The Yungang Grottoes and the Spread of Buddhism in China
6 min readThe Yungang Grottoes are situated on the northern banks of the Wuzhou River, at the footof Wuzhou mountain range around sixteen kilometers to the west of Datong City in Shanxi Province. The stone grottoes are carved into the hillside and extend for one kilometer in an east-west direction. Forty-five primary grottoes remain today, but there are a total of some 1,100 smaller ones containing altogether some 51,000 carved statues. This is one of the largest groupings of stone grottoes in China, famed throughout the world as an artistic treasury; the grottoes are among the first protected national monuments of China.
The main budha in No.20 grotto,a sitting statue of sakyamuni, with a height of 13.7 meters.
Budha with his feet crossed in No.13 grotto, smallstatues of budha serve as the supporting point of the grand statue of budha, pretty and stable.
Carving of the grottoes and their statues began in 460 and proceeded for some sixty years, during the Northern Wei period and over the course of the reigns of several dynastic rulers.
Carving began after a period which is described in history as “Taiwu annihilates Buddhism,” favorably helped by a period described as”Wencheng restores the law.”Emperor Wencheng’s”peaceful”reign years (460-465) began the largescale carving of the Yungang Grottoes, andthey were basically completed by the fifth year of the Zhengguang reign of Emperor Xiaom ing(524). The senior monk is said to have begun the work, with five grottoes that are now described as Grottoes 16 to 20. Most of the existing grottoes were carved before the 18th year of the Taihe reign(494), when the capital was moved to Luoyang. The artistry of the Yungang Grottoes is considered to be the grandest and most magnificent among the three main Buddhist grottoes in China, the others being at Mogao and Dunhuang. The smallest Buddhist sculpture is a mere 2 centimeters high, the largest is 17 meters high. Most depict various as-pects of religious deities. There are also many reproductions in stone of wooden architecture finely wrought details of ornamentation and design, musical instruments, and outstanding relief works of Buddhist paraphernalia. The carving style continues and builds on the sculptural traditions of Qin and Han, but has also absorbed and blended in the refinements of Buddhist arts, so that it has its own unique artistic style. The stone grottoes at Yungang deeply influenced the later development of Sui and Tang arts, and are a testament to culturalexchange and the interaction of China with other Asian countries.
Buddhism originated in India, begun by Sakyamuni. After the Buddha reached Nirvana, his disciples continued to transmit Buddhist doctrines and the teachings came into Chinain the first century BC. The Han Emperor Mingdi(reigned 58-75 AD), invited Buddhists from the “western regions”to live at the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, where they began to translate the “Forty-Two sutras.”This was China’s first Buddhist canon. The Eastern-Han scholar Muzi (c.170-2) swept away obstacles to the spread of Buddhism in China with his interpretation of the”spirit”of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism being the same. The Indian monk Kumarajive (343-413) came to China after this and undertook the translation of a number of Buddhist works including the Diamond Sutra and the Lotus Sutra among others. Four large centers of translation were established at China’s largest cities at the time: Yecheng, Chang’ an, Nanjing, and Wuwei. Buddhist doctrines achieved notable progress in the northern region of the Northern and Southern Dynasties where the rulers of the Later Zhao and Early Qin wereavid devotees. They liaised with high monks both inside and outside China, had sutras trans lated, built monasteries and temples, burned incense and prayed to the Buddha. The spread of Buddhism was not without setbacks, however. Emperor Taiwudi of Northern Wei(reigned 423-452) repressed the teachings, had believers killed, destroyed temples and inflicted con-
siderable damage on anything Buddhist. His grandson, Xiaowendi(reigned 471-499) began to change this completely when he assumed the throne by reinstating oppressed believers. It was this emperor who decided that stone grottoes should be created outside the capital city of Pingcheng, which is the modern-day Datong. The carving of stone statues of Buddhism was considered a part of his atonement. The result was the famous Yungang Grottoes.
Buddhism was supported by a number of other devout believers among emperors after this, and other grottoes were begun, notably the stone grottoes at Longmen in Henan. In addition to the Mogao grottoes at Dunhuang, which had begun earlier, China’s largest treasury of stone artwork was completed. The Southern Emperor Liang Wudi(reigned 502-549) was an ardent believer, almost to the extent of disregarding all else. He undertook great building of Buddhist temples.The Tang-dynasty poet Du Mu wrote a poem that commemorates the building at the time，noting the 480 temples of the Southern dynasties untold numbers of towers in the rain and mists.In fact，this number greatly underestimates the total.There were more than 2，000 temples in Nanjing alone.Liang Wudi left home four times to travel as an itinerant monk，and paid so little attention to matters of court that the government was overturned.
Henan King Hou Jing took advantage of the chaotic situation to lock Liang Wudi up in a tower where he simply starved to death.
The Buddhist master Bodhidharma came to China shortly after this.It was no longer possible to gain support from the emperor，so he traveled to Mt.Songshan where he sat facinga wall in profound meditation for nine years.He became known as the First Patriarch of Chan or Zen Buddhism.His robe and alms bowl were passed on to the Second Patriarch Huike，the Third Sengcan，the Fourth Daoxin，the Fifth Hongren，and the Sixth，the famous Huineng.
Through their efforts，Buddhism in China advanced to a new stage.In the Tang Dynsty，Buddhism enjoyed a revival due to the work of two monks who brought sutras from India to the capital of Chang’an，where they translated them.These were the famous Faxian and Xuanzang，later immortalized in the literary work known in English as Travels to the West.The plot of that work follows the travels of Xuanzang to India，but the real Xuanzang did not have as his stalwart companions the characters of Sun Wukong（the monkey）and Zhu Bajie（the pig）.After a period of intense struggles between those who opposed Buddhism and those who supported it，acceptance of the doctrine finally gained the upper hand.The Tang Emperor Gaozong（reigned 649-683）secreted sacred remains of the Buddha in a reliquary under atemple in Shaanxi.In the 19 80s，this repository of treasures under Famensi or Famen Temple in Fufeng was officially excavated and brought to light 1，300 years later.
White Horse Templein Luoyang，Henan Religion was generally not held in high regard in China.Taoism exerted a certaininfluence；Confucianism was not regarded as a religion.Buddhism did come to receive strong official support，however，and was in fact more widespread in China than in its country of origin.Buddhism has several distinguishing characteristics in China:first，in the process of transmission，it gradually adapted to China’s longstanding culture.Second，it was accompanied by the widespread translation of Buddhist sutras, building of temples, and carving of stone grottoes, all of which left a strong cultural legacy in China. Today, the most famous of China’s tourist sights are associated with Buddhist temples or stone grottoes. Protecting this religious cultural legacy is a common responsibility of all Chinese. China already has a number of sites that are listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO: The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, the Potala of Lhasa, the Grottoes of Yungang, the Grottoes of Longmen, the Carvings of Dazu, and so on. These provide an arena for the appreciation of Buddhist arts by friends from all over the world.
