Dunhuang Caves
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The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the
Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...
, in
Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of
Buddhist art Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes Buddha in art, depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, ...
spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out in 366 CE as places of Buddhist meditation and worship; later the caves became a place of pilgrimage, and caves continued to be built at the site until the 14th century. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. An important cache of documents was discovered in 1900 in the so-called "Library Cave", which had been walled-up in the 11th century. The contents of the library were subsequently dispersed around the world, and the largest collections are now found in Beijing, London, Paris and Berlin, and the
International Dunhuang Project The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and Digital preservation, digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese c ...
exists to coordinate and collect scholarly work on the
Dunhuang manuscripts The Dunhuang manuscripts are a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, including Hemp paper, hemp, silk, paper and Woodblock printing, woodblock-printed texts) in Old Tibetan, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages tha ...
and other material. The caves themselves are now a popular tourist destination, but the number of visitors has been capped to help with the preservation of the caves.


Etymology

The caves are commonly referred to in Chinese as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas (), a name that some scholars have speculated to have come from the legend of its founding, when a monk Yuezun had a vision of a thousand Buddhas at the site. This name, however, may have come from the large number of Buddha figures at the site, or the miniatures figures painted on the walls of these caves as these figures are called "thousand Buddhas" colloquially. The name Mogao Caves () was used in the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, where 'Mogao' refers to an administrative district at the site during the Tang dynasty. Mogao may mean "peerless" (literally "none higher", where "''mo''" means "none", and "''gao''" means "high"); an alternative reading may be "high in the desert" if "mo" is read as a variant of the Chinese term for "desert". Mogao is also used as the name of a modern town that is administered by
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
city: Mogao Town (). The Mogao Caves are also often referred to as the Dunhuang Caves after the nearest city
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
, which means "blazing beacon" as beacons were used at the frontier outpost to warn of attacks by nomadic tribes. The term Dunhuang Caves however is also used in a broader sense as a collective term for all the caves found in or around the Dunhuang area.


History

Dunhuang was established as a frontier garrison outpost by the Han dynasty Emperor Wudi to protect against the
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
in 111 BC. It also became an important gateway to the West, a centre of commerce along the
Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...
, as well as a meeting place of various people and religions such as
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. The Mogao Caves near Dunhuang were first constructed in the 4th century AD and were used as a site of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The caves contain over 400,000 square feet of frescoes and sculptures, making them one of the largest repositories of Buddhist art in the world. The construction of the Mogao Caves is generally taken to have begun sometime in the fourth century AD, when Dunhuang was under control of the Former Liang dynasty. According to a book written during the reign of Tang Empress Wu, ''Fokan Ji'' (, ''An Account of Buddhist Shrines'') by Li Junxiu (), a
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
monk named Lè Zūn (, which may also be pronounced Yuezun) had a vision of a thousand
Buddhas In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the supreme goal of Buddhism, variously described as awakening or enlighten ...
bathed in golden light at the site in 366 AD, inspiring him to build a cave here. The story is also found in other sources, such as in inscriptions on a
stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
in cave 332; an earlier date of 353 however was given in another document, ''Shazhou Tujing'' (, ''Geography of Shazhou''). He was later joined by a second monk Faliang (), and the site gradually grew, by the time of the
Northern Liang The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history. It was ruled by the Juqu (沮渠) family of Lushuihu ethnicity, though they are sometimes categorized ...
a small community of monks had formed at the site. The caves initially served only as a place of meditation for hermit monks, but developed to serve the monasteries that sprang up nearby. The earliest decorated Mogao Caves remaining to this day (caves 268, 272 and 275), were built and decorated in the
Northern Liang The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history. It was ruled by the Juqu (沮渠) family of Lushuihu ethnicity, though they are sometimes categorized ...
period between 419 and 439 CE, before the invasion of the
Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...
. They share many stylistic characteristics in common with some of the
Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...
, such as Cave 17. Members of the ruling family of
Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...
and
Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties of China's ...
then constructed many caves here, and it flourished in the short-lived
Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...
. By the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, the number of caves had reached over a thousand. By the Sui and Tang dynasties, Mogao Caves had become a place of worship and pilgrimage for the public. From the 4th until the 14th century, caves were constructed by monks to serve as shrines with funds from donors. These caves were elaborately painted, the cave paintings and architecture serving as aids to
meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...
, as visual representations of the quest for enlightenment, as
mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...
devices, and as teaching tools to inform those illiterate about Buddhist beliefs and stories. The major caves were sponsored by patrons such as important clergy, local ruling elite, foreign dignitaries, as well as Chinese emperors. Other caves may have been funded by merchants, military officers, and other local people such as women's groups. During the Tang dynasty, Dunhuang became the main hub of commerce of the Silk Road and a major religious centre. A large number of the caves were constructed at Mogao during this era, including the two large statues of Buddha at the site, the largest one constructed in 695 following an edict a year earlier by Tang Empress
Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...
to build giant statues across the country. The site escaped the persecution of Buddhists ordered by Emperor Wuzong in 845 as it was then under Tibetan control. As a frontier town, Dunhuang had been occupied at various times by other non-Han Chinese people. After the Tang dynasty, the site went into a gradual decline, and construction of new caves ceased entirely after the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
. By then Islam had conquered much of Central Asia, and the Silk Road declined in importance when trading via sea-routes began to dominate Chinese trade with the outside world. During the Ming dynasty, the Silk Road was finally officially abandoned, and Dunhuang slowly became depopulated and largely forgotten by the outside world. Most of the Mogao caves were abandoned; the site, however, was still a place of pilgrimage and was used as a place of worship by local people at the beginning of the twentieth century when there was renewed interest in the site.


