Go to Baicheng Xinjiang ,visit the buddhist grottoes earlier than Mogao

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By Zheng yanjiang

The Kizil Caves panoramic view.

The Kizil Caves sits on the cliffs on the northern bank of the Muzat River, 7 kilometers southeast of Kizil town in Baicheng County, Xinjiang, China. Kizil in the Uygur language means red. Caves stretching for about three kilometers in a general east-west trend, it is one of the Four Greatest Caves in China, together with Mogao Caves (Gansu Province), Yungang Grottoes in Datong ( Shanxi Province), Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang (Henan Province).The Kizil Caves is the earliest Buddhist art treasure trove in the West Region of China, cut the third century to eighth or ninth century.The murals in the Kizil Caves are found in more than 200 caves with a total area of more than 10,000 square meters.

On the way to the Kizil Caves.

About a 40-minute drive out of the Baicheng city,what one sees are oasis, gobi, yardang landform. Either on the gobi, or between two mountains, winding its way to make one feels the desolation of Xinjiang.Being in the mood, there are two columns in Han and Tang dynasty-style occurred between two hills, remind of boom between 8-9 century, that means cave is not far away. After another 10 minutes ,a piece of green land appeared among the mountains , a boulder at the entrance says "Xinjiang Qiuci Research Institute". Here we are,the Kizil Caves.

About to reach the Kizil caves.

Kumarajiva, a translator who is ealier than Xuanzang

Enter the Xinjiang Kucha Research Institute, in front of the Kilzil Caves, Zheng Yanjiang saw Kumarajiva set in the square.

The square in front of the Kilzil Caves.

Now it's necessary to  talk about religious history in xinjiang, The evolution of religions in Xinjiang was a long historical process, roughly went through four stages: the stage of primitive religion, the formation stage for the coexistence of a variety of religions with Buddhism as the major one, the evolution stage for the coexistence of many religions with Islam and Buddhism as the two major ones, and the development stage for the coexistence of a variety of religions with Islam as the major one. After the 1th century BC Buddhism was introduced into Xinjiang, gradually there came into being a pattern where in a variety of religions coexisted, which continues today. From the 4th to the 10th century Buddhism reached its peak. In oases on the periphery of the Tarim Basin Buddhist temples arose in great numbers, with a multitude of monks and nuns. Khotan, Kashgar (Shule), Kucha (Qiuci), Gaochang and other famous Buddhist centers took shape. The Kizil caves is the best evidence of Kucha as Buddhist Center.  

Kumarajiva.

Kumarajiva was born in Kucha.  his mother was the sister of the king of Kucha.When he was 7 years old, his mother became a Buddhist nun, and after two years, at the age of nine, he was taken by his mother to be better educated under the noted monk Bandhudatta in India and Buddhayashas. Kumarajiva back to Kucha with his mother at age 12, hearing his back , the king had a golden lion throne made and Qin brocade mattress for him and asked him to deliver a lecture.  All the nations stood in awe of Kumarajiva and the kings would kneel beneath his speaking platform to listen to him expound upon the sutras.

In 401, Kumarajiva arrived in Chang-an, the ruler of Later Qin honored him as the Imperial Teacher . He stayed at the Xiaoyao Garden and began his great translation work, known as three great translators of Buddhist scriptures along with Kulanatha and Xuanzang.Kumarajiva and his disciples have translated 35 major sutras in 294 volumes, made an indelible contribution to Buddhist culture. Kumarajiva was one of the four great Buddhist scripture translator in China. 

Deep into the mountains, Kucha cultural treasures .

Walk through the Kumarajiva, stair to the Buddha cave, tour guide told Zheng Yanjiang, only part of the caves are open so far, however, those caves digging in the 3-8 th-century each has its own characteristics.The cave area was divided into four areas: West-Valley Area, inside the Valley, East-Valley Area and Rear-hill Area. 235 official numbered caves in 1953, a new cave has found in 1973, became new cave 1 .In the need of reinforcing the rock restoration project of the Kizil caves, 10 buried caves have been cleaned out in 1989 , another 23 caves in 1990. There are now 269 numbered caves, still nearly 350 unnumbered caves. According to the subsurface exploration, there suppose to have a number of underground burial caves. The Kizil caves is the largest existing with well-preserved murals ,it is a typical representative of Kucha grottoes.

