Buddhism Legacy: Exploration of Nirvana Path in Yungang

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Yungang, China's largest Buddhist cave monastery, is located 16 km from the industrial city of Datong. Its caves were cut down from 460 to 524. The main customers of the construction were the emperors of the state of Northern Wei, created by the nomadic Tabgach tribes. The Toba or Tabgachi originally roamed in Northern Mongolia and were most likely the ancestors of the modern Mongols. In 439, they were able to unite all of Northern China under their rule. The emperors of the Toba dynasty were the first to provide broad state support to Buddhism. It was under their careful guidance that the largest cave Buddhist monasteries in China were built.
The Yungang Caves were located near the first capital of Northern Wei, Pingcheng City, now Datong. Subsequently, when the capital was moved south to the city of Luoyang, the monasteries lost their royal patronage, but still continued to be actively rebuilt. In fact, the Yungang grottoes served to strengthen the righteous dharma in China until the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the last renovation was undertaken in the 17th and 18th century. The earliest caves date back to 460-465 years, they contain five of the largest Buddha statues in Yungang.
By the way, the numerous holes in the statues are the remains of plaster fasteners, all the figures in ancient times were richly decorated and painted. Now the elements of the exterior design are present only on a few sculptures.
The total length of the cliff, where the caves are knocked out, is about one kilometer. Not all grottoes are accessible for inspection, many are located at high altitude.
Not all the figures have reached in good condition, many have suffered greatly from time.
Later caves, built with the money of rich laypeople, no longer had the huge size of "royal" grottoes, but their number is in the hundreds.

Post by MaxS | Aug 29, 2024