Discovery and revival

During late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Western explorers began to show interest in the ancient Silk Road and the lost cities of Central Asia, and those who passed through Dunhuang noted the murals, sculptures, and artifacts such as the
Stele of Sulaiman The Stele of Sulaiman is a Yuan dynasty stele that was erected in 1348 to commemorate the benefactors and donors to a Buddhist temple at the Mogao Caves southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu, China. The principal benefactor is named as Sulaiman (), Pri ...
at Mogao. There is an estimated half a million square feet of religious wall murals within the caves. The biggest discovery, however, came from a Chinese
Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
named Wang Yuanlu who had appointed himself guardian of some of these temples around the turn of the century and tried to raise funds to repair the statues. Some of the caves had by then been blocked by sand, and Wang set about clearing away the sand and made an attempt at restoration of the site. In one such cave, on 25 June 1900, Wang followed the drift of smoke from a cigarette, and discovered a walled up area behind one side of a corridor leading to a main cave. Behind the wall was a small cave stuffed with an enormous hoard of manuscripts. In the next few years, Wang took some manuscripts to show to various officials who expressed varying level of interest, but in 1904 Wang re-sealed the cave following an order by the governor of Gansu concerned about the cost of transporting these documents. Words of Wang's discovery drew the attention of a joint British/Indian group led by the Hungarian-born British archaeologist
Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...
who was on an archaeological expedition in the area in 1907. Stein negotiated with Wang to allow him to remove a significant number of manuscripts as well as the finest paintings and textiles in exchange for a donation to Wang's restoration effort. He was followed by a French expedition under
Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...
who acquired many thousands of items in 1908, and then by a Japanese expedition under Otani Kozui in 1911 and a Russian expedition under Sergei F. Oldenburg in 1914. A well-known scholar Luo Zhenyu edited some of the manuscripts Pelliot acquired into a volume which was then published in 1909 as "Manuscripts of the Dunhuang Caves" (). Stein and Pelliot provoked much interest in the West about the Dunhuang Caves. Scholars in Beijing, after seeing samples of the documents in Pelliot's possession, became aware of their value. Concerned that the remaining manuscripts might be lost, Luo Zhenyu and others persuaded the Ministry of Education to recover the rest of the manuscripts to be sent to Peking (
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
) in 1910. However, not all the remaining manuscripts were taken to Peking, and of those retrieved, some were then stolen. Rumours of caches of documents taken by local people continued for some time, and a cache of documents hidden by Wang from the authorities was later found in the 1940s. Some of the caves were damaged and vandalized by White Russian soldiers when they were used by the local authority in 1921 to house Russian soldiers fleeing the
civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
following the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
. In 1924, American explorer Langdon Warner removed a number of murals as well as a statue from some of the caves. In 1939
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
soldiers stationed at Dunhuang caused some damage to the murals and statues at the site. The situation improved in 1941 when, following a visit by
Wu Zuoren Wu Zuoren (; 3 November 1908 – 9 April 1997)Barnhart, R. M. et al. (1997). Three thousand years of Chinese painting. New Haven, Yale University Press. : Page 384. was a Chinese people, Chinese painter. A native of Jing County, Anhui, Jing ...
to the site the previous year, the painter
Zhang Daqian Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian (; 10 May 1899 – 2 April 1983) was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Originally known as a '' guohua'' (traditionalist) painter, by the 1960s he was also renowne ...
arrived at the caves with a small team of assistants and stayed for two and a half years to repair and copy the murals. He exhibited and published the copies of the murals in 1943, which helped to publicize and give much prominence to the art of Dunhuang within China. Historian Xiang Da then persuaded Yu Youren, a prominent member of the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
(Chinese Nationalist Party), to set up an institution, the Research Institute of Dunhuang Art (which later became the Dunhuang Academy), at Mogao in 1944 to look after the site and its contents. In 1956, the first
Premier of the People's Republic of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...
,
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
, took a personal interest in the caves and sanctioned a grant to repair and protect the site; and in 1961, the Mogao Caves were declared to be a specially protected historical monument by the State Council, and large-scale renovation work at Mogao began soon afterwards. The site escaped the widespread damage caused to many religious sites during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. Today, efforts are continuing to conserve and research the site and its content. The Mogao Caves became one of the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
in 1987. From 1988 to 1995 a further 248 caves were discovered to the north of the 487 caves known since the early 1900s. The Dunhuang Academy entered a period of "scientific conservation" for the Mogao Caves in the 1980s and began exploring "digital conservation" as early as 1993. Since 2010, it has completed photographic acquisition of 120 caves, image processing of 40 caves, panoramic roaming of 120 caves, and 3D reconstruction of 20 painted sculptures in the Mogao Caves. The Dunhuang Academy also introduced I-m-Cave, a multi-touch desktop system for virtual tours of the Mogao Caves, which presents a relationship between currently damaged artifacts and their virtual restored versions that cannot be experienced during a real tour.


