According to Buddhism, "Buddha Sakyamuni practiced for 500 years, just like practicing for 1000 years". The so-called image method is to teach people (or draw and carve Buddha statues) with images, which is also called "image teaching". This is the origin of making Buddha statues. ?
Buddhist statues have become an art in China since the late Eastern Jin Dynasty. Father and son carved Buddha statues. At the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Buddhism flourished, producing many famous Buddhist figures, such as the great translator, Master Shi of Kongzong and his disciple Yuan, and Fa Xian, the first famous monk who went west to learn Buddhist scriptures. The prosperity of Buddhism has brought the prosperity of Buddhist sculpture art, in addition to the sculpture art of Dai and his son, there is also the painting art represented by Gu Kaizhi, a great painter known as the "Three Musts" in history. Buddhism enriched the themes and techniques of their artistic creation. ?
Dai and his son created Buddhist sculpture art in temples, and another form of Buddhist sculpture art is grotto sculpture. The earliest grottoes in China are Buddhist grottoes in Xinjiang, which were built in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. As treasures of ancient Buddhist art in China, they are the three most famous grottoes: Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes. ?
In order to expand the influence of Buddhism, the feudal ruling class set up the image of a tall Buddha in the minds of the people, so as to achieve the purpose of promoting the divine right of monarchy. In addition to building temples, a large number of migrant workers and masons were mobilized, many grottoes were dug and many Buddha statues were carved. Although these Buddhist grottoes originated from the ruling needs of the ruling class, they are also the crystallization of the sweat and wisdom of the working people, and they are extremely precious artistic heritages left by sculptors and painters of past dynasties. ?
Because the focus of the development of Buddhism in the south is righteousness, it does not pay much attention to the "image teaching" of Buddhism, that is, teaching people by image. Therefore, Buddhist statues (mainly temple Buddhist statues) are far less thick and skilled than those in the northern grottoes. Three famous grottoes are witness. ?
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes (commonly known as Thousand Buddha Caves) were dug in the second year of Fujian Jianyuan in the Qin Dynasty (AD 366) before 16. It is located on the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang County, Gansu Province. The founder is a Buddhist monk who respects music. Legend has it that one evening, Lezun went west to the foot of Sanxing Mountain at the junction of Dunhuang and Mingsha Mountain. Suddenly I saw the top of Mingsha Mountain glittering like a thousand buddhas. He thought it was a sacred place, so he raised people to dig the Mogao Grottoes on the rock wall at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain. In the next 65,438+0,000 years, more than 1 0,000 caves were excavated here in succession by various dynasties and generations. At present, there are 492 grottoes with murals and statues from the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Xixia Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, with more than 45,000 square meters of murals and 0/4/0/5 colored sculptures. Because the stones in Dunhuang are brittle and not suitable for carving, the Buddhist art in the grottoes is extremely exquisite and large-scale murals and statues. The composition of murals is fine and lifelike; These statues have exaggerated colors and different expressions. This cave is resplendent and magnificent. It has been calculated that if the pictures are arranged at a height of two meters, a gallery with a length of 25 kilometers can be formed, which is the largest and richest grotto art treasure house in China. ?
Yungang Grottoes were excavated during the reign of Wen Chengdi Tuoba GUI, the fifth emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Wen Chengdi's grandfather, Emperor Tuoba-tao, once initiated the movement to abolish Buddha. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism was shrouded in dark clouds, and Prince Huang, who believed in Buddhism, secretly protected many Buddhist scriptures and disciples. After the death of Tuoba GUI and Tuoba Hong, Tuoba GUI wrote to restore Buddhism as soon as he succeeded to the throne. He invited Yao Tan, a former friend of his father and a famous monk, to the palace and addressed him as a mage. In the second year of the restoration of Buddhism in Wen Chengdi (AD 453), Yao Tan wrote to Wen Chengdi, saying that Wuzhousai in the western suburb of Pingcheng, where the Northern Wei Emperor prayed for blessings and rain, was a Lingshan, which should be carved here to open grottoes and promote Buddhism. Wen Chengdi exultation, immediately to play, and please Yao Tan is responsible for the supervision of Yungang Grottoes. ?
