What hardships have Maijishan Grottoes experienced?

In the past 1000 years, Mackey suffered from wind and rain, man-made destruction and several major earthquakes in history. However, natural and man-made disasters did not obliterate the light of Mount McKee. Up to now, there are still 194 Buddhist grottoes, more than 7,200 clay sculptures and stone tires, and 1300 square meters of murals.

Mackey Scenic Area is located at the intersection of the east-west Kunlun-Qilian-Qinling Central Orogenic Belt and the north-south Helan-Sichuan-Yunnan Central Structural Belt in China, just at the northeast node of the West Qinling-Songpan Structural Junction. The special geological landforms not only shaped the wonders of Maiji Mountain, but also buried the hidden dangers of earthquake disasters.

From the "Niuertang" cave to the west, there is an overpass plank road with a length of 38 meters and a height of 80 meters above the ground, connecting the east cliff and the west cliff of McKee. Under the overpass, between the east and west cliffs, the cliffs are suspended, and there are no caves.

It turned out that in 734, a strong earthquake occurred in Qinlong, which led to the large-scale collapse of the cave groups in the middle of the McKee Cliff and the upper part of the East Cliff, and the cave groups were divided into two cliffs.

Since then, there have been huge stones pushed down in the earthquake at the foot of the mountain. This should be regarded as the worst loss in the history of Maijishan Grottoes. Many precious caves, statues and murals collapsed and shattered in the vibration of the mountain and turned into mud.

Such a natural disaster was regarded as an ominous sign at that time, which led to a mountain of incense in Maiji Mountain, more than a thousand monks and a devastating blow to the religious atmosphere.

It was this earthquake that caused Maijishan to dig only a few grottoes in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Then, as the administrative center of China moved from south to north, as an important part of Chang 'an Buddhist culture and an outstanding representative of Guanlong Grottoes, the "protagonist" status of Maijishan Grottoes with heavy makeup is gone forever.

When Du Fu lived in Qin Zhou, Maijishan was split in two in the Tianshui earthquake, and with the Anshi Rebellion at that time, it was only natural to see the sad scene of "a few monks left in the wild temple".

However, in a sense, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because after Du Fu lived in Qin Zhou for more than 20 years, there was a famous "harmony and extinction of Buddha" event in the history of China. Because of its remote location and dangerous mountain roads, it is difficult for us to know whether Maijishan escaped the robbery.

Since then, Maijishan Grottoes have disappeared in the misty rain for nearly a thousand years. But not long after the earthquake, folk craftsmen climbed up Niuertang along the remaining plank road and carved a group of statues of the king stepping on the cow. In fact, this group of statues is more like a prayer to avoid an earthquake disaster.

After the Tang Dynasty, Maijishan has not made great achievements in sculpture, but only accumulated a few quantities at most, or made some tinkering. However, due to the arrival of many scholars and dignitaries, the number of related articles has increased, such as Wang Renyu in the Five Dynasties, who wrote poems as a souvenir after he reached the highest heaven in McKee.

After the founding of Kaifeng in the Song Dynasty, the political and economic center of China moved southward, and the Silk Road leading from Hexi Corridor to the western regions was gradually replaced by maritime traffic, so Maijishan entered the seclusion stage of nearly 1000 years.

During this period, although there were some painted statues of good men and women who believed in incense, and although there were also some literati who sought seclusion and explored the past, they climbed high to recall the past, but compared with the Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was only a lonely continuation.

Maijishan has stood quietly for more than a thousand years.

If we want to talk about the thousand-year history of Maijishan, we have to say that the unique ladder plank road here is a witness to the history of Maijishan. Since the excavation of Maijishan Grottoes, wooden ladder plank roads have been built to connect the honeycombed caves.

On Mount McKee, the wooden flying bridge plank road built by the ancients on the steep cliff has long been destroyed by fire, and the remaining charred eaves and pile holes seem to tell people about its former grandeur.

Because the middle part of the mountain is prominent, the lower part is sunken and the upper part is contracted, the plank road below the middle part is prominent from bottom to top, forming a trend of volley through the clouds, which is now a stunning scene. Later generations can visit caves one by one, all by these ladder plank roads built by sticking to the wall and flying in the air.