Research On The Theme And Form Of Dunhuang Murals In Sui Dynasty

Sui dynasty was a time of fusion and innovation, which affected its buddhism and buddhist art forms. The fusion of Sui dynastry resulted in the integration of cultrue, art, and ideas of Jhou, Ci, and Southern dynasties. What’s more, the reign of the west side of the Yellow River induced the introduction of western culture and art, which provided the Sui dynasty with creativity. However, in what aspect had the grotto art of Sui dynasty transformed? What internal and external factors caused these transformations?There’re three features of transition worth noticing for analyzing the grottos of Sui dynasty. First of all was the falling away of Central-pillar caves and the alterations of caves’ types, which induced the transformation of murals’settings and its ways of painting. It showed that people’s concepts of the grotto’s interior space had gone through a transition - from the interior space of a building to the exhibition of the world. The most obvious example was the theme of the caves’ rooftops, as the wooden beams on the rooftop were replaced by the paintings of the sky and the wooden canopies were replaced by the fabric canopies hanged aloft. Further more, the conceptional transition of the grottos’ interior spaces also induced the murals’ depictions to undergo a change, from discriptional scroll to scenery settings such as the huge painting of Buddha’s preaching. The falling away of the buildings’ structure and the development of the scenery composition were all attampts for the grottos’ viewers to enter a space-not just a sublime sanctuary but more of a buddist pure land. What’s more, this attampt in the end brought about a large-scale alteration and trend in Tong Dynasty. This is why the transitional concepts of space shown in the transformations of the murals’ settings and its ways of painting in Suei Dynasty were important and noticeable.The second noticeable transition of the grottos’of Suei dynasty was a sudden and abundant emergence of the sublime images; what’s more, the stylings unfolded the influence from Northern Ci in various aspects and the breaking away from the tradition of Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou. Take the canopy images for example, some of the new stylings in grottos of Suei dynasty could only be seen in Xiangtangshan Grottoes, Xiaonanhai Grottoes and some graves excavated by Northern Ci; there’re no signs of these new stylings on the statues of India, western China, Northern Wei, and Northern Zhou. Another typical example was the Mani image, its styling was similiar to the styling of Northern Ci; however, it also had its own revolutional transition in Mogao Caves. Therefore, it is obvious that as Mogao Caves in Suei Dynasty absorbed and adapted to the exterior elements, it also maintained its own uniqueness and creativity. Through analyzing these image stylings, it is easier to tell how grottos of Suei Dynasty had played an important role of inheritance and transition among the grottos of Northern Dynasties, and how had these transfromations occurred.The thired noticeable transition of the grottos’ of Suei Dynasty was the emergence of new mural elements which revealed the changes of faith. What made these new elements important were their differences to the stylings of central area at that time, which made the buddhism development in Dun Huang unique. As some buddism ideas from the central area were dying out gradually, the buddhism believes in Dun Huang carried on with new ideas. Take the murals of Maitreya’s vyakarana for example, these images could only be seen in Dun Huang, which revealed the fact that as the ryakarana thinkings were dying out in the central area in Suei Dynasty, it carried on in Dun Huang with further innovations.