There
are many good reasons to visit China, and many interesting
sites to see, but none is more extraordinary than
the Yungang Caves in Datong.
The temple/monastery comprises 53 grottos with more
than 51,000 stone bas reliefs and figures of the
Buddha carved out of a living mountain. They range
from thumb-size to a 56-foot colossus. The visitor’s
eye is dazzled by the multitudes: sitting Buddhas
and standing Buddhas, thoughtful Buddhas and smiling
Buddhas, Buddhas of every mood and description.
They are the oldest stone carvings in China.
During its long history, China has had many capitals.
More than 1,500 years ago, Datong was the honored
city. Its border location in the northern part of
Shanxi Province, a notch south of Inner Mongolia,
made it a convenient meeting place for many nationalities
to exchange goods and ideas.
A splendid city and
an important cultural center, Datong prospered until
eclipsed by newer cities.
Today this ancient capital, barely 170 miles northwest
of Beijing, is once again attracting visitors from
all over the world. They come to see the remnants
of Datong’s illustrious past: the rare, perfectly
preserved nine-dragon screen from the Ming Dynasty
in the center of the commercial district; the ancient
Hyayan Monastery, a treasure among China’s
few remaining large wood Buddhist temples; but first
and foremost, they come to experience the wonder
of the Yungang Caves.
In the first century, Buddhism made its way from
India to China, where it flourished. It became the
state religion during the Northern Wei Dynasty,
and in 460 A.D. work began on a temple/monastery
complex to sanctify the Buddha, The Enlightened
One. For the next three decades, monks and slaves
labored alongside each other with simple hand tools.
Together they honeycombed the sandstone mountain
and filled countless niches with carvings that illustrate
the philosophical concept of the “thousand
Buddhas,” symbolizing the Buddha’s omnipresence
through time and space.
The mountain turned temple is awesome. It is all
the more astonishing because the neighboring landscape
is peppered with dreary coal mines. Over the centuries,
the region’s fortunes have wavered. Datong
is now an industrial center of more than 1 million
people, important for producing coal. Situated on
the Loess Plateau, about 3,900 feet above sea level,
the old capital is sometimes referred to as “a
sea of coal.” Convoys of coal-laden trucks
and swarms of bicycles clog the flat road to the
mountain.
Once out of the city, however, the traffic thins
considerably and the Wuzhou Hills ripple into view.
Stone watch towers that have guarded China’s
northern border for millennia are silhouetted against
the horizon like chess pieces. Amid such spare surroundings,
the temple full of Buddhas surprises with fanciful
color and vitality. The mountain seems inaccurately
named, Yungang, which means “cloudy hill.”
Yet, despite the coal mines, the sky is cloudless.
Sunbeams dance on the monastery’s tiered roofs,
feathered like great wings with brilliant blue tiles.
Although the temple is a religious shrine, the imaginative
animal masks that ornament the monastery’s
facade look down on hurly-burly that calls to mind
not a place of worship but a festival. Small arts
and antiques shops entertain a steady stream of
shoppers. Along the path, child-sized wood chairs
accommodate patrons who dine upon local noodle and
meat specialties at makeshift restaurants.
Yungang is a feast for all of the senses. The restaurants’
braziers launch fragrant aromas into the air. Musky
incense wafts from the caves and laces the soft
breezes. Chimes from temple bells, fragile as soap
bubbles, sail the air. Oblivious of distractions,
wizened monks -- their heads shaved, twig-like bodies
draped in blue or brown robes, legs wrapped in matching
cloth, feet clad in sandals – pause before
the Buddhas. Around them, young parents, some in
jeans and western clothes, dote on their one beautifully
dressed toddler. School children in Young Pioneer
outfits – black slacks or skirts, white blouses,
and blazing red neckerchiefs – scamper over
the rough stone steps. Some visitors picnic on the
trampled ribbon of grass. Others pose for photographs
in front of the caves.
The playful mood shifts at the threshold to the
first cave. Thick stone walls barricade outside
sound and sunlight. It takes a moment to recover
from the sudden sensory deprivation, just long enough
for the spirituality of the space to descend. The
dimly-lit cave resembles a primitive cathedral.
Pale light filters down from what seems like an
open clerestory window. In fact, that aperture near
the top of the mountain was the original entrance.
Workmen, hacking downwards, hollowed out the massive
chamber and created the present entry.
A huge Buddha occupies the cave’s shadowy
center. Following the path where ancient holy men
once trod, visitors may circle the statue, passing
through a 15-foot- long tunnel at the rear of the
grotto. Cool, dark and eerie, the tunnel was formerly
used for religious rituals. Voices are funneled
through it to the cave’s high ceiling where
they reverberate like a mystical mantra.
Many of the caves are in amazingly fine condition – jade green paint, gilt, yellows and pinks
are still distinct. A bas relief recounts the life
of Sakyamuni, who became the Buddha. Like frames
of film around the cave, the frieze’s small
oblong scenes unfold the story of royal prince who
renounced material pleasure in favor of a higher
calling. In so doing, he attracted disciples who
ordained him, The Enlightened One.
Yungang’s caves are famous for their depictions
of the Buddha. But other celestial beings abide
here, too. There are minutely detailed bodhisattvas
– disciples who have elected to forego nirvana
in order to save others – and arhats – disciples who have achieved total ecstasy.
Some of the caves are guarded by stone soldiers;
others are covered with exuberant designs painted
on walls and ceilings.
The international exchange of ideas in ancient Datong
is reflected in the cave art. Among the foreign
influences are weapons, lions and beards from Persia
and Byzantium; tridents and curling acanthus leaves
from Greece; draperies and head dresses from India.
Sometimes the cultures are combined, as in Cave
8, which features a Vishnu seated on a bull, a Shiva
and a guardian bearing a trident.
The most famous statue, and among the oldest, is
the 48-foot-tall seated Buddha in Cave 20. Wind
and water have eroded the cave along with the timber
facade that once protected the finely proportioned
giant. Now only a stone ledge visor shields his
beautiful almond eyes from the sun.
Day and night, the Buddha sits as he has through
the centuries, in quiet contemplation, admired by
visitors who come from all over the world.
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