A passage describing Longmen Grottoes

By 20 14, there will be 2345 caves and more than 80 pagodas in Dongxishan. Longmen Grottoes is the place with the largest number of ancient steles in China, which is called the ancient forest of steles. * * There are more than 2,860 stone inscriptions, among which the long-standing Longmen Twenty Pieces and the Chu Yi Que Buddhist Temple Monument are the models of Wei Bei and the tablet respectively, which can be called the fine works of China calligraphy art.

There are more than 1 1000 Buddha statues in Longmen Mountain, among which the largest Buddha statue, Lushenafo, is 17. 14 meters high, with a head height of 4 meters and an ear length of 1.9 meters. The smallest Buddha statue is in the Lotus Cave, and each statue is only 2 cm long, which is called micro-sculpture.

Longmen Grottoes are also the art history and treasures of calligraphy. The famous calligraphy masterpiece "Longmen Twenty" is the best calligraphy selected by later northern extension connoisseurs from many stone inscriptions in Longmen Grottoes. These inscriptions not only record the motive and purpose of the statue of the wishing man, but also provide a basis for the archaeological staging of the grottoes.

Kang Youwei, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, strongly advocated writing with Wei Bei in the whole society, praising Wei Bei's ten beauties, such as jumping brushwork, natural structure and rich flesh and blood. Today, Wei Bei is widely used as a slogan and decorative text. It can be seen that twenty products occupy a decisive position in calligraphy.

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Main attraction

Longmen Grottoes began to be excavated around the time when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang (AD 493), and were built on a large scale for more than 400 years after the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Song Dynasty. Densely distributed on the cliffs of the east and west mountains of Yishui, the length from north to south is 1km, and there are more than 97,000 Buddha statues. The largest Buddha statue is as high as 17. 14 m, and the smallest is only 2 cm.

Longmen night scene

There are more than 50 large and medium-sized caves in the Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties on the cliff of Xishan Mountain. Guyang Cave, Binyang Middle Cave, Lianhua Cave, Huangfugong Cave, Weizi Cave, Putai Cave, Huoshao Cave, Cixiang Kiln, Ludong Cave, etc. It is a representative cave in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Qianxi Temple, Binyang South Cave and Binyang North Cave (the cave and roof decoration of the above two caves were completed in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the Buddha statue was completed in the Sui and early Tang Dynasties).

Jingshan Temple, Cliff Sanfo Shrine, Wanfo Cave, Huijian Cave, Fengxian Temple, Pure Land Temple, Longge Temple and Jin 'an Cave are representative caves in the Tang Dynasty. Dongshan has many caves and sacred sites in the Tang Dynasty, including 20 large and medium-sized caves, such as Erlianhua Cave, Kanjing Temple Cave, Dawanwu Buddha Cave (also known as Leigutai Cave) and Wangdong Cave in Gaoping County.

Panorama of Longmen Grottoes

Fengxian temple

Fengxian Temple is the largest and most exquisite group of cliff stone carvings in Longmen Grottoes, because it belongs to Fengxian Temple, the royal temple at that time.

It's called Fengxian Temple. This cave was built in early Tang Gaozong. Empress Wu Zetian sponsored 20,000 yuan of powder in the third year (AD 672), which was completed in the second year of last year (AD 675), and each piece was more than 30 meters long. The Buddha statue in the cave clearly embodies the artistic characteristics of the Buddha statue in the Tang Dynasty, with a plump face, drooping ears, perfect, peaceful, warm and kind shape, which is extremely touching.

The inscription on the north side of Lotus, the main Buddha, is called "the statue niche of Dalushena". There are nine Buddha statues here, and the main Buddha in the middle is Rushena Buddha, which is the Buddha of Sakyamuni. According to the Buddhist scriptures, Lushe means that light shines on the whole body. This Buddha statue is 17. 14 meters high, with a head of 4 meters high and an ear length of10.9 meters. The Buddha's face is plump and round, with wavy hair lines on the top of his head and crescent-shaped eyebrows.

Attached to a pair of beautiful eyes, staring slightly below. Straight nose, small mouth, peaceful smile. The ears are long and slightly drooping, and the chin is round and slightly protruding forward. Harmonious, serene and comfortable, dressed in shoulder-length cassock, the garment line is simple and unpretentious, and the concentric circles of the garment line set off the head image exceptionally bright and holy.

The whole Buddha statue, like a wise and kind middle-aged woman, makes people respect and fear. Some people say that when shaping this Buddha statue, noble sentiment, rich feelings, open mind and elegant appearance are perfectly combined, so she has great artistic charm. ?

Ye Jia, an old disciple, Ananda, a docile and intelligent little disciple, a reserved and graceful and luxurious bodhisattva, a mighty and heroic king and an aggressive Luxor, together with the main Buddha Lushena, form a group of artistic group images with rich modal texture. [6]?

There are many small rectangular niches behind the nine-legged statue of Fengxian Temple. It was during the Song and Jin Dynasties that people built wooden eaves-style buildings in order to protect Buddhist niches. These buildings affected the ventilation of the Buddha statue and accelerated its weathering, so they were later demolished.

With its grand scale and exquisite carving, the large-scale art group carving in Fengxian Temple stands at the peak of stone carving art in China, becoming a model of stone carving art in China and a symbol of this great era in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Baidu encyclopedia-Longmen grottoes