The Yungang Grottoes - Where Buddhism Became Chinese, China | Treasures of the World

Statues of the Buddha, hewn out of the rock 1,500 years ago. Here in the Yungang grottoes on the edge of the Mongolian steppe, 400 kilometers northwest of Beijing, Indian Buddhism was transformed into a Chinese popular religion. In the late 4th century, China was fragmented. The Toba, a nomadic tribe, conquered and unified northern China and founded the Wei dynasty. An equestrian people, unskilled in commerce and administration, the Toba were dependent on Chinese assistance. So they took 30,000 experienced civil servants from other provinces and resettled them in their capital, modern-day Datong city. Their wagons left deep tracks in the rock. 3,000 monks from the first Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Route were also placed in the service of the Wei emperors. The reasoning behind this was that if a people believed in a pacifist religion like Buddhism and hoped that through good works they would be released from this earthly veil of sorrow, they would be easier to govern. So Buddhism became the state religion, for political reasons. In AD 460, Tang Yao, a monk who was advisor and architect to the emperor, had the first huge caves cut in the cliff face. The emperor is wise and loves Buddhism. Is he not the living Buddha? In paying homage to the ruler and cleverly forging a bridge between divine and temporal power, he ensured Chinese approval of the new dynasty. And so when the faithful looked up at the monumental sculptures in the 5th century, they were revering not only the Buddha, but also their rulers. Because the faces of the Buddha in the five oldest caves bear the features of the first Wei emperors. A period of peace had begun. Here it is still evident that Buddhism came from India as a foreign religion. The disciples have pointed faces and long noses. The saints wear Indian saris. The enlightened one in a plain monk's robe radiates serene calm. Buddhism was still a doctrine of redemption detached from the world, but the number of adherents grew from year to year as the cult moved closer and closer to the people, incorporating traditions from Chinese Taoism. Today it is rare to meet believers at the Yungang grottoes praying to the Buddha of the boundless light. Buddhism has not been of major significance in China for centuries now. Only 35 years after completion of the first cave temple, the Wei moved their capital further west to Luyang and the Yungang grottoes gradually fell into oblivion. In the first half of the 20th century, more than a thousand reliefs and saints' heads were stolen by robbers and art thieves from all over the world. Much of what is missing can now be found in respected museums and collections in Japan, America and Europe. The walls of this cave are adorned with reliefs depicting over 10,000 bodhisattvas. They remind the faithful of the Buddhist paradise. Before the happy age begins, a thousand enlightened souls will appear on earth to preach the path to redemption. The caves have been severely damaged by seepage and exposure to the elements. The damage went unchecked for centuries because the region was only important as a source of coal. The people who worked in the mines opposite used the Buddha caves for storage and keeping their livestock. It was not until 1950 that the 53 caves still in existence were placed under state protection and settlements above and below them pulled down. The biggest cave at Yungang was chiselled out of the sandstone rock in the 5th century during the era of the Wei emperors. It was never finished. The Buddha, his right hand raised in a gesture of encouragement and protection, was not created until 200 years later. The holes once held wooden nails for securing the layer of straw and clay which served as a foundation for the artwork. The gentle face of the Bodhisattva corresponds to the Chinese ideal of beauty of the Tang era, 1300 years ago. This form of art is being reclaimed by nature. The Bodhisattva is slowly becoming one with the nirvana of the rock. Originally, the Buddha caves were protected by wooden temple buildings. The mountains are open. In the east lies a monastery. Big enough to accommodate 3,000 people. In the west there is a convent. The steep cliff is a honeycomb of niches and caves. The temples gaze upon one another in a haze of incense. That description of Yungang dates back to the 6th century. Most of the wooden temples, however, were destroyed by fire. The fact that the Wei rulers abandoned their own traditions and totally adopted Chinese culture can be seen from the caves they commissioned later. Chinese roofs adorn the 16-meter-high pagoda column crowned by four Buddhas. Spreading Buddhism and commissioning statues of the Buddha was regarded as doing good works and thus as having a positive influence on one's own karma, the succession of rebirths. To the people, the cave was a stone picture book of the history of Buddhism. As in all religions, the life of its founder was later transfigured in legend. Thus, the Buddha is said to have been born in a wondrous way from his mother's armpit. His parents, the Indian royal couple, then rode with the newborn infant to consult a wise man who foretold the prince's future. As an adult, he said, he would leave the palace and his family, encounter the crippled, the infirm and the dying, and then, through meditation, find a path of escape from the eternal suffering of mankind. Originally, there were no statuary depictions in Buddhism, just symbols, for it was a spiritual path. But as this lavishly decorated cave shows, the faithful needed to venerate images which made the divine comprehensible in human dimensions. The devout can worship and gaze in amazement from below. The sight of the Buddha's face was reserved for the monks, because only they were allowed to go upstairs in the wooden temple projection. In the first five imperial caves, the statues of the Buddha, enthroned in a narrow rock grotto, gaze out into the distance through the upper opening. The caves created later lie behind a columned portico hewn out of the rock. These are rock temples. The nobility sought to emulate the examples set by the emperor. Above and next to the main caves, they had hundreds of niches cut in the rock. Of the more than 100,000 original sculptures, just over half remain. This figure, supporting the hand of the Buddha as he gives his blessing, is two meters high. In AD 486, the Wei Emperor ordered that all at court should wear Chinese dress, and no longer the traditional garb of the Toba nomads. The stone statues were covered with a layer of clay that was then painted. The style of the statues also became more and more Chinese. Instead of the plain pilgrim's robe, which left one shoulder bare, the saints now wore the lavish clothes of Chinese civil servants, with an over and an undergarment, sashes and a wrap. Buddhism had lost its unworldly austerity. It had become more colorful. It was now a religion of the people. The gods had become more human, the statues smaller and more elegant, with flowing robes and gentle facial features. The Buddhist pantheon was populated by apsaras, heavenly flying creatures, and a countless number of saints for all needs. The divine musicians played on instruments that had come to China via the silk route. The ancient belief in spirits and the gods of Daoism, they all found their place in Chinese Buddhism. But Yungang's heyday lasted for no more than a few decades. Northern China has often been a battlefield down the ages. And indeed, the temples in front of the grottoes were razed to the ground many times. But devout rulers had them at least partly restored. In 1651, the dignitaries of the Qing dynasty again provided the cave of the biggest Buddha with a wooden temple. In doing so, in the form of the portico, they erected a monument to themselves. The 17 meter high statue of the meditating Buddha was chiseled from a single block of stone. His middle finger alone measures two meters, his ear more than three. He is not remote and unapproachable, but friendly with a benevolent smile. In Yungang, Buddhism took on its Chinese face.