The enormity of the Mogao Caves complex is a testament not just to the religious dedication of the monks, but to its location along the Silk Road. The evidence of the rich cultural exchange brought to the site by the Silk Road is evident in the mixed influences of the art, and it was the demise of the Road which led to the abandonment of the caves in the 15th century.
The Mogao (莫高, literally “endless height”) Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the centre of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu Province, China.
Influence from the West
Contrary to popular belief, the early Buddhists did not have statues or images of Buddha. The earliest portrayal of the image of Buddha, believe it or not, was influenced by the Greeks and Macedonians with their statues of the gods and goddesses. This was taken up in India and then spread to China through the Hexi Corridor. And Dunhuang Grottoes were the first to be influenced by these artistic expressions.
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 spanning a period of 1,000 years.
李君莫高窟佛龛碑（复制）Broken stele recording of Li Kerang’s restoration of Mogao Caves (Duplicate)
石、武周 圣历元年（公元698年）、高82厘米 宽75厘米 重252千克、敦煌莫高窟第332窟出土、敦煌研究院藏 Stone, Wu Zhou, the first year of the Holy Calendar (698 AD), 82 cm high, 75 cm wide, 252 kg in weight, excavated from Cave 332 of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang Academy Collection
The construction of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang is generally taken to have begun sometime in the fourth century AD. According to a book written during the reign of Tang Empress Wu, Fokan Ji (佛龕記, An Account of Buddhist Shrines) by Li Junxiu (李君修), a Buddhist monk named Lè Zūn (樂尊, which may also be pronounced Yuezun) had a vision of a thousand Buddhas 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 in cave 332; an earlier date of 353 however was given in another document, Shazhou Tujing (沙州土鏡, Geography of Shazhou). He was later joined by a second monk Faliang (法良), and the site gradually grew, by the time of the Northern Liang 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.
北凉石造像塔 Stone stupa from the Palace of the Queen Mother
石、北凉（公元397-460年）、高36厘米，底径13厘米、敦煌市三危山王母宫出土、敦煌市博物馆藏 Stone, Northern Liang (397-460 AD), 36 cm high, 13 cm in diameter, unearthed from the Queen Mother Palace of Sanwei Mountain in Dunhuang City, Dunhuang City Museum Collection
The earliest decorated Mogao Caves remaining to this day (caves 268, 272 and 275), were built and decorated by the Northern Liang, a small kingdom along the Hexi Corridor that was primarily Buddhists, between 419 and 439 CE, before the invasion of the Northern Wei. They share many stylistic characteristics in common with some of the Kizil Caves, such as Cave 17 (the Library Cave).
The style, shape and content of the stupa showed influence from ancient India and is similar with the Gaoshanmu stone stupa found in Jiuquan.
尸毗王本生 Sibi Jataka
莫高窟第254窟、北魏（公元386-534年〕、段文杰临摹 Cave 254 of Mogao Grottoes, Northern Wei Dyanasty (386-534 AD), copied by Duan Wenjie
In 442, the Northern Wei dynasty unified the vast area along the Yellow River. In 516, the Northern Wei governor of Dunhuang went to Mogao with his colleagues to supervise the creation of grottoes and statues, taking along with them new model samples of Buddhist statuary. This event helped drive the process of sinicization, and the Mogao murals and statues started to take on the characteristics of traditional Chinese culture. The grottoes built in the Northern Wei Period as represented by Caves 254, 257, 259, 248, 251 and 435.
禅定佛像 Buddha in Meditation
莫高窟第259窟、北魏（公元386-534年)、杜永卫临摹 Mogao Grottoes Cave 259, Northern Wei (386-534), copied by Du Yongwei
The facial features of the sculptures of this period are broad faces and prominent cheeks, fine eyebrows, thin lips, high-set nose, and the body is generally slender and draped in a light clinging robe.
The paintings that adorn the cave walls illustrate parables and stories of Buddha’s life. The ceilings are decorated with geometric patterns, animals and legendary figures from Chinese mythology.
The Zhou Dynasty Period caves have the same general characteristics as the Wei. During this period, the caves were constructed by the Turkic-speaking Tobas who formed the Wei Dynasties. They adopted Chinese manners and customs.