Buddhist temple and Vihara of the Kizil cave.

Grottoes in Kizil are divided into two kinds, one kind is monk’s room equipped with stoves, heated brick beds, and other simple facilities, the other kind is Buddhism hall which provides room for praying and Buddhist preaching. Buddhism hall is subdivided into two kinds: one is the great statue grotto which has standing Buddha statue with high ceiling and hole-shape doors, the other is the central tower grotto which is the quadrate room with pillars supporting ceiling in the middle. Functions of grottoes differ from their shape and decorations, so many grottoes regularly buit together, formed small units,  each unit could be a Buddhist temple.

Buddha-worship,all stories about Sakyamuni.

Now, what is the difference between Mahayana and Theravada? Theravada regard Shakyamuni as a teacher and missionary, who is the only Buddha. While Mahayana believe that there have been countless Buddhas on earth. Theravada Buddhism emphasises attaining self-liberation through one's own efforts,while mahayana Buddhism stresses that helping all sentient beings attain enlightenment is more important than just self-liberation. In terms of practice, Therevada is the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links describe in detail how the process of karma works. Mahayana promotes six perfections , they vow to help all beings realize enlightenment and enter Nirvana.

Buddha cave deducing all the deeds of the Shakyamuni.

The dark part of the picture changed color because of oxidation ,cinnabar retain its original color in some of the deepper caves,The Great Tang Records on Western Regions notes :“Xuanzang travelled into India where he found  100 monasteries with 5,000 Buddhist monks, who are studying Theravada.” Later in addition to a small number of caves are full of painted buddhas, the Kizil Caves center column mural theme mostly depicts all the deeds of Sakyamuni ,reflecting concept of Theravada that only Maitreya (the future Bodhisattva and Buddha) Sakyamuni are recognized.

Time has left its impact upon the mural.

Who brought us Mahayana Buddhism ?Kucha and Central Plains have a close relationship early in BC, By the Tang Dynasty, the development of this relationship became a higher order of existence. Zhenguan fourteen years (AD 641 years), Tang established the Anxi Protectorate in Xizhou. In 658 AD , it was shifted to Kucha and situated there for most of the period, promoted to Protectorate General to Pacify the West. Since then, Kucha became political, economic and cultural center in the south of Tien Shan mountains and  west areas of Cong Ling Ridges. In 808 AD, the Tibetan Empire trapped in Anxi , Tang ended the reign of Kucha. Tang Dynasty has jurisdiction over Kucha for hundred years, during which a large number of Han Chinese officials , soldiers , people and monks moved to Kucha , bringing the Central Plains culture and Chinese Mahayana Buddhism . 

Ruins, looted murals

What is more painful is caves were stolen,dug and plundered  in the end , Zheng Yanjiang learned that the cassocks were made of gold foil, were also stolen. 

Stolen mural of gold foil cassocks.

The Kizil Caves encountered twice disasters. As the Islamic culture spread eastward across the pamirs,in nearly two centuries of religious disputes between Buddhism and Islam,the Kizil Caves  and gradually being abandoned as well as suffered large vandalism in the 10th century，with the decline of Buddhism in Kucha.”The Kizil Caves suffered catastrophe for the first time in history. “At the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the foreign expedition continuously crazy about robbery of grotto murals in Kucha region, including a lot of exquisite murals ,painted clay sculpture and precious cultural relics in the Kizil Caves. This is the second time in history the Kizil Caves suffered catastrophe.Before the liberation, the Kizil Caves has been in a state of unattended. After the founding of new China, the cave was effectively protected, and have been on the list of preserved cultural relics in 1961.In 2014, the Kizil Caves was listed in the World Culture Inheritance.

 Clearly visible scotches left after the robbery.

At the beginning of the 20th century, German expedition uncovered some cultural relics from the Kizil Caves, most of which is now in the possession of the Berlin Museum of Asian Art.

the Kizil Caves are built on sandstone, its painting process involves placing a layer of mud on the sand ,but dry mud is easy to fall off ,the thickness of mud is varies, as time goes by, some fall off naturally or in the process of stealing and digging .Zheng Yanjiang noticed that the scratches are still exist in some of the murals.The looted murals are common in Europe especially in German museum.  