The Library Cave

Cave 17 discovered by Wang Yuanlu in the early 1900s came to be known as the Library Cave. It is located off the entrance leading to cave 16 and was originally used as a memorial cave for a local monk Hongbian on his death in 862. Hongbian, from a wealthy Wu family, was responsible for the construction of cave 16, and the Library Cave may have been used as his retreat in his lifetime. The cave originally contained his statue which was moved to another cave when it was used to keep manuscripts, some of which bear Hongbian's seal. A large number of documents dating from 406 to 1002 were found in the cave, heaped up in closely packed layers of bundles of scrolls. In addition to the 1,100 bundles of scrolls, there were also over 15,000 paper books and shorter texts, including a Hebrew penitential prayer ('' selichah'') (see
Dunhuang manuscripts The Dunhuang manuscripts are a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, including Hemp paper, hemp, silk, paper and Woodblock printing, woodblock-printed texts) in Old Tibetan, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages tha ...
). It's estimated that 50,000 ancient documents were discovered inside on topics of literature, philosophy, art and medicine. The Library Cave also contained textiles such as banners, numerous damaged figurines of Buddhas, and other Buddhist paraphernalia. According to Stein who was the first to describe the cave in its original state: The Library Cave was walled off sometime early in the 11th century. A number of theories have been proposed as the reason for sealing the caves. Stein first proposed that the cave had become a waste repository for venerable, damaged and used manuscripts and hallowed paraphernalia and then sealed perhaps when the place came under threat. Following this interpretation some suggested that the handwritten manuscripts of the
Tripitaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.
became obsolete when printing became widespread, the older manuscripts were therefore stored away. Another suggestion is that the cave was simply used as a book storehouse for documents which accumulated over a century and a half, then sealed up when it became full. Others, such as Pelliot, suggested an alternative scenario, that the monks hurriedly hid the documents in advance of an attack by invaders, perhaps when Xi Xia invaded in 1035. This theory was proposed in light of the absence of documents from Xi Xia and the disordered state in which Pelliot found the room (perhaps a misinterpretation because unbeknownst to him the room was disturbed by Stein months before). Another theory posits that the items were from a monastic library and hidden due to threats from Muslims who were moving eastward. This theory proposes that the monks of a nearby monastery heard about the fall of the Buddhist
kingdom of Khotan The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhism, Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was origina ...
to
Karakhanids The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; zh, t=喀喇汗國, p=Kālā Hánguó), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Karluks, Karluk Turkic peoples, Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the ...
invaders from
Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...
in 1006 and the destruction it caused, so they sealed their library to avoid it being destroyed. Another possible theory posits that to save the manuscripts from a coming "Age of Decline", the Library Cave was sealed to prevent this from occurring. The date of the sealing of the cave continued to be debated. Rong (2000) provided evidence to support 1002 as the date for sealing the cave, while Huntington (1986) supported a closing around the early to mid-thirteen century. It is difficult to determine the state of the materials found since the chamber was not opened "under scientific conditions", so critical evidence to support dating the closure was lost. The latest date recorded in the documents found in the cave is believed to be 1002, and although some have proposed later dates for some of the documents, the cave was likely to have been sealed not long after that date.


