|
        云岗石窟，在大同市西16公里的武周山南麓，依山开凿，东西绵延1公里。始凿于北魏兴安二年（453
年），大部分完成于北魏迁都洛阳之前，而造像工程延续到正光年间（520—525）。在我国三大石窟中，它以石雕造像气魄宏伟，内容丰富著称。云岗石窟现存洞窟53个，造像51000
余尊，规模宏大、雕饰奇伟，是我国艺术宝库中的又一颗灿烂明珠，是各族人民共同创造的艺术结晶，也是中西文化交流的历史见证。据文献记载，北魏和平年间(公元460年至471年)由著名和尚昙曜主持，在京城西郊武州塞，开凿石窟五所，现编号第十六窟至第二十窟，就是当时开凿最早的所谓“昙曜五窟”。其他主要洞窟，也大多完成于北魏太和十八年(公元494年)孝文帝迁都洛阳之前，距今已有一千五百年的历史。 Yungang
Caves, one of China’s four most famous "Buddhist Caves Art
Treasure Houses", is located about sixteen kilometers west of
Datong, Shanxi Province. There exists 53 caves, most of which are
made during the Northern Wei Dynasty between 460 and 494 AD, and
over 51, 000 stone sculptures. It extends one kilometer from east
to west and can be fallen into three major
groups.
The first group (including Cave 1, Cave 2, Cave 3 and Cave 4)
are at the eastern end separated from others. Cave 1 and Cave 2
have suffered from rigors of time and the weather. Cave 3, an
afterthought after the Northern Wei Dynasty, is the largest grotto
among Yungang caves.
Tours normally begin from the second group ranging from Cave 5
to Cave 13.Yungang art manifests its best in this group. Cave 5
contains a seated Buddha with a height of 17 meters. In Cave 6, a
15-meter-high two storey pagoda pillar stands in the center of
chamber and the life of the Buddha from birth to the attainment of
nirvana is carved in the pagoda walls and the sides of the cave.
The Bodhisattva was engraved in Cave 7. The rare seen Shiva Statue
in Yungang with eight arms and four heads and riding on a bull is
illustrated in Cave 8. Cave 9 and Cave 10 are notable for front
pillars and figures bearing musical instruments. Musicians playing
instruments also appear in Cave 12. Cave 13 has the Buddha statue
with a giant figurine supporting its right arm.
The rest caves belong to the third group. Cave 14 has eroded
severely. Cave 15 is named as the Cave of Ten Thousand Buddha. The
caves numbered 16 to Cave 20 are the oldest complex and each one
symbolizes an emperor from the Northern Wei Dynasty and the subject
of "Emperor is the Buddha" is embodied. The caves from No. 21
onward are built in the later times and can not compare to their
better preserved counterparts.
|
