The History and Culture of Maijishan

Maijishan has a long history and enjoyed a high reputation as early as 1600 years ago.

Five generations wrote "Yutang Gossip", saying: "Those who accumulate wheat in the mountains cross the clear Wei River in the north and gradually spread to the south. The mountain range is 500 miles, and the wheat field is in the middle, raising a stone, looking high and round, just like folk wheat, hence the name."

Du Fu has a poem praising: "There are few residual monks in the wild temple, and the mountain road is high.

Musk sleeps in carnations and parrots peck at golden peaches.

A stone pierces a man, a cliff locks a house, and it is late to go to the cabinet. "With the smooth flow of the Silk Road, Maijishan Grottoes began to be built in the post-Qin period of the Sixteen Countries.

According to the Biography of Liang Monk, in the early Southern Song Dynasty, a monk once lived in Maijishan. Soon, a famous monk came to Maiji Mountain. The two of them lived in a temple and often had more than 300 apprentices.

In the Western Wei Dynasty, after the death of Yi Fu, the original queen of Wei Wendi, she "chiseled McKee Cliff and buried it as a niche." During the years of Baoding and Tianhe in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Taishou Li built the seven buddha Pavilion for his dead father, and asked for an inscription for Maijiya in Tianshui County, Qin Zhou.

In the fourth year of Emperor Wendi's life, Ambassador Qin Zhou built a 7-level pagoda with a height of 9.4 meters on the top of Mackey Mountain, which is said to be one of the 84,000 pagodas in Ashoka Pagoda.

Up to now, this pagoda still stands on the top of the mountain, but it has only five floors.

According to historical records, famous Zen monks Gao Xuan and Tan Hong gave lectures here, and "300 monks gathered".

During the Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties, there were thousands of stone statues in Daxing Cliff Pavilion.

Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have been continuously excavated or rebuilt.

Maijishan Grottoes have preserved a large number of physical materials about religion, art and architecture, enriching the ancient cultural history of China.

religion

Buddhism is dominant, which embodies the Three Buddhas, seven buddha, Western Pure Land and so on. It is an important form of Buddhist literature to reflect the stories of Buddha Bunsen and Buddhism biography from murals and carved stones, such as Chinese Bunsen, Prince Sakena who gave his life to feed the tiger, Nirvana and so on.

Through the sculptures of Buddha, Bodhisattva and Tian Fei, it reflects the spiritual enlightenment of Buddhism to the real world.

art

It truly reflects the infinite yearning and aesthetic orientation of artists in that era for a better life.

The statues in the Northern Wei Dynasty are beautiful and handsome, and the wise smile implies contempt for the horrible reality, forgetting the honor and disgrace of life, and being chic and relaxed after transcending the secular world. The statues of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty are warm and sincere, and they are obsessed with the pursuit of real life and the yearning for the Buddhist world. Sui and Tang dynasties statues are plump and exquisite; Statue costumes in Song Dynasty have vivid patterns and solemn appearance.

Maijishan art is good at clay sculpture.

Artists have abandoned the meticulous attention to details in the past, raised their appeal to the height of commanding everything, and used touching faces and rich life breath.

From the statues of Maijishan in different times, we can see that the artists at that time used real-life figures as the main materials, and exaggerated, imagined, summarized and refined them to create Buddha, Bodhisattva, disciple, provider and other religious figures with rich flavor of life.

The Buddhist disciples in Cave 12 1 and the piety shown by boys and girls in Cave 123 are not the piety of ascetic monks, but the innocence and joy under the influence of the trend of the times.

Therefore, Maijishan statue is influenced by the local social environment, which makes it show the local people and feelings, makes Buddhist statues familiar in life, makes people feel the amiable and lovely world of Buddhism, and thus sincerely believes in it.

Maijishan Grottoes used to be "all the niches are Buddhas, and there is no wall without flying". However, due to the wet rain, most of the murals are peeled off, but they still retain the original stories of the Northern Dynasties, such as the change of pure land, nirvana, hell and the life of Prince Sakena. The cities, temples, chariots, clothes and costumes depicted in the murals have China cultural characteristics.

In particular, Feitian is rich in colors and more distinctive, including clay sculpture, sculpture, painting and lean meat sculpture.

Although Tian Fei's hometown is in India, Tian Fei in Maijishan is the artistic crystallization of Chinese and foreign cultures, and it is the China culture Tian Fei where Indian Buddhism and China Taoist immortals are integrated.

She has no wings and feathers. She relies on clouds instead of clouds. She only relies on flying skirts, flying ribbons and beautiful girls soaring in the air, which is the most talented masterpiece of ancient artists in China.

At the same time, dance and musical instruments are also reflected in murals and sculptures, which provide valuable information for the study of ancient music in China.

Architectural art

Maijishan Grottoes are dug on cliffs, with caves as dense as honeycombs and plank roads as high as flying frames. Its breathtaking precipitousness is rare in the world, forming a magnificent three-dimensional building complex.

Its wood-like stone cliff pavilion is unique and magnificent.

Most of the caves are Buddhist temples without central columns, which obviously have local characteristics.

One of the most magnificent buildings in Maijishan Grottoes is the seven Buddhist niches in the fourth cave, also known as the "Scattered Flower Building". It is located above the East Cliff Buddha, about 80 meters above the ground. It is a temple structure with seven columns and eight columns, about 9 meters high, 30 meters wide and 8 meters deep. It is divided into two parts: the front porch and the back room.