Dunhuang manuscripts

The manuscripts from the Library Cave date from fifth century until early eleventh century when it was sealed. Up to 50,000 manuscripts may have been kept there, one of the greatest treasure troves of ancient documents found. While most of them are in Chinese, a large number of documents are in various other languages such as Tibetan, Uighur,
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, and Sogdian, including the then little-known Khotanese. They may be old hemp paper scrolls in Chinese and many other languages, Tibetan pothis, and paintings on hemp, silk or paper. The subject matter of the great majority of the scrolls is Buddhist in nature, but it also covers a diverse material. Along with the expected Buddhist canonical works are original commentaries,
apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...
l works, workbooks, books of prayers,
Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...
works,
Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
works,
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
works, works from the Chinese government, administrative documents, anthologies, glossaries, dictionaries, and calligraphic exercises. Many of the manuscripts were previously unknown or thought lost, and the manuscripts provide a unique insight into the religious and secular matters of Northern China as well as other Central Asian kingdoms from the early periods up to the Tang and early Song dynasty. The manuscripts found in the Library Cave include the earliest dated printed book, the
Diamond Sutra The ''Diamond Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ) is a Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist sutra from the genre of ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is one of th ...
from 868, which was first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the fourth century. These scrolls also include manuscripts that ranged from the Christian Jingjiao Documents to the Dunhuang Go Manual and ancient music scores, as well as the image of the
Chinese astronomy Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The Ancient China, ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categori ...
Dunhuang map. These scrolls chronicle the development of Buddhism in China, record the political and cultural life of the time, and provide documentation of mundane secular matters that gives a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary people of these eras. The manuscripts were dispersed all over the world in the aftermath of the discovery. Stein's acquisition was split between Britain and India because his expedition was funded by both countries. Stein had the first pick and he was able to collect around 7,000 complete manuscripts and 6,000 fragments for which he paid £130, although these include many duplicate copies of the Diamond and
Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...
s. Pelliot took almost 10,000 documents for the equivalent of £90, but, unlike Stein, Pelliot was a trained
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
literate in Chinese, and he was allowed to examine the manuscripts freely, so he was able to pick a better selection of documents than Stein. Pelliot was interested in the more unusual and exotic of the Dunhuang manuscripts, such as those dealing with the administration and financing of the monastery and associated lay men's groups. Many of these manuscripts survived only because they formed a type of
palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...
whereby papers were reused and Buddhist texts were written on the opposite side of the
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
. Hundreds more of the manuscripts were sold by Wang to Otani Kozui and Sergei Oldenburg. Efforts are now underway to reconstitute the Library Cave manuscripts digitally, and they are now available as part of
International Dunhuang Project The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and Digital preservation, digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese c ...
.


Art

The art of Dunhuang covers more than ten major genres, such as
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
,
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
sculpture, wall paintings, silk paintings, calligraphy, woodblock printing, embroidery, literature, music and dance, and popular entertainment.


Architecture

The caves are examples of
rock-cut architecture Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures by excavating solid Rock (geology), rock where it naturally occurs. Intensely laborious when using ancient tools and methods, rock-cut architecture was presumably combi ...
, but unlike Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, the local rock is a rather soft
gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...
conglomerate that is not suitable for either sculpture or elaborate architectural details. Many of the early caves were developed from earlier Buddhist rock-cut ''
chaitya A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, (Sanskrit:''Caitya''; Pāli: ''Cetiya'') refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded ...
'' styles seen in places such as the
Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...
in India, with a square-sectioned central column, with sculpture in niches, representing the
stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
round which worshippers may circumambulate (''
parikrama Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indian religions, Indic religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only ...
'') and gain blessings. Others are hall caves influenced by traditional Chinese and Buddhist temple architecture. These caves may have a truncated pyramidal ceiling sometimes painted to resemble a tent, or they may have a flat or gabled ceiling that imitates traditional buildings. Some of the caves used for meditation are adaptations of the Indian vihara (monastery) cave plan and contain side-chambers just large enough for one person to sit in. Many of the caves originally had wooden porches or fore-temples built out from the cliff, but most of these have decayed or been lost in other ways, with only five remaining, the two earliest of which are rare surviving examples of Song dynasty wooden architecture. The most prominent wooden building at the site, first built during the Tang dynasty, houses the Great Buddha and was originally four storeys high, but it has been repaired at least five times and is no longer the original structure. A storey was added between 874 and 885, then repaired in the Guiyijun period, and two further storeys were added during a restoration in 1898. Two further restorations were carried out in the 20th century, and the building is now a 9-storey structure.