刺绣佛画 Embroidered Buddhist painting
丝、北魏 太和十一年（公元487年)、长49.4厘米 宽29.5厘米、1965年敦煌莫高窟第125-126窟之间崖缝出土、敦煌研究院藏 Silk, Northern Wei Dynasty, the eleventh year of Taihe (487 AD), 49.4 cm long and 29.5 cm wide, unearthed between the cracks of Caves 125 and 126 of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in 1965, Dunhuang Academy Collection
This fragment of the silk painting was found between the cracks of two caves, perhaps a manuscript of the mural inside the caves (although this was not verified). It could be abandoned by the mural painter after work. This silk painting would mostly likely from a temple, The lotus seat of the buddhe had the inscription “Commissioned by Lord Guangyang Wang Hui’an (Yuan’an)” (“广阳王慧安(元嘉)造”). It is the earliest example of a silk embroidery and is useful in the study of Northern Wei buddhist art and the history of silk embroidery in China.
菩萨头像 Head of a Bodhisattva
菩萨跪立姿影塑像 Relief Figurines of Bodhisattvas
泥、北魏（公元386-534年）、1951年敦煌莫高窟千相塔出土、敦煌研究院藏 Clay, Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), Qianxiang Pagoda of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes unearthed in 1951, Dunhuang Academy Collection
彩绘影塑供养菩萨像 Painted relief sculptures of worshipping Bodhisattvas
泥、北魏（公元386-534年）、天水市麦积山石窟第162窟出土、甘肃省博物馆藏 Clay, Northern Wei (386-534), excavated from Cave 162 of Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui City, Gansu Provincial Museum Collection
Members of the ruling family of Northern Wei and Northern Zhou then constructed many caves here, and it flourished in the short-lived Sui Dynasty. By the Tang Dynasty, the number of caves had reached over a thousand.
释迦牟尼说法图 Preaching scene of Sakyamuni
莫高窟第249窟、西魏（公元534-556年）复制 Reproduction of Mogao Grottoes Cave 249, Western Wei Dynasty (534-556 AD)
The Western Wei Dynasty referred to in Dunhuang was not defined strictly according to the regime changes in the Central Plains, but spanned from the late Northern Wei period to the Western Wei period. During this period, Wang Yuanrong of Dongyang served as the governor of Guazhou from the first year of Xiaochang (525 A.D.) or slightly earlier till the reign of Datong of the Western Wei Dynasty. Expert argued that the the new styles that emerged in the Mogao Grottoes was closely related to the appointment of the governor. There are nine existing caves built in the Western Wei Dynasty, among which Mogao Cave 249 and 285 are the most characteristic.
The Glorious Period of Mogao Grottoes during Sui-Tang-Song-Yuan Dynasties
The Mogao Grottoes are considered one of the most important collections of Buddhist art in the world. At its peak during the Tang dynasty (618–907), the site housed 18 monasteries, more than 1400 monks and nuns, and countless artists, translators and calligraphers.
菩萨立像 Standing Buddha
莫高窟第419窟、隋（公元581-618年）何鄂临摹 Cave 419 of Mogao Grottoes, Sui Dynasty (581-618 A.D.) copied by He E
The Sui dynasty (AD 581–618) began when a general of Chinese or mixed Chinese–Tuoba origin usurped the throne of the northern Zhou dynasty and reunited northern and southern China for the first time in 360 years.
The Sui dynasty was short-lived and very much a transition between the Wei and Tang periods. This can be seen in the Sui caves at Mogao: the graceful Indian curves in the Buddha and Bodhisattva figures start to give way to the more rigid style of Chinese sculpture.
菩萨坐像 Seating Buddha
莫高窟第205窟、初唐（公元618-712年）、朴纪元临摹 Mogao Grottoes Cave 205, Early Tang Dynasty (618-712 AD), copied by Piao Jiyuan
Buddhism and Buddhist art occupied an extremely important position in the culture and society of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907), a period often referred to as the golden age of Chinese civilisation.
In the early years of the Tang dynasty, Dunhuang, Tang China’s westernmost territory, was politically unstable. Local warlords rebelled several times and challenged Tang authority. At the time of the fall of the Sui (581–618 C.E.) and the rise of the Tang dynasty, the small kingdom of Liang in the Hexi corridor (the western part of present-day Gansu Province) was destroyed. As a result Dunhuang, which had been a part of the Liang kingdom, became a part of the Tang empire in 619, the second year of the reign of the first Tang emperor, Gaozu.