After 33 years of careful planning, Yao Tan finally excavated the five famous grottoes in Tan Yao, which is known as the earliest and most magnificent grottoes in Yungang Grottoes. There is a Buddha statue carved in each cave, "the highest is 70 feet, and the second is 60 feet". The main Buddha statues are modeled after Daowu and Ming Dynasties in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The images of Wu Tai, Mu Jing and Wencheng V symbolize that the Northern Wei Emperor is the incarnation of Tathagata. One of the giant buddhas has a black stone embedded in his face and feet, which is said to be exactly the same as Wen Chengdi's mole. Yao Tan is obviously telling the world that Wen Chengdi is the incarnation of the Buddha and its sovereignty is sacred and unshakable. There are also many Buddha statues of different sizes carved around the giant Buddha, which are symbols of princes. In addition, it is equipped with many shapes, such as
A short portrait of a dwarf, symbolizing man and slave. The top of the grottoes is a giant relief, engraved with musical instruments in hand, flying in the air, making the giant Buddha more majestic and solemn, highlighting the supreme power of the emperor. The whole cave is like an image of feudal rule. ?
Although the original intention of the Northern Wei rulers to build grottoes was to deify their dominant position, the superb skills, extraordinary courage and great boldness of vision of the sculpture artists at that time could not help but amaze the world. The Buddha statues dug in the mountains can be taller than the mountains, and the small ones are only a few centimeters. Buddha statues have different expressions and postures, some handsome, some solemn, some tall and magnificent, some serene and peaceful. There is a statue of Gundam 13 in the fifth cave of Tan Yao? The 7-meter giant sitting Buddha in the open air, with full face and magnificent shape, is a symbol of Yungang grottoes. Another statue of Sakyamuni, dressed in a thousand Buddhist robes, is a masterpiece with skillful carving techniques and a disciple on the East Wall. A sitting statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, with a height of167m, is the second largest Buddha statue in Yungang Grottoes. Maitreya, sitting on Mount Sumi, is dressed in a bodhisattva costume with a special pattern and unique style. ?
After Yao Tan, later generations continued to dig around Tan Yao Cave. From Sui and Tang Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yungang Grottoes continued to expand. There are more than 40 caves, including nearly 654.38 million statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, Tian Fei and devotees. There are countless relief patterns such as birds and beasts, pagodas, trees and flowers. The contents carved in the cave include the original image of the Buddha and the life of the Buddha. There is a fairyland in the sky and a mortal world in the picture. The sixth grotto is the best preserved and most spectacular grotto so far. It was dug in the period of Emperor Xiaowen, with a total area of about 60 square meters, and it is the largest grotto in Yungang. This cave is carved with Buddhist stories of Sakyamuni from birth to becoming a Buddha, and consists of 33 beautifully carved comic books. In the eighth cave, there is a carved bird with a small bead in its mouth. Its claws and toes are strong and it looks like a peacock. Called "Naluo Yanfu" in Buddhist scriptures, it is a miraculous bird in Indian imagination. Masons carved this strange bird by using the carving techniques inherent in China since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and skillfully combined the traditional art of China with foreign art, indicating that the ancient carving art in China reached a very high level more than 500 years ago. The words "Exquisitely carved and crowned for life" (Shu Wei) clearly show that Yungang Grottoes are a wonderful work in the history of art. ?
In the eighteenth year of Taihe (AD 494), Emperor Xiaowen of Wei moved to Luoyang. With the transfer of the ruling center of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the grotto art also moved from Pingcheng to Luoyang. Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes are outstanding representatives of carving Buddha statues. ?
Longmen Grottoes began in the first year of Jingming in Xuan Wudi (AD 500). After 400 years of expansion in the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui and Tang Dynasties and Northern Song Dynasty, thousands of niches and 97,360 Buddha statues were carved by * * *, about one third of which were carved by the Northern Wei Dynasty. ?