Diamond-shaped , main composition form of Kucha mural

In Kucha Grottoes ,the Buddha is depicted in numerous disasters in the past with all sorts of different identities on bodhisattva path,such behaviors like charity, giving, precepts, perseverance, and Jataka as well as the karma story of sermons tour and universals restoration. Generally in the form of single diamond lattice patterned , and successive patteren with diamond lattice as the basic unit of the structure .In the early days of the murals , diamond-shaped composition is not very clear , gradually formed mature pattern , became the most important composition form of Kucha murals .

Exquisite statues in the Kizil Caves .

Murals here not only include flying gods, gods of arts, Buddhist pagodas, Bodhisattva, Arhat, the eight races of non-human entities described in Buddhist cosmological text Lotus Sutra , stories of Buddha, but also some other folk stories and social life of ancient times.The scenes of production and life, landscapes, donors, birds and animals etc.

The diamond-shaped vaulting recorded five hundred times reincarnation of Buddha.

The diamond-shaped Composition. Central-pillar cave vault regularly painted several columns of diamond lattice , ranging from a few dozen to more than a hundred, each painted a book or karma story. Both the originality and diversity of the diamond-shaped composition and layout of Dense and integral, has became one of the outstanding achievements of Kucha grottoes  Art.

Buddha was re-incarnated into a elephant to save others.

Story of elephant save others .Karma and Jataka stories, except that some are painted on the walls of the square grotto,others are mostly arranged on the central column grotto of the main chamber and square grotto vault , taking the form of a single composition, the vault is divided into many of the rhombic lattices, each diamond lattice drawing a single story.Because of the small space, the pictures uses a small number of characters and backgrounds, and select the typical plot which able to summarize the story.

Figure outline is still clear one thousand years ago.

The main theme of the mural are Buddha , karma and Jataka stories.There are two types the Buddha story: One is the description of the Buddha's biography, it is arranged on the walls of the square grotto , with successive checkered pattern,expressing Buddha's life from beginning to the end, Another is statement graph ,it is arranged along two side walls in the main chamber of the central-pillar cave. Although many of those in the form of checkered pattern,  separate into pieces each with its own theme , there is no undertake mutual relationship between them. Karma Story shows that all living creatures provide all kinds of supports for the Buddha and demonstrates great magic power of Buddha. Jataka stories shows various difficult and ascetic when Buddha on the Bodhisattva path in his previous life.

Kucha, the ancient Silk Road Transport Station

"Kucha " is one of the big Western regions in ancient China , one of four towns in Anxi in Tang Dynasty , located at the crossroads of the ancient Silk Road ( now Aksu Kuqa , Baicheng area ). Ji Xianlin once said :"Kucha is the only intersection of ancient India, Greece and Rome, Persia, and the Han and Tang Dynasties civilization in the world. The Kizil caves in Kucha region , was the first Buddhist grottoes in China's history , accomplished in Eastern Han dynasty.

In 2014, as Chinese Kizil caves, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan “The three joint inscription" The Silk Road Changan Tianshan corridor road network in the site of a success included in " The World Heritage List ". 

Kizil Cave 14, Mang wang saves business man out of sea .

Baicheng now belongs to ancient Kucha boundaries , but Kucha is located in the hub of the ancient Silk Road, Buddhism was first introduced into Xinjiang from India ,after the formation of the western regions Buddhism then transferred to the Central Plains, Geographical location in Baicheng is determinant to become the bridge of the western regions Buddhism center and Central Plains. Grottoe Mural is an important form of Buddhist art. Many types of The Kizil Caves are widely used, the structure and layout of monk room and Buddhism hall is extremely rare. While The Kizil Caves is the pronoun of Mural Gallery with rich content and Large quantity, ranked first in China's existing grottoes.

Peace Bell and pagodas in the pavilion.

River is clear outside , in the pavilion,you can see a construction of the Buddha which was donated by Thailand Princess Sirindhorn ,also you can see the peace bell and pagoda.

Oasis outside the Kizil Caves.

Outside the Kizil Caves, you can see oasis among the vast Gobi. Whithin a few centuries, Kizil is international Buddhist center of the Silk Road , day and night, the valley echoed with the Buddhist music , yellow Cassock is the only color here.

Eighteen hundred years ago, much earlier than the Mogao Grottoes, when unknown artists from all over the world piously painted pictures of not only the Buddha in their mind but also understanding and interpretation of belief .