木雕八臂观音残像 Woodea sculpture of eight-armed Avalokiteshvara
泥、唐（公元618-907年）、通高61厘米 宽20厘米、1951年敦煌莫高窟千相塔出土、敦煌研究院藏 Clay, Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), 61 cm high 20 cm wide, Qianxiang Pagoda of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes unearthed in 1951, Dunhuang Academy Collection
The Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) was Mogao’s high point. Painting and sculpture techniques became much more refined, and some important aesthetic developments, notably the sex change (from male to female) of Guanyin and the flying apsaras, took place. The beautiful murals depicting the Buddhist Western Paradise offer rare insights into the court life, music, dress and architecture of Tang China.
The vast number of Buddhist monuments surviving today provides us with the opportunity to understand the glorious and complex visual culture of this great period in Chinese history.
供养菩萨胡跪像 Sculpture of kneeling Bodhisattva the style of the western regions
泥、唐（公元618-907年）、通高61厘米 宽20厘米、1951年敦煌莫高窟千相塔出土、敦煌研究院藏 Clay, Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), 61 cm high 20 cm wide, Qianxiang Pagoda of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes unearthed in 1951, Dunhuang Academy Collection
Tang Dynasty reached Dunhuang’s peak artistic achievements, during which 213 caves were hewn from the sandstone cliffs. The figures are more realistic. The small wall niches, which in earlier years were places for statues, became small rooms, some having multiple levels. Two large Buddhas were carved, one being 100 feet and another 75 feet high.
The paintings in this time also tell the stories of the Buddha, and include pictures of Bodhisattvas, as well as the images of Tang Dynasty nobles and aristocrats. The influence of Persia and India is seen in the often-recurring mandalas. Multi-limbed and eyed statues appeared by the end of this period.
供养菩萨像 Attendant Bodhisattva
莫高窟第328窟、盛唐（公元 712-766年）、孙纪元临摹 Mogao Grottoes Cave 328, Height of Tang Dynasty (712-766 AD), copied by Sun Jiyuan
Some 230 caves were carved during the religiously diverse Tang dynasty, including two impressive grottoes containing enormous, seated Buddha figures. Originally open to the elements, the statue of Maitreya in cave 96 (believed to represent Empress Wu Zetian, who used Buddhism to consolidate her power) is a towering 35.5m tall, making it the world’s third-largest Buddha. The Buddhas were carved from the top down using scaffolding, the anchor holes of which are still visible.
文殊变 Illustration of Manjusri
莫高窟第159窟、中唐（公元766-835年）、李秀华临摹 Cave 159 of Mogao Grottoes, the Middle Tang Dynasty (766-835 A.D.), copied by Li Xiuhua
Manjusri Bodhisattva 文殊菩萨has infinite wisdom in the Buddhist world. It was said that his ashram was in “Mount Wutai”五台山 of the Shanxi Province. Mount Wutai had been deeply enshrined and worshiped by Buddhists since the Northern Wei Dynasty. As Manjusri Bodhisattva became more prominent, his ashram also became a Buddhist holy land. Manjusri is a representative of Buddhist intellectuals.
The Tang Dynasty was an age when culture was flourished and upheld. The belief in Manjusri therefore reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. Mount Wutai became the largest ashram of Manjusri in China, attracting monks from India, the Western Regions, Southeast Asia, Japan, and North Korea to worship.
力士残头像 Head of a Warrior
彩塑菩萨头像 Painted sculpture of Bodhisattva head
迦叶头像 Head of a Buddhist disciple
泥、唐（公元618-907年）、1951年敦煌莫高窟千相塔出土、敦煌研究院藏 Clay, Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Qianxiang Pagoda of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes unearthed in 1951, Dunhuang Academy Collection
Following the Tang dynasty, the economy around Dunhuang went into decline, and the luxury and vigour typical of Tang painting began to be replaced by simpler drawing techniques and flatter figures. The mysterious Western Xia kingdom, which controlled most of Gansu from 983 to 1227, made a number of additions to the caves at Mogao and began to introduce Tibetan influences.
六字真言碣石 Stone stele with inscription of Om mani padme hum
石、元 至正八年（公元1348年）、高76厘米 宽56厘米、敦煌莫高窟第61窟出土、敦煌研究院藏 Stone, Yuan Dynasty, the eighth year of Zhizheng (1348 A.D.), 76 cm high, 56 cm wide, unearthed in Cave 61 of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang Academy Collection
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 (速來蠻), Prince of Xining 西寧王 (died 1351). He was the great-grandnephew of Genghis Khan. The stele, which is now held at the Dunhuang Academy, is renowned for an inscription of the Buddhist mantra Om mani padme hum in six different scripts.
