottoes. The caves that were chiseled then were mainly located at the West Hill, occupying one third of the statues of Longmen Grottoes. The most famous ones include a dozen of middle and large scale caves, namely, the Guyang Cave, Binyang Cave and Yaofang Cave, just to name a few.

Binyang Cave, Yaofang Cave, Guyang Cave

Guyang Cave is the earliest one among the caves at Longmen. Located at the south of West Hill, it took more than 10 years to build the cave by using nature rock caves. The chief Buddha in the cave is Sakyamuni. Three rows of Buddhist niches are located on both south and north walls. Each row of them is composed of four symmetrical big niches.

On the top part of the niches, a complete volume of Buddhist legend story was carved. The story is about how Prince Siddhartha became Buddha. Siddhartha was the name when Sakyamuni was still a prince in the human world. Either in terms of scene or composition, this set of carvings is very refined, revealing the abundant imagination and artistic expression of the craftsmen in Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Buddhist statues in the cave were contributed by believers. The reason and course of the contribution was recorded on each statue. From these inscriptions we could see that Guyang Cave is the one with the largest number of statues contributed by Northern Wei aristocrats. One of them was contributed to Emperor Xiaowen. This is it. Though cracked and broken, its facial expression is still peaceful. The contributor of it was named Yang Dayan, a Han people who had led the war against the Xianbei people. In his inscriptions he said he was deeply moved by Emperor Xiaowen's achievements. Hence he made this stone sculpture to pay a tribute to Emperor Xiaowen. More than 2000 inscriptions similar to this one could be found in Longmen Grottoes, with almost 500 in Guyang Cave alone. Of the "Twenty Epigraphs' at Long Men, 19 are found in this cave. 'Twenty Epigraphs' refer to the 20 most outstanding inscriptions selected by the calligraphic circle. These inscriptions and epigraphs are of great value in the study of calligraphy, providing later generations with great materials for the study of nations, surnames, place names, government posts, subject matters of statues, and linguistic evolvement of the Northern Wei period.

Binyang Cave

Binyang Cave is another important cave carved in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It's excavated in Jingming's reign in Northern Wei Dynasty. Emperor Xuanwu built statues here to release the souls of his parents from purgatory. Altogether there were three caves, namely the south, the north and the middle Binyang caves, so it's also named the Three Caves of Binyang. The construction of the middle cave lasted 24 years, utilizing 2.8 million laborers. The north and south caves were not finished until the early years in Tang Dynasty. The Buddhist Trinity is worshipped in the middle cave. At the north it's the past Buddha, middle the present, south the future. It's the three forms of Buddha Sakyamuni. Sakyamuni is sitting in the middle with a disciple and a Bodhisattva on each side. On the left stand the Kasyapa and Manjusri Buddha, on the right Ananda and Samantabhadra Buddha. The Buddha and his disciples are slim and tall, their clothes neatly folded, revealing the characteristics of Northern Wei statues.

In late Northern Wei Dynasty, some particular caves were excavated, such as the Lianhua Cave (the Lotus Cave), Huoshao Cave (Fire Burning Cave), Huangfugong Cave (Imperial Palace Cave), etc. Among them Yaofang Cave is a quite famous one. Yaofang Cave was built in the late years of Emperor Xiaoming's reign. It's not completed until the reign of Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi Dynasty. It is the only large-scale cave with statues made in the Northern Qi Dynasty. From the date recorded in the inscriptions on the 30 statues in the cave, the construction of it lasted from A.D.520 to 1026, spanning 500 years from Northern Wei, Northern Qi and Tang to Song Dynasty. An inscription about a man named Daoxing in A.D.575, the 6th year of Emperor Wuping's reign in Northern Qi Dynasty, was carved on both walls at the north of the archway into the cave. He contributed lots of stone sculptures to this cave. In the inscriptions he said: 'If people don't plant herbs often, there's no way to cure diseases like deafness and blindness.' He meant that contributing money to build caves is like planting herbs, both could relieve people's suffering and pain. On the edge of this stele, many prescriptions could be found. The font of the prescriptions is very different from that of the epigraph. It's very likely that people carved these prescriptions on its borders with his words as the prologue. What's amazing is that these prescriptions are still effective to cure some diseases nowadays. For example, there is one prescription for diabetes: 'Drinking a liter of black sesame oil at one time, it's effective instantly.' Another one still for diabetes is: 'Pound same amount of cucumber roots and coptis into powders, add some honey, and make it into pills in size of Chinese parasol seeds. Eat ten pills a time after dinner. Adjust amount according to different situation.' Another example is to cure swollen stomach, with stone-like bumps inside which could exist for years. It refers what we call tumor today, like lung cancer or hepatocirrhosis. The prescription goes like this: 'Cut branches of aspens that face southeast, rid their barks, chop into small pieces, and boil 5 liters of them in water. Then dip them into 5 liters of wine. Take them out and contain the dregs in a silk bag. Then put the bag back into the wine. Seal it overnight. Then drink it three times a day.'

The finishing of the middle Binyang Cave symbolized the end of the building Longmen Grottoes in Northern Wei Dynasty. In A.D.515, 5-year-old Emperor Xiaoming was enthroned. The government affairs were controlled by the emperor's mother, Empress Dowager Hu, which aroused disputes of many officials. A coup of the royal court took place. 4 years later Empress Dowager Hu came into power again. Meanwhile, peasants' rebellions were everywhere in the country. The Northern Wei Dynasty came to its dead end in terms of both economy and politics. Empress Dowager Hu had to stop the project of Binyang Cave in June, A.D.523 because it was both too costly and time-consuming. The Northern Wei Dynasty broke down 8 years later after the Binyang Cave project stopped in middle way. With that, the first blooming period of building Longmen Grottoes also ended.