The column is an octagonal column covered with lotus petal-shaped column base, and all the building components are carefully crafted, which reflects the maturity of architectural technology in the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

The back room consists of seven parallel four-corner tent-shaped niches with overlapping curtains, and the architectural components such as columns and beams in the niches are all expressed in relief.

Therefore, the building in the fourth cave of Maijishan Mountain is the largest cave in China that imitates the traditional architectural form of China, and it is an important material to study the wooden buildings in the Northern Dynasties. It truly and truthfully shows the external and internal characteristics of the China-made Buddhist temples in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is of great significance in the development history of grottoes.

Cave 12 1:

Direction:

The westernmost point of the west cliff.

Times:

Late Northern Wei Dynasty, Song Zhongxiu.

Cave shape:

Flat square hole of bucket caisson with cover.

The front, left and right walls of the cave are provided with pointed arches; The cave is 2.55 meters high, 2.36 meters wide and 2. 15 meters deep.

Statue:

Each of the three niches has a Buddha statue.

In the main niche, the left and right walls and the middle door are shaped by two lux.

The upper body of the Buddha statue was reshaped in the Song Dynasty, and the skirt of the lower body hung down in front of the seat and stumbled on the square platform. The disciples wore robes and skirts.

Left disciple Taluoji.

Bodhisattva wears robes.

Bodhisattva has a close relationship with his disciples, smiling, holding his chest with both hands, clapping and applauding, as if whispering and talking, just like a pair of brothers and sisters in real life, full of youthful vitality and touching emotions, making people feel natural and cordial.

The head of Lux was reconstructed in the Song Dynasty.

Zuo Lishi was topless, wearing a skirt and a shawl crossed in the abdomen. He stood with a diamond rod in his left hand and a wind belt in his right hand. Right Lishi was wearing a wide-sleeved coat and a long skirt, standing with his hands down and wearing protective armor. He was strong and brave, and had the spirit of majesty and awe.

This cave is one of the important representative caves along the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Murals:

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas paint backlights and light.

Most of the murals in the caisson have peeled off and been blackened, only floating in the air, faintly visible.

Inscription: None.

Among the grottoes in Xia, 133 and 127 grottoes are the largest.

133 memorial cave is the most special cave in McKee.

There are not only many clay sculptures in the cave, but also 65,438+08 stone tablets and several small Buddha statues with thousands of Buddha statues on them, so it is also called "Wanfo Hall".

Among them, 10, 1 1 and 16 are the essence of many monuments.

127 caves are more exciting. Most of the murals on the walls and algae wells are well preserved, with vertical brushwork and post-Wei style.

Draw a story of Buddha in Chinese for thousands of riders to listen to.

Western paintings give their lives to the tiger. There are 12 tigers in different shapes, which is a fine product.

In particular, there is a stone Buddha in the niche, which is the most wonderful. In the backlight of the stone Buddha, there are 12 geisha in the upper part, and everyone is playing musical instruments.

There are eight flying birds in the lower part.

There is a waiter on the left and right. Although he is not big, he has different manners.

In the scroll lotus, there is also a small Buddha head of lotus and peanut.

Sit in the middle of the Buddha and sit with your hands up. When you say it, you show kindness and joy.

This Buddha statue is a rare treasure in Buddhist art in the world, not to mention Mount McKee.

Maijishan has a long history and splendid culture, which is the most distinctive of local traditional culture, including folk sacrifice, cultural entertainment, song and dance acrobatics, food culture and so on.

Worship Fuxi

Fuxi is the "ancestor of humanity" worshipped by the Chinese nation, and Tianshui is the birthplace of Fuxi and the "hometown of Huang Xi".

Sacrificial activities have a history of more than 800 years.

Since 1988, Gansu Province and Tianshui City have held "Fuxi Cultural Tourism Festival" in Qinzhou District of Tianshui every year, and held a grand Fuxi public sacrifice ceremony, attended by national leaders, provincial and municipal politicians and distinguished guests.

There are thousands of people in the empty lane, and the scene is grand.

The public sacrifice ceremony has been included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage by the state.

Worship of "Bath Buddha Festival"

There are many Buddhist temples in Maijishan Scenic Area, such as Ruiying Temple, Ling Ying Temple and Jiaolong Temple. Buddhist activities have a long history, especially the "Buddha Bathing Festival" on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month.

On this day, thousands of pilgrims and believers were welcomed to Maijishan Grottoes, Xianrenya Ling Ying Temple and other Buddhist holy places, with spectacular scenes.

Country yangko

Rural yangko, also known as "social fire", is a general term for various forms of folk songs and dances, mostly accompanied by percussion or small folk bands, mainly playing dragon lanterns, lions, playing high platforms, waist drums, running donkeys, bamboo horse lanterns, big skulls and so on; Singing and dancing, there are dry boats, plywood, stilts, horse yangko, high umbrellas, wax flowers, tigers, fire dragons and so on.

During the Spring Festival or festival every year, villages with beautiful scenery form a large array of Yangko performances, which are very lively.

Shaanxi opera performance

Shaanxi Opera is one of the local operas popular in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.

Tianshui people love to watch and listen to Shaanxi opera, and they can even shout a few words.

Every festival or god's market is held in a scenic village, and local Shaanxi Opera Troupe or Shaanxi Opera lovers will be invited to perform, which will increase the customs of Qin to tourists.