On the lefthand side it is recorded that the stele was erected on the 15th day of the 5th month of the 8th year of the Zhizheng era (AD 1348).
The caves fell into disuse for about 500 years after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty and were largely forgotten until the early 20th century, when they were ‘rediscovered’ by a string of foreign explorers. Which led to the next chapter of the story.
Tomb Raiders
They were not Indiana Jones, and they came with intent to take away some cultural treasures. At the turn of the century, towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, Westerners were in China looking for an opportunity.
An important cache of documents was discovered in 1900 in the so-called “Library Cave” 藏经窟 (Cave 17), which a rich collection of about 60,000 paper manuscripts, printed documents, and fragments dating from the 5th to the 11th century had been walled-up about 1014. When discovered in 1900, this collection was found to include not only Buddhist but also Taoist, Zoroastrian, and Nestorian scriptures, as well as vast numbers of secular texts.
The story was that Wang Yuanlu, an illiterate Taoist monk and caretaker of the Mogao Grottoes, discovered the cave full of manuscripts by accident when he was area cleaning Cave 16 and discovered the sealed up cave. He gave away some of the manuscripts and paintings to the officials in Dunhuang to gain favours, but they were largely ignored.
The British Library, Photo 392/26(323).
In 1907, he was told that a British archaeologist will be visiting the caves. That man was British archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein, who offered to pay him for around 1,000 copies of the manuscripts. Wang, who was not paid for his work and needed the money to keep going, accepted the offer. The manuscripts made quite a stir among the archaeological circles in Europe, and Frenchman Paul Pelliot rushed to the site in 1908. He was a Sinologist and spoke fluent Mandarin, gained the trust of Wang, whom gave him access to Cave 17. He made away with 10,000 manuscripts, just as the collapse of Qing dynasty happened, and local officials didn’t care less.
Subsequently the Russian, Japanese and others came and took the rest, before the Nationalist government realised the gravity of the circumstance. The contents of the cave were subsequently dispersed around the world, and the largest collections are now found in London, Paris and Berlin. I reserve my comments on whether it was morally correct to take those manuscripts away, but that was a messy time.
贤愚经卷二 The second chapter of the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish
纸、西魏（公元535-556年)、长24厘米 宽735厘米、1900年敦煌莫高窟藏经洞出土、敦煌研究院藏 Paper, Western Wei Dynasty (535-556 AD), 24 cm long and 735 cm wide, excavated from the Sutra Cave of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in 1900, Dunhuang Academy Collection
The Sutra of Wise and Foolish 《贤愚因缘经》, with a total of thirteen volumes, is one of the important Buddhist classics that narrate the story of fate. This was recorded and compiled by eight people, including Hexi Shaman Huijue 慧觉, during the Northern Wei Dynasty on a pilgrimage to Khotan. It was spread to Liangzhou 凉州 and the famous monk Rev Huilang 慧朗 gave it the title “Xianyu Sutra”《贤愚经》and has been in circulation since then.
The Kingdom of Khotan 于阗 (Yutian) was an ancient 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 capital was modern day Hotan 和田.
This is the second volume of the Sutra, written on jute paper using a regular script. The ending title: “The second volume of the Xianyu Sutra/Dunhuang Dashou Deng Jiyan’s wife/Yuan Faying’s support is everything” “贤愚经卷第二/敦煌大守邓季彦妻/元法英供养为一切”.
Yuan Faying 元法英 is the daughter of Guazhou Governor and Marquis of Dongyang Yuan Rong 元荣. Yuan Rong was a staunch Buddhist and was keen to publish scriptures and make temple caves. This sutra was copied about eighth year of the reign of Datong 大统, Western Wei Dynasty (542 AD). There are many murals in Mogao caves that represent the content of this Sutra drawn during the Northern Dynasties to Song Dynasty.
佛顶尊胜陀罗尼经一卷 A scroll of Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī sutra
纸、唐（公元618-907年)、长25.7厘米 宽320厘米、1900年敦煌莫高窟藏经洞出土、2009年新加坡袁龍女士捐赠、敦煌研究院藏 Paper, Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), 25.7 cm long and 320 cm wide, excavated from the Sutra Cave of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in 1900, donated by Ms. Yuan Long of Singapore in 2009, Dunhuang Academy Collection
此经卷是古印度大乘佛教密教经典。“佛顶尊胜”即释迦如来由佛顶现出之轮王形，为佛顶尊中之最尊，故名尊胜佛顶。“陀罗尼”是梵语的音译，意译为总持，即能总摄忆持无量佛法而不忘失之念慧力。密教谓之日“真言”，一般称作“咒语”。
The sutra was translated a total of eight times from Sanskrit to Chinese between 679 and 988 AD. It gained wide circulation in China, and its practices have been utilised since the Tang dynasty, from which it then spread to the rest of East Asia. The Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya dhāraṇī is associated with Mount Wutai, which in the Chinese Buddhist tradition is considered the bodhimaṇḍa of Mañjuśrī. Sacred stone tablets with the Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya dhāraṇī carved into them have been distributed widely in some regions of the Far East.
