Archaeology Research On Buddhist Statues In Long Men Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes was located on the cliffs on both sides of Yi River in Luoyang,Hennan province.In the Northern and Tang Dynasty,the statues of royal nobles’ vows were mainly concentrated in Long men Grottoes,so they can best reflect the Royal will and behavior,and have a strong national religious color.In the Northern Wei Dynasty and Tang Dynasty,Longmen Grottoes Buddhist statues in the peak period,Luoyang as the capital,had a far-reaching influence on other areas.In order to more profoundly show the status of Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes in Chinese Buddhist art,based on the data of Buddhist statues in Long men Grottoes and combined with previous research results,this paper conducts archaeological studies on Buddhist statues in the Northern and Tang Dynasty.By exploring the evolution and origin of characteristics of the statues and reflected political,cultural,religious and other social background,and then further studies the influence of the style of the statues in Longmen Grottoes on other areas.On this basis,the origin of the three silkworm knots in the neck of the Buddhist statues in the Longmen Grottoes in the Tang Dynasty and the morphological characteristics of the Buddha in the Long men Grottoes were further discussed.This paper studies the Buddhist statues of the Northern Dynasty and Tang Dynasty in Longmen Grottoes,respectively.The shape of the grottoes,the combination of statues,the content of relief,and the representative statues of Buddha,Bodhisattva,disciple,strongman,flying Aspires makes a typological analysis and discussion with the inscriptions of statues and the Buddhist beliefs and Buddhist classics of the same period.On this basis,the statues of the Northern Dynasty were divided into five periods,namely the characteristic period of Yun gang Grottoes,the formation period of Long men style,the development period of Long men style,the prosperity period of Long men style,and the decline period of Long men style;the statues of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into four periods,namely,the formation period of early Tang style,the development period of Tang style,the prosperity period of Tang style,and the decline period of Tang style.Through a detailed analysis of the evolution of the statue features of Longmen Grottoes in the Northern Dynasty and Tang Dynasty from the four aspects of the niche shape,statue style,statue costume and carving technology.The results show that the characteristics of Longmen statues in the Northern Dynasty were influenced by the Han policy implemented by the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty,the inheritance of Long men statues in the Yungang Grottoes,the painting technology of the Southern Dynasty,social life and the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasty.The characteristics of Longmen statues in Tang Dynasty were influenced by the political attitude of the rulers of the Tang Dynasty towards Buddhism,the Buddhism sects of the Tang Dynasty,the integration of Buddhism,Taoism and Confucianism in the Tang Dynasty,the painting and sculpture art of the Northern Dynasties,Chang ’ an and Indian style.During the Northern Wei Dynasty and Tang Dynasty,the Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes were at the peak.Luoyang,as the capital,had a far-reaching influence on other areas.This paper discussed the influence of Buddhist statues of Longmen Northern Dynasty and Tang Dynasty on the surrounding grotto statues.The research showed that the influence of Longmen Northern Dynasty Buddhist statues on Dalishan Grottoes in Gong county,Shuiquan Grottoes in Yanshi County,Hongqing temple in Mianchi County,Xiwo Grottoes in Xin’an County,Wanfoshan Grottoes in Meng County,Pugou Grottoes in Song County and Hutou Temple Grottoes in Yiyang County were all influenced by the style of Longmen Northern Dynasty statues.It also reveals the Yungang Grottoes and Tianlongshan Grottoes in Shanxi;the South and North Grottoes in Qingyang,Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui,Bingling Grottoes in Yongjing,MATI Grottoes in Zhangye,Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang,etc.in the northwest;the Guangyuan Grottoes in Sichuan and Qianfo cliff in Qixia mountain in Nanjing,etc;and Shandong,Hebei,Liaoning and other areas of Buddhist statues have influence.In contrast,the Tang Dynasty statues in Longmen Grottoes have a far-reaching influence,not only for Luoyang and surrounding Xunxian Qianfo Grottoes,Shanxi County Wentang cliff statues,Qinyang Xuangu Mountain cliff statues have a certain impact.The Tang Dynasty statues in Longmen Grottoes also affected Chang’an area to the west,Qingyang North Grottoes temple,Yongjing Bingling temple and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes to the northwest,Guangyuan Grottoes in Sichuan and Guilin cliff Grottoes to the south,and Korean Peninsula and Japan to the East.On the basis of this study,this paper makes a deep discussion on the causes of the three silkworm knot patterns on the neck of Tang Dynasty Buddha statues and the morphological characteristics of Lushena Buddha in the Long men Grottoes were discussed in depth.By using archaeological methods,the styles of Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty were sorted out and compared with those in Xinjiang and India.By combining the perspective of iconography with the Buddhist scriptures,the relationship between the three silkworm knot patterns of the Tang Dynasty statues in Longmen Grottoes and the 32-phase Buddha body and the reasons for this feature are analyzed.In view of the phenomenon that the morphological characteristics of the great Lushena Buddha statues in Longmen Grottoes are different from those in other areas of the Central Plains,combined with the Buddhist classics and the social background of the religious development at that time,this paper compares and discusses the relationship between the morphological characteristics of the Lushena Buddha statues in Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province and those in Anyang,Henan Province and Handan,Hebei Province.