World Cultural Heritage: The Mogao Caves (3)

First are the Buddha portraits, which are mostly the single Buddha and Bodhisattva including the Medicine Buddha, the Lusena Buddha, the Avalokitesvara, the Mahasthamaprapta, the Ksitigarbha and the Bodhisattvas of the Esoteric Buddhism. Second are over 20 types of pictures of stories and interpretations of Buddhist scriptures including Amitabha, Maitreya, Eastern Medicine Buddha, Vimaiakirti, Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Samantabhadra and Mahasthamaprapta. There were fewer pictures of stories and interpretations of Buddhist scriptures in the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, and they look spectacular, with strict structures and refined content, and only one painting on each wall. In the later period of the Tang Dynasty, the content of the pictures became rich and there were more pictures with two or three pictures on a wall, and the screen paintings were even added to below the pictures of stories and interpretations of Buddhist scriptures to supplement the main content. Third are the Buddhist historical paintings and Buddha portraits. The Buddha stories with dozens of themes were spread from some places in the Western Regions, such as the Kingdom of Khotan, ancient India and Gandhara. They began appearing in the later period of the Tang Dynasty, including the Vaisravana, a Sariputta in Khotan fighting on the sea and the Buddha portraits in Gandhara. The fourth type is paintings of Buddhist stories. This kind of paintings gradually disappeared in the Sui Dynasty and reappeared in the late Tang Dynasty. Some caves had paintings of more than stories from the "Xian Yu Jing." The fifth type is the portraits of lay people. The images and dresses of the lay people were painted with accurate detail. The figures of the lay people were becoming bigger, and in the late Tang Dynasty, life-size figures appeared on the walls in the entrances of the corridors. The grand and rigorous painting depicting the scene of Zhang Yichao, governor of Hexi, and Mrs. Song, wife of the governor of Henei, traveling is an important historical painting. Its grand scale reflects the magnificent scene of the Pure Land of Buddhas. Statues in the caves lost their vitality during the Five Dynasties period and began to decline during the Song Dynasty. The Mogao Caves has become a congregation of architecture, stone carvings, mural paintings, and painted sculptures of various dynasties after nearly 1,000 years of ceaseless excavation. It is the world's largest, richest and oldest treasury of Buddhist art. These art treasures reflect religious and social living conditions of China in the Middle Ages and also reflect the outstanding wisdom and extraordinary achievements of the working people in all ages.

A Chinese Taoist priest named Wang Yuanlu appointed himself guardian of the caves. On June 22, 1900, a person surnamed Yang, who was invited by Wang to transcribe scriptures, found when inserting rushes into a chink in the wall that the wall was hollow, and there was a hidden cave inside the wall, which is now the No.17 Cave of Mogao Caves and also called the "Sutra Cave." There are 50,000 to 60,000 cultural relics dating from the 4th century to 14th century in this cave alone. This is an especially important discovery in the Chinese history of archaeology, and even shocked the world. More and more people started to study the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, so the "Study of Dunhuang" was gradually developed and became world-famous. After nearly 100 years of efforts, scholars have achieved remarkable progress in developing the academic, artistic, and cultural potential of the Mogao Caves. In addition, their studies also show the world the beauty and splendid culture of the Mogao Caves as well as the wisdom of the ancient Chinese people.