Murals

The murals in the caves date from a period of over a thousand years, from the 5th to the 14th century, and many earlier ones were repainted at later points within the period. The murals are extensive, covering an area of . The most fully painted caves have paintings all over the walls and ceilings, with geometrical or plant decoration filling the spaces not taken by figurative images, which are above all of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
. Sculpture is also brightly painted. The murals are valued for the scale and richness of content as well as their artistry. Buddhist subjects are most common, however some have traditional mythical subjects and portraits of patrons. These murals document the changing styles of Buddhist art in China for nearly a thousand years. The artistry of the murals reached its apogee during the Tang period, and the quality of the work dropped after the tenth century. Early murals showed a strong Indian and Central Asian influence in the painting techniques used, the composition and style of the paintings as well as costumes worn by the figures, but a distinct Dunhuang style began to emerge during the Northern Wei dynasty. Motifs of Chinese, Central Asian and Indian origin may be found in a single cave, and Chinese elements increased during the Western Wei period. A common motif in many caves is the areas entirely covered by rows of small seated Buddha figures, after which this and other "Thousand Buddhas Caves" are named. These small Buddhas were drawn using
stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...
s so that identical figures may be replicated. Flying
apsara Apsaras (, , Khmer language, Khmer: អប្សរា are a class of celestial beings in Hinduism, Hindu and Culture of Buddhism, Buddhist culture. They were originally a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters, but, later play ...
s, or celestial beings may be depicted in the ceiling or above the Buddhas, and figures of donors may be shown along the bottom of the walls. The paintings often depict
jataka tales The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...
which are stories of the life of Buddha, or
avadana Avadāna (Sanskrit; Pali: '' Apadāna'') is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events. Richard Salomon described them as "stories, usually narrated by the Buddha, that ...
which are parables of the doctrine of
karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...
. The murals may also depict religious themes.
Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, ''Enlightenment in Buddhism, bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal n ...
started appearing during the Northern Zhou period, with Avalokitesvara (
Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
), which was originally male but acquired female characteristics later, the most popular. Most caves show
Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
and Sravakayana (
Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...
or
Hinayana Hīnayāna is a Sanskrit term that was at one time applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' paths of Buddhism. This term appeared around the first or second century. The Hīnayāna is considered as the prelim ...
) influences, although Mahayana Buddhism became the dominant form during the Sui dynasty. An innovation of the Sui-Tang period is the visual representation of the sutra – Mahayana Buddhist teachings transformed into large complete and detailed narrative paintings. One of the central features of Tang art in Mogao is the representation of the paradise of the
Pure Land Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places ...
, indicating the increasing popularity of this school of Mahayana Buddhism in the Tang era. The '' Western Paradise Illustration'' of Cave 220 is a well-preserved mural of this type. The iconography of Tantric Buddhism, such as the eleven-headed or thousand-armed Avalokitesvara, also started to appear in Mogao wall paintings during the Tang period. It became popular during the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang and the subsequent periods, especially during the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
. While Buddhist art is stylistically distinct from secular art, the style of paintings in the caves often reflects that of contemporary secular painting (insofar as we know of this), especially those depicting secular scenes. Donor figures are generally depicted in secular style, and may include secular events associated with them. For example, scenes depicting General Zhang Yichao, who ruled over Dunhuang in a quasi-autonomous manner during the Late Tang period, include a commemoration of his victory over the Tibetans in 848. The portraits of donors increased in size during the period ruled by the Cao family who succeeded the Zhang family. The Caos formed alliances with the
Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...
s ( Uyghur Gansu Kingdom and
Kingdom of Qocho Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchic state or realm ruled by a king or queen. ** A monarchic chiefdom, represented or governed by a king or queen. * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and me ...
) and the Saka
Kingdom of Khotan The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhism, Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was origina ...
and their portraits are featured prominently in some of the caves. Many of the figures have darkened due to oxidation of the lead-based pigments from exposure to air and light. Many early figures in the murals in Dunhuang also used painting techniques originated from India where shading was applied to achieve a three-dimensional or
chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...
effect. However, the darkening of the paint used in shading over time resulted in heavy outlines which is not what the painters had originally intended. This shading technique is unique to Dunhuang in East Asia at this period as such shading on human faces was generally not done in Chinese paintings until much later when there were influences from European paintings. Another difference from traditional Chinese painting is the presence of figures that are semi-nude, occasionally fully nude, as figures are generally fully clothed in Chinese paintings. Many of the murals have been repaired or plastered over and repainted over the centuries, and older murals may be seen where sections of later paintings had been removed. The Getty Conservation Institute has a dedicated page to the conservation of those wall paintings.