Qianxi Temple

With the collapse of Northern Wei Dynasty, the excavation of Longmen Grottoes began to fall and didn't recover until the establishment of Tang Dynasty 100 years later. It was the second blooming period in Longmen's history. Grottoes built in this period were mostly located at the West Hill according to time sequence. It was not until the period of Empress Wu Zetian that parts of grottoes moved to the East Hill, accounting for 2 thirds of the total numbers of grottoes. There are 700 caves and niches which were built in the Tang Dynasty, among which the most outstanding ones include Qianxi Temple, Wanfo Cave, Fengxian Temple, etc. The first cave excavated in Tang Dynasty is the Qianxi Temple at the north of West Hill. It was when the Pure Land Buddhism in China began to establish itself. There are altogether 7 statues in Qianxi Temple, namely, Amitabha the chief Buddha, his disciple Kasyapa and Ananda, Avalokiteshvara, other two Bodhisattvas, and two maharajas. Amitabha Buddha is the main Buddha worshipped in the Pure Land Buddhism. He is also the hierarch of the Sukhavati (the Western Paradise). The Amitabha Buddha at the Qianxi Temple sits on a square platform, with a well-proportioned body and a plump face, like a grown-up woman. Avalokiteshvara is the Buddha that stays at the left of Amitabha Buddha. In Chinese Buddhism he was described as an infinitely merciful Buddha, called Guan Shi Yin in Chinese. In Tang Dynasty, as the name of the emperor was Li Shi Ming, to avoid speaking of the emperor's name 'Shi', Avalokiteshvara was renamed Guan Yin. The Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta are called 'Three Saints from the West', which is a very common subject for the Pure Land statues at Longmen Grottoes.

Wanfo Cave -- Maitreya is reincarnated from Heaven

The first emperor of Tang Dynasty who began to excavate the grottoes was Emperor Gaozong. The building activities reached its peak when Empress Wu Zetian was in power. Though mostly belonging to Buddhist arts, statues in the grottoes were closely related to politics. From many Tang Dynasty statues in the grottoes we could trace the track by which Wu Zetian gradually seized the throne. Take Wanfo Cave as an example, 15,000 sitting Buddha statues were carved on the south and north walls of the cave, hence the name Wanfo (Ten Thousand Buddha). The splendid ten thousand Buddha statues, together with the other sculptures in the cave, create a kind of sacred and august atmosphere. The layout and the sculptures of the Wanfo Cave are of mundane characteristics. The religious subjects are combined with the theme that the emperor is the Buddha, which fabricates a tone that dominator of the Heaven is also the ruler of the human world. When Empress Wu Zetian was in power, she had a particularly strong belief in Maitreya, because Xuan Zang, the eminent monk, had said that 'Maitreya is reincarnated from Heaven'. For this reason she had lots of Maitreya statues made at Longmen Grottoes.

Huilan Cave

Small-and-middle-scale caves with Maitreya as the chief Buddha were built then. Huilan Cave is the representative one.

Fengxian Temple

Among the tens of thousands of statues in Longmen Grottoes, Grand Vairocana Buddha Niche at the Fengxian Temple is the largest and most beautiful one.

Fengxian Temple lies at the south side of the West Hill. Measuring nearly 40 meters in width from south to north, this open niche houses 9 great sculptures stretching along the precipitous cliff. Five statues are placed at the front wall, with Grand Vairocana Buddha in the middle, the Kasyapa and Manjusri Buddha on the left, and the Ananda and Samantabhadra Buddha on the right. A heavenly king and Vajrapani stand on the south and north walls.

Vairocana Buddha is a respectful name for the real body of the Buddha. The Great Vairocana Buddha Niche is over 17 meters tall, with its ear measuring 1.9 meters. In Buddhist doctrines, Vairocana Buddha is the idealistic reincarnation of the Buddha to show his virtues. The ancient Chinese artists endowed him with feminine features, like a plump face, long and thin eyebrows, eyes slightly looking down, and his lips slightly raised, wearing a vague smile…all this could be regarded as an idealistic symbol for a sage in a feudalistic society.

Grand Vairocana Buddha Niche at the Fengxian Temple was the project that Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian managed in person. Empress Wu Zetian donated 20,000 strings of coins for this project in the 3rd year of Xianfeng. It's said that the Vairocana Buddha Niche was the reincarnation of Empress Wu Zetian. These 9 statues seem either gentle and rustic, or weather-beaten, or supremely elegant. They vary in characters and positions. All this is contributes to a single theme: Grand Vairocana Buddha is the supreme Buddha. In some way, it means that Empress Wu Zetian is the supreme ruler. It's said that the New Year's Day in the 1st year of Emperor Gaozong's reign happened to be the day when Fengxian Temple was completed. Wu Zetian led the government officials to take part in the open ceremony of the Grand Vairocana Buddha Niche.

The statues built in Tang Dynasty had varied greatly comparing to those made in Northern Wei Dynasty. Tang sculptures have more human interests and friendliness. Bodies of the statues are plumper and stronger, which look more elegant, symbolizing the blooming national strength and economy in the early years of Tang Dynasty. In terms of sculpture, round carving in Tang Dynasty took the place of straight carving of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The wrinkles of the clothes are more fluid and elegant. Vajrapani have strong and protuberant muscles all over the body, exaggerating but within the bound of anatomical theory, showing a forceful vigor and a bursting power. The second blooming period for building the Longmen Grottoes ended in about A.D.705 when Empress Wu Zetian resigned and passed away. People no longer believed in the legendary reincarnation of the 'heavenly maiden'. The building of Maitreya statues gradually ceased. The splendor of Longmen Grottoes also fell from the peak with the disappearance of the Maitreya's spirit.

Editor:Guan  Source:CCTV.com