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The Mogao Caves
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The Mogao Caves, also known as the Mogao
Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into
a cliff wall of Echoing Sand Mountain about 25km southeast
of Dunhuang, the oasis city in the Gobi desert. This honeycomb
of caves was constructed over a millennium, from the 4th
to the 14th centuries, and represents the height of Buddhist
art and the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras,
murals and sculptures. During its heyday, the cave complex
had thousands of caves, and today, a total of 492 grottoes,
45,000 square-metres of murals, 2,400 painted statues and
over 250 residential caves remains. Almost every grotto
contains a group of colorful paintings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas
and other religious paintings, or social activities of different
dynasties. The caves carved on the cliff wall provide voluminous
research material for the study of all aspects of Chinese
medieval society, in areas such as religion, art, politics,
economics, military affairs, culture, literature, language,
music, dance, architecture and medical science. The rich
culture and art unearthed in the caves has even given birth
to a new field of study, called "Dunhuangology"!
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The mural paintings in existence today
can be divided into seven categories, including the jataka
stories depicting beneficence of Sakyamuni in his previous
incarnations, sutra stories depicting suffering and transmigration,
traditional Chinese mythology and so on. Although the religious
scriptures are primarily Buddhist, written in Chinese, Uygur,
Tibetan, Turkic and other languages, Taoist, Manichean and
Confucian scrolls are also part of the collection.
(Unfortunately, due to the corrupt and impotent governments
after the later Qing dynasties, many of the treasures of
the Mogao Caves were plundered by heinous thieves like Aurel
Stein, Paul Pelliot, Langdon Warner and Albert von Le Coq,
mainly by theft but also through unfair transactions. These
treasures can now be found in places like Britain and Germany.)
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According to historical records, in the
year 336, a monk called Le Zun came near the Echoing Sand
Mountain and suddenly had a vision of golden rays of light
shining upon him like thousands Buddhas. He started to carve
the first grotto to memorize the accident and show his respect
to the Buddha. Other pilgrims and travelers followed for
the next thousand years.
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