Study On Statues In The Gongxian Grottoes

Gongxian Grottoes,as the royal grottoes excavated after Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes during the Northern Wei Dynasty,is famous and has a long history.It is located in Luoyang and surrounded by famous mountains and rivers,as a rare good place that is conducive to study buddhism.Since the Northern Dynasties,it has been rebuilt many times and reached the peak of statues in the early Tang Dynasty.There are precious rite buddha diagrams and udayana statures.The whole cave can be divided into eastern,central and western regions,including 5 caves and statue niches carved in different areas outside the caves in the past dynasties.The existing statues are mainly concentrated in the Northern and Tang Dynasties.After field investigation,14 statue niches and 2 travel notes were newly added,and it was found that the 5 niches on the south wall of the central pillar of the first cave were likely to be rare niches of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in Gongxian Grottoes.The details of many statues in the grottoes reflect the history and Buddhist culture of Gongxian in different periods.For example,the use of the incense held by the characters outlined in rite buddha diagrams provides a reference for the study of the incense ceremony in the Northern Dynasties.By sorting out the relevant inscriptions on udayana statures in the grottoes,it can be seen that the theory of merit of udayana statures greatly promoted the emergence of the statues in Gongxian Grottoes in the Tang Dynasty,and was highlighted by the phenomenon of many statues of the same people.The evolution of the statue pedestal style of Leo and Lotus is also the evolution process of Buddhism localization.Therefore,the grotto statues have the characteristics and functions of the times.As a former temple,Gongxian Grottoes have traces of various Buddhist rituals,including carrying the buddhist statues moving around the city,burning incense while walking,making statues and building pagodas,setting up monuments and engraved buddhist scriptures buildings,and receiving fasting.These rituals are mostly centered on Zhaigong and are regional.They are multi-level regional interaction demonstrations of the Gongxian Grottoes as a millennium famous brake in the history and the Yiluo River.