腊八燃灯分配窟龛名数 Records on lamp distribution among caves for the Laba festival
纸、五代后周 广顺元年（公元951年）、长47厘米 宽24.9厘米、1900年敦煌莫高窟藏经洞山土、1959年吴曼公先生捐贈、敦煌研究院藏 Paper, The first year of Guangshun, Five Dynasties/Later Zhou (951 AD), 47 cm long and 24.9 cm wide, excavated from the Sutra Cave of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in 1900, donated by Mr Wu Mangong in 1959, Dunhuang Academy Collection
Lighting the Laba Lantern 腊八燃灯 is a folk custom in Dunhuang of that time, in order to celebrate the Gautama Buddha’s taming of the Six Heretical Teachers 六师外道. Daozhen 道真 served as am administration monk in the Dunhuang Buddhist community at that time. On the day before Laba (which falls on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the Lunar calendar) in 951 AD, he issued a notice to the people of lighting lanterns in Mogao Grottoes.
Thank goodness, many of these manuscripts are coming home to Dunhuang through these donations and through international collaboration by Dunhuang researchers around the world.
金剛般若波羅蜜多經 Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra)
Paper, printed in the 9th year of Xiantong, Tang Dynasty (868 AD), British Library Collection
No one is sure who Wang Jie was or why he had The Diamond Sutra printed. But we do know that on this day in 868 A.D.—or the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong in Jie’s time—he commissioned a block printer to create a 17-and-a-half-foot-long scroll of the sacred Buddhist text, including an inscription on the lower right hand side reading, “Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents.” Today, that scroll is housed at the British Library and is acknowledged as the oldest dated printed book in existence.
Cataloging, Conservation, Digitalisation and Collaboration
The Diamond Sutra 金刚经 hasn’t left Britain in more than a century, but that’s about to change. It will be the star of the Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road exhibition at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The Getty Conservation Institute has been working closing with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989 to conserve the paintings on the walls of the Mogao Grottoes.
To give visitors a truly immersive experience, the Getty has constructed exact replicas of three of the caves. These aren’t Hollywood sets made to look like the grottoes. The replicas are precise duplicates in shape, size and decoration. The replica paintings were done using the same pigments originally used in Dunhuang. The Getty even imported the actual clay used to sculpt the Buddhas and bodhisattvas that inhabit the caves. These examples can be seen in Part 1 of this series.
Besides Getty Conservation Institute, all the current owners/custodians of the overseas Dunhuang manuscripts have come together to form the International Dunhuang Project. Established by the British Library in 1994, IDP is a ground-breaking international collaboration to make information and images of all manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road freely available on the Internet and to encourage their use through educational and research programmes.
The enormity of the Mogao Caves complex is a testament not just to the religious dedication of the monks, but to its location along the Silk Road. The evidence of the rich cultural exchange brought to the site by the Silk Road is evident in the mixed influences of the art, and it was the demise of the Road which led to the abandonment of the caves in the 15th century.
Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture
Shenzhen Museum was founded in 1981. It consists of 4 museum sites including Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture, Shenzhen Museum of Ancient Art, Dongjiang River Guerrilla Command Headquarters Memorial Museum and Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall.
Located in Shenzhen Civic Center, the Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture, opened in December 2008, takes up 12,500 square meters of land, and covers a construction area of 33,600 square meters. The exhibition building has a total of 3 floors, including 5 basic exhibition halls and 2 special exhibition halls, with an exhibition area of more than 10,000 square meters. The ground floor is a storehouse of cultural relics. In addition, the exhibition building also has multi-functional report Hall, VIP Hall, teahouse, souvenir shops and other ancillary service facilities.
Opening hours : 10:00~18:00 (Visitors are not allowed to enter the museum after 17:30. Closed on Mondays. Open during major festivals and closed the first day after major festivals)
Visited in Jan 2022
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