The Study On Tibetan Buddhism Arts In The Mati Temple

The Mati temple grottoes are located in Zhangye City in the middle section of the Hexi Corridor.The seven cave districts are all distributed in the Mati mountain area which is over 60 kilometers south from Zhangye City.The Buddhist remaining in the early caves of the Grottoes is a model of early Buddhist art in Hexi,and is also a hot point of long-term researches in the archaeology.During the governance of Ganzhou area by Tubo Dynasty,Tibetan Buddhism gradually spread into Hexi and laid a strong impact over the local religious culture.Biandukou,as one of the minority passes in the middle of Qilian Mountains,is an important channel for the communication of Han-Tibetan culture and the broading and development of Tibetan Buddhist culture.In the later stage of Tibetan Buddhism,Kaju sect,Sakya sect and Gelu sect successively traveled along this route,disseminated the dharma in the Mati mountain area of Ganzhou.Since then,Mati mountain Tibetan temple has become one of the most prosperous areas in the development of Tibetan Buddhism.The Mati temple grottoes have been fixed during Western Xia,Yuan and Ming Dynasties,as well has many embossment stupas been built,and the typical Tibetan Buddhist art styles have been included in the constructive works.The mati temple grottoes reached the peak of the Tibetan as well as the early Chinese Buddhism art.The art works from both early and later stage are precious culture legacies.In this study,the cave shapes statues,grottoes,niches,murals and embossments of Tibetan Buddhism style in Mati temple grottoes group are identified and analyzed,the theme and style are identified,the position and image configuration are described in detail,and on this basis,the buddhist thoughts expressed by them are analyzed and discussed.Then,according to the inscription with a clear date and the theme style with a clear history of evolution,the author explores the issue of the age of Tibetan buddhist relics in the grottoes group in combination with historical documents.Finally,this study analyzes the diversity and secularization of the monks and laymen in the Mati mountain area where the grottoes are located by selecting the representative themes of the relics.