Sculptures

There are around 2,400 surviving clay sculptures at Mogao. These were first constructed on a wooden frame, padded with reed, then modelled in clay stucco, and finished with paint. The giant statues however have a stone core. The
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
is generally shown as the central statue, often attended by boddhisattvas, heavenly kings,
deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...
s, and apsaras, along with yaksas and other mythical creatures. The early figures are relatively simple and mainly of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The Buddhas of Northern Wei may have two attendant Bodhisattvas, and in the Northern Zhou period, two further disciples may be added, forming a group of five. Figures from the Sui and Tang periods may be present as larger groups of seven or nine, and some showed large-scale
parinirvana In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained '' nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the '' ...
scene with groups of mourners. The early sculptures were based on Indian and Central Asian prototypes, with some in the Greco-Indian style of
Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
. Over time the sculptures showed more Chinese elements and became gradually sinicized. The two giant statues represent Maitreya Buddha. The earlier and larger one in cave 96, at 35.5 m high, was constructed in 695 under the edicts from Empress Wu Zetian who instructed the constructions of monasteries in 689 and giant statues in 694. The smaller one is 27 m tall and was constructed in 713–41. The larger northern giant Buddha was damaged in an earthquake and had been repaired and restored multiple times, consequently its clothing, colour and gestures had been changed and only the head retains its original Early Tang appearance. The southern statue however is largely in its original form apart for its right hand. The larger Buddha is housed in a prominent wooden 9-storey structure. One type of cave constructed during the Tibetan era is the Nirvana Cave, which features a large reclining Buddha that covers the entire length of the hall. Figures of mourners in murals or in sculptural forms are also depicted along the length of the hall behind the Buddha. The Buddha figure in cave 158 measures 15.6 m long. The original function of the "Library Cave" was as a shrine commemorating Hong Bian, the 9th-century monk. His portrait statue, unusual here and among all surviving works in China, was removed to another spot when the cave was sealed up in the 11th century, but has been returned now the library has been removed. There is also a stone
stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
describing his life, and the wall behind the statue is painted with attendant figure; such blending of painted sculpture and wall paintings into a single composition is very common at the site.


Paintings on silk and paper

Before the discovery in the Library Cave, original paintings on silk and paper from the Tang dynasty, an influential period in Chinese art, were very rare, and most of the surviving examples were copies made in later periods. Over a thousand paintings on silk, banners, and embroideries were found in the Library Cave, none apparently dating before the late 7th century. The great majority of the paintings are anonymous, but many are of high quality, especially from the Tang. Most are sutra paintings, images of Buddha, and narrative paintings. The paintings show something of the contemporary Chinese style of the capital
Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...
, but many also reflect Indian, Tibetan and Uighur painting styles. There are brush paintings in ink alone, some in just two colours, as well as many in full colour. Most common are single figures, and most paintings were probably donated by an individual, who is often portrayed on a diminutive scale. The donor figures become notably more elaborate in dress by the 10th century.


Printed images

The Library Cave is equally important as a source of rare early images and texts produced by
woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of textile printing, printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page ...
, including the famous
Diamond Sutra The ''Diamond Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ) is a Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist sutra from the genre of ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is one of th ...
, the earliest printed book to survive. Other printed images were made to be hung, often with text below containing prayers and sometimes a dedication by the pious commissioner; at least two prints were commissioned by Cao Yuanzhong, Imperial Commissioner at Dunhuang in 947. Many of the images have colour added by hand to the printed outline. Several sheets contain repeated impressions of the same block with a Buddha image. Possibly these reflect stock for cutting when sold to pilgrims, but inscriptions in some examples show these were also printed out at different times by an individual as a devotion to acquire merit. It is unclear whether such people owned their own blocks, or visited a monastery to have the images printed.


