Among the famous historical cities in China, Luoyang has the longest history, the earliest capital, the most dynasties, and the most influential one. It is the first of the eight ancient capitals in my country and one of the first batch of historical and cultural cities announced by the State Council. Luoyang got its name because it is located on the north bank of the ancient Luoshui. As far back as the Paleolithic Age, the ancestors lived and lived here. During the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang, the eastern capital, took on the world stage and was famous for a while. From the Heluo culture to the alternation of thirteen dynasties, thousands of years of ups and downs have left a profound historical trace on Luoyang and a splendid artistic treasure…
Longmen Grottoes
The long way back home for national treasures
12 kilometers south of Luoyang City, there are two steep bluestone mountains in the east and west facing each other. The rippling Yishui River flows through the middle, and the willows on both sides of the river are flickering. From a distance, it looks like a beautiful natural gate. On the cliff of Qingshi Mountain, the dense caves like a honeycomb stretch for about a kilometer from north to south. This is the famous Longmen Grottoes at home and abroad.
The Longmen Grottoes were first excavated in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After more than 400 years of construction, it has been more than 1,500 years old. There are more than 1,300 grottoes, more than 2,300 cave niches, more than 3,600 inscriptions and inscriptions, more than 50 pagodas, and more than 97,000 Buddha statues. , together with Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Tianshui Maijishan Grottoes, Datong Yungang Grottoes and known as “China’s Four Great Grottoes”. With its unique sculpture art language, it reveals various laws and rules of sculpture art creation, and integrates national aesthetic awareness and understanding and pursuit of expression forms, so that grotto art presents a trend of sinicization and secularization. Show the “milestone” of the transformation of Chinese grotto art.
Longmen Grottoes are most representative of Binyang Cave, Guyang Cave and Dafengxian Temple.
Binyang Zhongdong, with complete statues, exquisite composition and varied patterns, is known as the most representative Sinicization cave before and after Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved his capital to Luoyang. “The word means welcoming the rising sun, which is quite imaginative. This huge project, built and carved by countless skilled craftsmen, has left an unparalleled artistic treasure for future generations. Those who come to the scene will be amazed.
Then there is Guyang Cave, the oldest and largest cave in the Longmen Grottoes, located in the middle of the southern part of Xishan. On the main wall of Guyang Cave are three larger-than-life statues, which were erected by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty: the Buddha Sakyamuni in the center of the main wall, and two Bodhisattvas on the left and right.
In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Chinese Buddhism flourished again, and the Longmen Grottoes ushered in the period of “Tang Grottoes”, which was intensively excavated. Especially during the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, the art of the Longmen Grottoes reached its peak. Dafengxian Temple is one of the most representative Tang caves, and it is also a group of cliff sculptures with the largest scale and the most exquisite art in the Longmen Grottoes. There are 9 huge statues here. The main Buddha in the middle is the Lusena Buddha, with a total height of 17.14 meters, a head height of 4 meters, and ears of 1.9 meters long. A kind and wise man who is respected and fearless. There are also statues of his disciples, Ananda, Gaya, Bodhisattva, Lishi, and Heavenly King beside the Buddha of Lushana. The features of the image are more prominent.
However, after the An-Shi Rebellion, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty deteriorated, and the Longmen Grottoes became increasingly deserted; for more than 600 years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the scenery of Luoyang disappeared, and the Longmen Grottoes gradually became depressed. Natural erosion and man-made robbery caused many statues to be destroyed. According to research, the theft of cultural relics from the Longmen Grottoes was mainly concentrated in the 1920s and 1930s. According to statistics, only the most severely damaged 96 caves were stolen, and more than 200 main statues such as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were stolen, and one of various statues was destroyed. More than a thousand statues, and more than 40 reliefs and inscriptions were destroyed.
After years of hard work, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute has gradually found out the whereabouts of some of the lost Buddhist sculptures, which are hidden in museums, art galleries and private collectors around the world. In April 2001, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted at the Palace Museum a ceremony for the Canadian Museum of Art to return the statue of Arhat in the Tang Dynasty Temple of Sutras to the Longmen Grottoes for free, which opened the prelude to the return of the overseas cultural relics of the Longmen Grottoes…
On October 22, 2005, a grand ceremony of handover of cultural relics was held at the Buddhist altar of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan Province. Seven precious Buddha sculptures lost overseas finally returned to their hometown of Longmen in Luoyang. Two of the national treasure-level Buddha heads, the Buddha head in the high tree niche and the head of the Bodhisattva in the left rib, were exiled to France, Belgium, and the United States, and were finally repurchased by the Chinese government. What is particularly rare is that these two Buddha heads can be combined with the afterimages of the Longmen Grottoes. Among them, the Buddha head of the main Buddha in the tall tree statue in Guyang Cave is very well preserved, and even the hair bun and clothing are clearly textured. Along with these two Buddha heads, there are also 5 cultural relics collected by the state, including 2 Buddha heads, 1 Bodhisattva head, 1 head of a king of heaven, and 1 statue of flying sky.
