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As the sun crept past the apogee of its course in the sky, and
the clouds parted, just enough light seeped through the fissures on the
facade of the sandstone cliffs to illuminate the spacious interiors of the
grand caverns, revealing an amazing tapestry of details: Buddhas in meditation and displaying various mudras, bodhisattvas attending to Buddhas
or discoursing with one another, eccentric arhats
performing miraculous feats, ferocious guardians with multiple arms
wielding all sorts of weapons, and sensuous heavenly nymphs making various
offerings and playing all kinds of musical instruments. These are just a
few of the 50 000 images distributed in a system of 51 caves stretching
1km, which is open to the public; and even that is just a small fraction of
the original 15 km. I am at the monumental Yungang
Caves (云冈石窟), 16 km to the west of Datong. These caves were the first and
the grandest of the three major Buddhist grottoes in China (the other two being Longmen Caves in Luoyang
and Mogao
Caves in Gansu); they also remain the best
preserved.
Construction of the Cave Temples
Construction of Yungang
Caves began in earnest in 453AD,
when Datong was the capital of the
non-Chinese Wei dynasty, petering out around 525AD when the centre of power
shifted southeast to Luoyang.
The caves were created by first hollowing out a section at the top of the
cliff, then painstakingly digging into the rock, down to the ground and
out, leaving two holes one above the other. At its zenith, as many as forty
thousand craftsmen worked on the project, coming from as far as India and Central Asia.
This explains the abundance of foreign influences in the carvings: Greek
motifs (tridents and acanthus leaves), Persian symbols (lions and weapons),
bearded figures and even images of Hindu deities are incorporated among the
more common Chinese dragons and phoenixes. In addition, a number of the
seated Buddhas are endowed with sharp, almost
Caucasian noses. Stylistically, the soft, rounded modeling of the sandstone
figures in Yungang has more in common with the
terracotta carvings of Mogao
Caves, than with the sharper and
more linear features of the later limestone work in Longmen Caves.
Eastern Cluster
I commenced my exploration with the easternmost caves, which are
slightly set apart from the others. Caves 1 and 2 are each dominated by a
single square central pillar, elaborately carved to imitate a wooden stupa, around which pilgrims would have circumambulated
to accumulate merits. Cave 3, at 25m deep, is the largest in Yungang, an almost undecorated cavern which probably
saw better days as a lecture hall. The three statues at the west end, a
ten-metre-high Buddha and his two attendants, are
skillfully carved and in good condition. The fullness of their faces, with
double chins and thick, sensuous lips, hints at their late construction as
they are characteristic of Tang-dynasty images (see top left pic and inset on this page). In Cave 4, a
well-preserved statue of the Future Buddha Maitreya,
sits cross-legged on the west wall. It is interesting to note that Chinese
images of Maitreya carved before the Ming Dynasty
have shapely torsos with broad shoulders and slim waists ------ a diagonal
contrast to the more familiar rotund figure of Putai.
Honeycombs Full of Buddhas
The most spectacular caves, numbers 5 to 13, are richly adorned
with monumental sculptures. Wandering into Cave 5, I was suddenly
confronted and dwarfed by a colossal, seventeen-metre-high
Buddha, his compassionate golden mien shining softly in the half-light. His
ethereal appearance is enhanced by his aquamarine blue hair and ruby red
lips (see top right pic on page 45). Buddhas of all sizes are massed in niches which
honeycomb the grotto's gently curving walls, forming a fantastical heavenly
gallery ------ a most unforgettable experience. With Buddhas
peering at you from every corners and angles, one feels the exhilaration
described in this Zen phrase:
On every flower, a world system; 一花一世界
And on every leaf, a tathagata. 一叶一如来
A peculiarity in Yungang is the
preponderance of images of two Buddhas sharing a
seat within the same stupa, and of two layman
bodhisattvas discoursing on the dharma. These images have their origins
from particular episodes in Mahayana sutras (refer to insets on page 46 for
explanations), and serve as visual reminders to the profound teachings that
have been exchanged between the duo, pointing towards the ultimate truth
that is the union of appearance and emptiness.
Cave 6, though very different, is just as arresting. A wooden
facade built in 1652 leads into a high, square chamber dominated by a thick
central pillar carved with Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas in deep relief, surrounded by flying nymphs and musicians. The
vertical grotto walls are florid with images, including panels depicting
incidents from the life of the Buddha carved at a convenient height just
above the head, which was meant to form an educational narrative for
pilgrims when viewed walking clockwise around the chamber.
Quirky Features
Caves 7 and 8 are a pair, both square, with two chambers, and
connected by an arch lined with flying nymphs and acanthus motifs. The
figures here, such as the six celestial worshippers above the central arch,
are more Chinese in style than their predecessors in Caves 16-20, perhaps
indicating the presence of craftsmen from Gansu, which the Wei conquered in 439AD.
Two figures on either side of the entrance to Cave 8 are some of the best
carved and certainly the most blatantly foreign and non-Buddhist in the
complex: a five-headed six-armed Shiva sits on a bird on the left as you
enter (see adjacent pic), while on the right, a
three-headed Vishnu sits on a bull. Though Hindu deities, they possess
curious Chinese features.