Textiles

The textiles found in the Library Cave include silk banners, altar hangings, wrappings for manuscripts, and monks' apparel ( kāṣāya). The monks normally used fabrics consisting of a patchwork of different scraps of cloth as a sign of humility; these therefore provide valuable insights into the various type of silk cloth and embroidery available at the time. Silk banners were used to adorn the cliff-face at the caves during festivals, and these are painted and may be embroidered. Valances used to decorate altars and temples had a horizontal strip at the top, from which hung streamers made from strips of different cloths ending in a V that look like a modern male necktie.Whitfield and Farrer, p. 116


Caves

The caves were cut into the side of a cliff which is close to two kilometers long. At its height, during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, there were more than a thousand caves, but over time many of the caves were lost, including the earliest caves. 735 caves currently exist in Mogao; the best-known ones are the 487 caves located in the southern section of the cliff which are places of pilgrimage and worship. 248 caves have also been found to the north which were living quarters, meditation chambers, and burial sites for the monks. The caves at the southern section are decorated, while those at the northern section are mostly plain. The caves are clustered together according to their era, with new caves from a new dynasty being constructed in different parts of the cliff. From the murals, sculptures, and other objects found in the caves, the dates of around five hundred caves have been determined. Following is a list of the caves by era, compiled in the 1980s (more have been identified since): *
Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded b ...
(366–439) - 7 caves, the oldest dated to
Northern Liang The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history. It was ruled by the Juqu (沮渠) family of Lushuihu ethnicity, though they are sometimes categorized ...
period. *
Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...
(439–534) and
Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...
(535-556) - 10 from each phase *
Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties of China's ...
(557–580) - 15 caves *
Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...
(581–618) - 70 caves * Early Tang (618–704) - 44 caves * High Tang (705–780) - 80 caves * Middle Tang (781–847) - 44 caves (This era in Dunhuang is also known as the Tibetan period because Dunhuang was then under Tibetan occupation.) * Guiyijun period (, 848–1036), when Dunhuang was ruled by the Zhang and Cao families. It may be subdivided into the following periods: :* Late Tang (848–906) - 60 caves :* The Five Dynasties (907–960) - 32 caves :*
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
(960–1035) - 43 caves *
Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...
(1036–1226) - 82 caves *
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
(1227–1368) - 10 caves


Gallery

File:Mogao Cave 61, painting of Mount Wutai monasteries.jpg, 10th century mural from Cave 61, showing Tang Buddhist monasteries of
Mount Wutai Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as is a sacred Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks or mesas roughly correspondin ...
,
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
province File:DunhuangCave323.jpg, The travel of
Zhang Qian Zhang Qian (; died c. 114 BC) was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and politician who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Western Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diploma ...
to the West, complete view, c. 700 File:Zhang Qian.jpg, The travel of
Zhang Qian Zhang Qian (; died c. 114 BC) was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and politician who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Western Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diploma ...
to the West, details of mural from cave 323, 618–712 File:Sakyamuni cuts his hair, detail, Tang Dynasty.jpg, A Tang Chinese silk landscape
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
depicting a young Sakyamuni cutting his hair File:Varjapani magao caves.jpg, Vajrapani Painting at Mogao Caves (Library Cave) File:Bandit attack.JPG, Bandit attacks File:Vaishravana riding across the waters. 61,8x54,7cm From Dunhuang, Cave17. Five Dynasties, mid-10th century AD. British Museum..jpg, Vaishravana riding across the waters. Five Dynasties, mid-10th century. File:Mural Worshipping Bodhisattva.jpg, Worshipping Bodhisattva, cave 285, Wei dynasty. File:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg, An illustration of Sakyamuni's temptation by Mara File:Story of the Five Hundred Robbers (535–557 CE), Mogao Cave 285, Dunhuang, China.jpg, Depiction of the avadana story of Five Hundred Robbers. Cave 285, Western Wei. File:Buddhist donors from Cave 98 at Mo-kao.jpg, Young female Buddhist donors. Cave 98, Five Dynasties era. File:Dunhuang Mogao cave Cao donor figures.jpg, Wife of Dunhuang ruler Cao Yanlu and daughter of the King of Khotan, wearing an elaborate jade headdress. Cave 61, Five Dynasties. File:Portrait of a Khotan King - full.jpg, King of Khotan File:Dunhuang Uighur king.jpg, Uighur king attended by servants. Cave 409, Western Xia. File:Dunhuang mogao mural cave 409.jpg, Figures from cave 409, Western Xia. File:Dinastia tang, bodhisattva avalokitesvara a 8 braccia, dalle grotte di mogao, 890-910 ca..JPG, Sculpture of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara from Mogao Caves, 890–910, Musée Guimet File:Great Buddha of Mogao Caves.jpg, Great Buddha of cave 130 File:Dinastia tang, re celeste (lokapala), grotte di mogao, VII-VIII sec..JPG, Lokapala guardian figure, Musée Guimet File:Grottos of dunhuang.jpg, Sculptures in a niche above a main Buddha figure, Mogao cave 27, High Tang File:Grotta nr 158.JPG,
Reclining Buddha A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his h ...
in cave 148, second largest reclining figure in Mogao. High Tang period. File:T'ang Architecture in the Mo-kao Fresco 1.jpg, A fresco shows the style of architecture of the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
. File:T'ang Architecture in the Mo-kao Fresco 2.jpg, A fresco shows the Tang style architecture in the Buddhist land. File:Sogdian-Zoroastrian Deities, Tunhwang.jpg, '' Sogdian Daēnās'' depicting two
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...
deities once worshipped by the
Sogdia Sogdia () or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemen ...
ns File:Mogao Christian painting (original version).jpg, Church of the East painting of Jesus Christ discovered at the Library Cave File:Sogdian whirl with large pipa.jpg, Buddhist cave art, a dancer spins while the orchestra plays. Grotto 46 Left interior wall, second panel. Also called cave 112.