Longmen Grottoes are located on Longmen Mountain, 25 miles south of Luoyang today. The two stone peaks of Longmen Mountain are opposite to each other in the east and west, and look like a magnificent natural portal from a distance. Yishui, full of rapids, is like a vigorous Youlong passing through the door, hence the name "Longmen", also known as "Yi Que". Thousands of grottoes and open-air shrines dot the cliffs on both sides of the river, especially on the west bank. When they walked about two miles, these grottoes were very spectacular. Longmen Grottoes and the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers set each other off, and the wonderful combination of sculpture art and natural landscape is fascinating, attracting literati from all previous dynasties to visit here, chanting poems and composing poems, which is amazing. ?
The most representative grottoes in Longmen are Guyang Cave and Binyang Cave. Both caves are products of the Northern Wei Dynasty. ?
Guyang Cave was dug around the time when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved to Luoyang (AD 493). It is the earliest, largest and richest grottoes in Longmen Grottoes. There are three rows of shrines carved on the two walls of Guyang Cave. The Buddha statues are rich and exquisite in carving and colorful in patterns. The statue of the devotee is pious and conscientious, vivid and dynamic. On the left wall of Guyang Cave, there is a shrine in the shape of a house, which has valuable reference value for studying the housing construction in the Northern Wei Dynasty. A mighty stone lion in front of the Buddha's seat is muscular and wild, which embodies the rough style of stone carving art in the Northern Dynasties. Inscription on the statue of Guyang Cave, Gu Zhuo's bamboo slips, the so-called "Twenty Products of Longmen", and nineteen products are all in this cave. Therefore, Guyang Cave in Longmen Grottoes is known as the masterpiece of sculpture, painting, calligraphy, architecture and pattern art in the Northern Wei Dynasty. ?
Binyang Cave is divided into three caves: the middle cave, the north cave and the south cave, also known as the "three niches". Among them, the cave in the middle is the oldest and most famous. The middle cave was dug in the first year of Jingming in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 500) and completed in the fourth year of Zhengguang (AD 523), which lasted for 24 years. The main Buddha, Sakyamuni and his two disciples and bodhisattvas, are slender and slightly longer in shape, and their clothing lines are neatly stacked and dense, which embodies the artistic characteristics of statues in the Northern Wei Dynasty. There is a Buddha and two Bodhisattvas on the north and south walls, and a lotus treasure cover and a 10 floating geisha are carved on the top of the cave. On both sides of the inner wall of the cave are two large reliefs, one of which shows the grand occasion of the worship of Buddha by Emperor Wei Xiaowen and Empress Wei, and is called the "Empress Dowager". Exquisite carving. Unfortunately, this sculpture treasure was stolen abroad by imperialists before liberation. The south and north caves of Binyang Cave were dug in the Northern Wei Dynasty and completed in the early Tang Dynasty.
Longmen Grottoes also preserved about 3,680 inscriptions of past dynasties, which are valuable materials for studying the history and calligraphy art of China. Among them, Twenty Pieces of Longmen, which is famous at home and abroad, is the representative work of Weibei calligraphy art, with regular and generous fonts and vigorous momentum. ?
Compared with Yungang Grottoes, it is not difficult to find that Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes are different in Buddha statues and carving techniques. For example, the statues of Yungang Grottoes are all with straight eyebrows and long eyes, high noses and thick lips, solemn expressions, and clothes showing bare right shoulders or shoulder-length. The Buddha carved in Longmen Grottoes has slender eyes, half arched eyebrows, full nose and slightly upturned corners. If they have a smile, they are wearing robes and there is no trace of Khufu. This is obviously the embodiment of Sinicization after Emperor Xiaowen moved to Luoyang. From the reliefs on the walls of Guyang Cave and Binyang Cave, we can see that there are many imitations of the techniques of Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, such as The Picture of Empress Dowager Cixi. It can be seen that the carving of Longmen Grottoes is the crystallization of the integration and exchange of art and technology between North and South. ?
The prosperity of Buddhism in the Northern Dynasties, especially in the Northern Wei Dynasty, brought about the vigorous development of Buddhist grottoes sculpture art in China. The sculpture art of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and the stone carving art of Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes have become world-famous artistic treasures, reflecting the great creativity and hard-working wisdom of the ancient working people in China, and are brilliant and precious cultural heritages of China and even the whole mankind.