A Study On The NO.1 Cave Of The South Xiangtang Mountain In Hebei Province

The Northern Qi was a dynasty of extreme Buddhism worship and the development of Buddhism reached a new height at this time.Yecheng,as the capital of the Northern Qi Dynasty,was the center of Buddhism in the north at that time,with grottoes of different sizes distributed around it.Located in the southern foothills of the Gushan South Xiangtang Gave presided over by the monk Huiyi from Linghua Temple,Gao Ana Humi,the Northern Qi prime minister,funded the construction.Although the scale of South Xiangtang Grottoes is smaller than North Xiangtang Grottoes that were built by the royal family,its content remains are very rich and provides valuable raw materials for us to understand the Buddhist thought and practice in period of Northern Qi dynasty.Among them,Cave 1,as the central pillar cave,is basically well preserved.The special grotto structure in front of the grotto,a large number of Huayan Sutra carved in the grotto and the Western Pure Land above the grotto door are the distinctive features of the first grotto which is the ideal object for case study.However,for a long time,the overall study of the No.1 Cave of South Xiangtang is in a weak link.This paper will make a comprehensive study of Cave 1by combining the methods of archeological iconography and historical philology.The first chapter briefly summarizes the excavation background and the present situation of the South Xiangtang Gave.The South Xiangtang Gave were excavated during the Northern Qi Dynasty.The first chapter gives a brief review of the development of Buddhism in Yecheng before the Northern Qi Dynasty were excavated during the Northern Qi Dynasty.The first chapter gives a brief review of the development of Buddhism in Yecheng before the Northern Qi Dynasty then introduces the general situation of Buddhism in the Northern Qi Dynasty and the convenient terrain and traffic conditions of South Xiangtang.Finally,a brief description is given of the seven Northern Qi grottoes in the South Xiangtang Gave.The second chapter is about the structural characteristics of Cave 1 of South Xiangtang.Starting from the two aspects of the wooden structure and grottoes in front of the grottoes,this paper makes a comparative study with the same type grottoes in different regions of the previous generation,focusing on the inheritance and development of the central pillar grottoes of the previous generation in the first grottoes of the south Xiangtang.By comparing with the Mogao Grottoes in Yunganggong County,this paper holds that the first grotto of the South Xiangtang represents the transition from the central pillar grotto to the Buddhist grotto.The third chapter is the portrait record and subject matter study of Cave 1 of South Xiangtang.The number of statues in Cave 1 is very rich in themes,and the excavation time of the statues lasted from the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.According to the existing statue remains and previous archaeological results,the remains of the Northern Qi statue in Cave 1 are determined.On this basis,the methods of iconography and image record are used to determine the subject matter of the statue and interpret the connotation of the statue.In addition,this chapter summarizes the statue inscriptions of the Sui and Tang Dynasties,and discusses the development of the first cave in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.The fourth chapter is the interpretation of sutras carving in Cave 1 of South Xiangtang and the relationship between sutras carving and statues.This chapter focuses on the relationship between the scriptures carved in the caves and the Mahayana doctrine,mainly from two aspects of interpretation and practice.The ultimate purpose of both is to guide the mind of Mahayana,practice Bodhisattva practice,and enhance the public’s confidence in Mahayana Buddhism.In addition,this chapter combines the study of sutras carving and statues,and finds that the statues in the caves are the reproduction of some scenes of the scriptures.The fifth chapter is the Western Pure Land belief reflected in Cave 1 of South Xiangtang.The West Pure Land in Cave 1 of South Xiangtang was very rare at that time.This chapter firstly sorts out the prevalence of Western Pure Land beliefs in Yecheng District of Northern Qi dynasty,and then focuses on the internal consistency between the scriptures carved in the caves and the Western Pure Land beliefs.In this paper,it is believed that both of them are in accordance with the method of easy walking to the pure land of life advocated by Tan Luan at that time,and the simple method of passing to the pure land of life advocated by Tan Luan is also a response to the ideological trend of the Dharma Ending at that time.