Grottoes Series: Longmen Caves in Luoyang City

Lord Luchena Buddha in Fengxian Temple ©archi-sp.net▲

The Yi River flows, quietly looks at the ancient land on the north bank of the river. The dynasties appear on that land, they rise and fall, then rise and fall, again and again, total thirteen cycles. There is the thirteenth ancient capital: Luoyang. Longmen Grottoes are located twelve kilometers from the southern suburbs of Luoyang. In 493 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty in northern China was unified, and the capital was relocated from the northern part of the country to the hinterland of the Central Plains. At the same time, the stage for creating grottoes was transferred from Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi to Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang.

The sound of the digging stone has been ringing for more than four hundred years. It has gone through six dynasties in the Northern Wei, Eastern, and Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, Sui, and Tang dynasties. Among the more than 2,100 caves in Longmen Grottoes, there are more than 100,000 Buddha statues, more than 3,600 inscriptions, and more than 40 stupas. The Longmen Grottoes are immensely magnificent and impressive.

The excavation of the Longmen Grottoes started from Guyang Cave. Although the Longmen Grottoes are no longer the thin bones of the Yungang Grottoes, but from the exquisite and delicate backlight of the various lotus and Buddha statues, the beauty of thinness is still the most beautiful Popular style.

Four hundred years later, it was already the Tang Dynasty. With the support of Empress Wu Zetian of the Datang Empire, the Great Buddha of Luchena was ribbon-cut. The total height of the Buddha statue is 17.14 meters, the head is 4 meters high, and the ears are 1.9 meters long, giving a sense of solemnity and elegance. The Fengxian Temple sculpture group with the Lusna Buddha as its main body is the largest and most exquisite art group of carved cliff sculptures in Longmen Grottoes, because it belonged to Fengxian Temple, the royal temple at that time, and was commonly called "Fengxian Temple". The large Buddha of Lusna adopts round sculptures, with well-proportioned shapes, slender and generous body, dignified and elegant appearance, generous shoulders, generous breasts and abdomen, and sitting on the corset with a corset, making people feel the confidence and grandeur of the Tang Dynasty.

Fengxian Temple Buddha Statues Panorama View ©archi-sp.net ▼

The spread of Buddhism in ancient China followed the silk route west to east. The emergence of Buddhist grottoes is also like a series of colored lights, one after another, from Dunhuang to Maijishan, to the eastern end of the Silk Road, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. The shapes and expressions of Buddhist sculptures are bound to be affected by the character and characteristics of the birth time, leaving behind the marks of the times, and for our future generations to understand the changes of the times and leave annotations. Many of the Longmen Grottoes are engraved with chronology. It can be seen that the absolute age of their excavation. These chronological statues are arranged in chronological order, which is a great art history of the grotto temple.

Compared with several other famous grottoes, the distance between Longmen Grottoes and the city is the closest, especially in modern times, the city of Luoyang has expanded around the grottoes.

Longmen Caves Site Plan ▼

Along with the rise and fall of the Dharma, artificial factors have a greater impact on Longmen Grottoes due to the shortening of the distance between the city and the grottoes. In Longmen Grottoes, damaged statues and caves can be seen everywhere. The integrity of the sculpture and the degree of preservation of the murals are incomparable with those of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. Fortunately, in the existing relics, the exquisite artistic atmosphere is still persisted.