The columns and lintels at the entrances of Caves 9, 10 and 12
are awash with sculptural details in faded pastel colors: Buddhas, dancers, musicians, animals, flowers, nymphs
and abstract, decorative flourishes similar to Persian art (see adjacent pic). Parts of Cave 9 are carved with imitation
brackets to make the interior resemble a wooden building. The tapering
columns at the entrance to Cave 12 are covered with tiny Buddhas, though one should not miss the cluster of
mythical half-bird half-man kinnara musicians
playing strange-looking instruments behind them.
The outstretched right arm of the fifteen-meter-high Buddha
inside Cave 13 was too massive and would likely have collapsed from its own
weight. To save the image from ruin, his sculptors have retained a
supporting pillar on his knee to prop up the arm for stability. The
supporting pillar was even cleverly carved into a four-armed mini-Buddha
for an aesthetic touch (see top centre pic on
this page).
Five Giant "Emperor" Buddhas
Compared to the images in the central caves, the figures in
these, the earliest caves (numbers 16 to 20) are simpler and bolder, and
though they are perhaps more crudely carved, they are at least as striking.
The giant Buddhas, with round faces, sharp noses,
deep eyes and thin lips, are said to be carved in the likeness of the five
earliest Chinese emperors, such as Yao, Shun and Da
Yu. Constructed between 453 and 462 AD, under the supervision of the monk
Tao Han, all share the same arrangement of a spacious niche enshrining a
massive Buddha flanked by attendant bodhisattvas. The Buddha in Cave 16,
whose bottom half has disintegrated, wears a knotted belt high on his
chest, Korean-style (see top pic). The Buddhas were carved from top down, and when the
sculptors of the Buddha in Cave 17 reached the ground, they had to dig down
to fit in his feet. The same problem was solved in Cave 18, albeit rather
clumsily, by giving the Buddha shortened legs. Despite the stumpy limbs,
this is still one of the finest sculptures in the complex, in which
charming details, including the rows of tiny bodhisattvas delicately set
into the seams of his robe, are contrasted by broad sweeping forms, such as
the simplified planes of his face (see adjacent pic).
The fourteen-meter-high Buddha in Cave 20, sitting exposed to the elements
in a niche that once would have been protected by a wooden canopy, is
probably the most famous and certainly the most photographed of all the
images in the complex. The giant Buddha gazes out serenely onto a vast and
barren landscape of yellow loess earth that has remained largely unchanged
over the centuries. This figure possesses features characteristic of
Northern Wei art, such as the folds of his garments expressed by an ordered
pattern, his physiognomy and features formed by simple curves and straight
lines, and his huge earlobes almost touching his shoulders (see left pic on page 45 and cover pic).
Vision of the Jeweled Stupa
In several caves, especially Caves 5 and 6, a recurring theme is
that of two Buddhas sharing the same seat within
a stupa. This image comes from the eleventh
chapter of the Lotus Sutra (法华经), in which a stupa made of seven
types of gems spontaneously appeared and a voice from within praised Shakyamuni Buddha, who was lecturing the Lotus Sutra at
that time. Naturally, the assembly was curious to find out more about this
propitious event. Shakyamuni Buddha explained
that the stupa belonged to an ancient Buddha
called Many Jewels (Prabhuratna) who had made a
vow to appear whenever and wherever the Lotus Sutra is preached. The
assembly requested to view the countenance of the ancient Buddha, which
could only happen when Shakyamuni Buddha have
gathered all his emanation bodies from every corner of this universe, and
revealed the original purity of the world and its inhabitants. Having done
so, Shayamuni Buddha opened the door of the stupa, and found the ancient Buddha seating
resplendently upon the lion throne inside. The ancient Buddha offered to
share half of his seat with Shakyamuni Buddha.
The significance of this strange gesture is unclear, but most
commentators think that it alludes to the sameness
of the intentions of all the Buddhas in revealing
the definitive view of the unique Buddha vehicle------ the main subject
matter of the Lotus Sutra.
The Thundering Silence of Vimalakirti
Another popular image in Yungang Caves is that of two layman
bodhisattvas discussing the profound dharma. This originated from the ninth
chapter of the Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra (维摩诘经), where Vimalakirti, a layman
bodhisattva who had manifested illness as an expedient to teach the dharma,
requested each of the bodhisattvas who were present in his bedchamber to
share their experiences in the Dharma Door of Non-duality. When all the 32
bodhisattvas have had their say and it was Vimalakirti's
turn, we found this interesting exchange between Manjusri
and Vimalakirti…
Then the crown prince Manjusri said to
the Licchavi Vimalakirti,
"We have all given our own teachings, noble sir. Now, may you
elucidate the teaching of the entrance into the principle of nonduality!"
Thereupon, the Licchavi Vimalakirti
kept his silence, saying nothing at all. The crown prince Manjusri applauded the Licchavi
Vimalakirti: "Excellent! Excellent, noble
sir! This is indeed the entrance into the nonduality
of the bodhisattvas. Here there is no use for syllables, sounds, and
ideas." (Translated by Robert Thurman.)
The ultimate truth of non-duality is not a "thing"
that can be grasped by concepts, or indicated by means of expression.
However, in Vimalakirti's silence, there is a
potential pitfall for misunderstanding it as an amorphous
"non-thing", which still falls short of the ultimate truth that
is beyond all elaborations. This has led to later Zen masters cautioning
that Vimalalakirti's silence was "loud as thunder".
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