See also

*
List of World Heritage Sites in China The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Cultural herit ...
* Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves * Bhadrakalpikasutra *
Buddhism in China Buddhism in China refers to Buddhism that has been developed and practiced in China, based on the geographical location and administrative region instead of a particular Buddhist branch. Buddhism is the largest officially recognized religion i ...
* Chinese Manichaean hymn scroll * Dunhuang Go Manual *
International Dunhuang Project The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and Digital preservation, digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese c ...
*
Irk Bitig ''Irk Bitig'' or ''Irq Bitig'' (), known as the ''Book of Omens'' or ''Book of Divination'' in English, is a 9th-century manuscript book on divination that was discovered in the "Library Cave" of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China, by Aurel Ste ...
*
Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...
* Kumtura Thousand Buddha Caves *
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bo ...
*
Stele of Sulaiman The Stele of Sulaiman is a Yuan dynasty stele that was erected in 1348 to commemorate the benefactors and donors to a Buddhist temple at the Mogao Caves southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu, China. The principal benefactor is named as Sulaiman (), Pri ...
* Tang performance arts in Dunhuang * Tianlongshan Grottoes


Footnotes


References

* Duan Wenjie (editor-in-chief), ''Mural Paintings of the Dunhuang Mogao Grotto'' (1994) Kenbun-Sha, Inc. / China National Publications Import and Export Corporation, * Fan Jinshi, ''The Caves of Dunhuang''. (2010) The Dunhuang Academy. * Hopkirk, Peter. ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia'' (1980). Amherst: The
University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
. * Murray, Stuart A.P. "The Library: An Illustrated History" 2012. Print. * Rong Xinjiang, translated by Valerie Hansen,
The Nature of the Dunhuang Library Cave and the Reasons for Its Sealing
" ''Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie'' (1999): 247–275. * *Whitfield, Roderick and Farrer, Anne, ''Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art from the Silk Route'' (1990), British Museum Publications, *Whitfield, Roderick,
Susan Whitfield Susan Whitfield (born 1960) is a British scholar, currently Professor in Silk Road Studies at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), University of East Anglia. She previously worked at the British Library in ...
, and Neville Agnew. "Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk Road" (2000). Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute. * Wood, Frances, "The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Buddhism on the Silk Road" in "The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia" (2002) by Frances Wood. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Zhang Wenbin, ed. "Dunhuang: A Centennial Commemoration of the Discovery of the Cave Library" (2000). Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers. *Suemori Kaoru, "Thousand-Buddha images in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes: Religious spaces created by polychromatic patterns" (2020). Kyoto: Hozokan.


Further reading

* Stein, M. Aurel. ''Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China'', vol. 2 (1912). London: Macmillan. * Pelliot, Paul ''Les grottes de Touen-Houang'' 1920. *
Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 1
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Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 2
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Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 3
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Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 4
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Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 5
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Les grottes de Touen-Houang : vol. 6


External links




A large collections of images of murals and other artifacts from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang

International Dunhuang Project

Mogao caves video

Harvard Art Museums, some murals and a statue removed from Dunhuang by Langdon Warner

British Museum The cave-temples at DunhuangA Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang at the British LibraryWisdom embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on the Mogao Caves
New Yorker article "A Secret Library, Digitally Excavated

The Magnificent Mogao Caves of China - Amazing World
{{Authority control Buddhist grottoes in Gansu Sites along the Silk Road World Heritage Sites in China Dunhuang Buddhist pilgrimage sites in China Buddhist libraries Ancient Central Asian art Chinese painting Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Gansu Buddhist paintings Sacred caves Rock-cut architecture