“The Capital of God” Luoyang
Stories in the Ruins of the Palace City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties
In addition to the Longmen Grottoes, in Luoyang, the ancient capital of the thirteen dynasties, within a range of less than 30 kilometers from east to west along the Luoshui River, there are also the ruins of Yanshi Shangcheng, the Erlitou ruins of Xiadu, the ruins of Luoyang city of Han and Wei Dynasties, the ruins of Luoyang city of Sui and Tang Dynasties and The ruins of the five major capital cities, including the ruins of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, are known as “Five Capitals Guanluo”. The dense distribution of the capital ruins, the close connection and the large time span are rare in the world, among which the capital ruins of the Sui and Tang Dynasties are the most dazzling.
The Gongcheng District of the Luoyang City Ruins in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was the Dongdu Palace of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Because it symbolized the Ziwei Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Heaven, it was also known as the Ziwei City.
The Gongcheng District refers to the distribution area of the four ruins of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties: East Palace, Da Nei (Miyagi), West Gecheng and Baocheng (Jiacheng). Because it was the office and living place of the emperor, it was not only the political center of the Sui and Tang dynasties, but also the core of Luoyang city in the Sui and Tang dynasties. Including Jiacang City and Dongcheng City, and the Forbidden Garden in the west. The architectural layout of the palace city follows the tradition of “front court and back bed” in ancient Chinese imperial palaces. The main buildings are distributed from south to north along the central axis.
Because of the strict defense system of the palace city ruins in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Xuanwu Gate located in the north of the palace city has become the key place to guard the palace. When it comes to Xuanwumen, many people will think of the “Xuanwumen change” that happened in Chang’an (now Xi’an), but in fact, many ancient Chinese capitals have Xuanwumen.
△ Drum Tower
The north gate of Luoyang City Palace City in Sui and Tang Dynasties, also known as Xuanwu Gate, was built in the first year of Daye in Sui Dynasty (605) and was the first gate to guard the security of the palace city. There are two corridors outside the gate. Here, it is called “Beijing”. No matter in the form of the capital, or in the political and military aspects, Xuanwumen has an important position. Therefore, when a coup occurs, it must first control Xuanwumen, and then control the inner court, the emperor and his concubines, and even the imperial court and the entire country.
As an important military gate, Xuanwu Gate is destined to be an “eventful gate”.
Standing in front of the Xuanwumen ruins in Luoyang now, one can imagine the grandeur of that year. On February 20, the first year of Tang Shenlong (705 years), a group of generals and a forest army of five hundred feathers gathered under the Xuanwu Gate. Inside, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate – the next day, Wu Zetian’s biography was located in Li Xian, and a generation of queens has since withdrawn from the stage of history. This is the famous “Dragon Coup” in history.
In addition to the “Dragon Coup”, Xuanwumen also has a very dramatic historical story – Emperor Li Congke of the late Tang Dynasty set himself on fire here, and the imperial jade seal disappeared.
After Li Congke ascended the throne, he and his courtier Shi Jingtang were suspicious of each other and had a long-term discord. In the end, Li Congke dispatched tens of thousands of troops to attack Jinyang City, where Shi Jingtang was located. Shi Jingtang couldn’t resist, so he took refuge in the Khitan. With the help of the Khitan, he defeated the Hou Tang army besieging the city and turned to attack Luoyang. Li Congke didn’t dare to take the lead in his own expedition, and could only drink and cry all day long, waiting to perish.
In 936, the Khitan army and Shi Jingtang’s army approached Luoyang, and the generals of the Later Tang army surrendered one after another, while Li Congke sighed in the sky, took the imperial jade seal to the Xuanwu Gate tower, ordered people to pile firewood and set himself on fire. The whereabouts of this jade seal is still a mystery.
Luoyang White Horse Temple
The thousand-year-old temple is due to the emperor’s dream
From the Longmen Grottoes to the ruins of the palace city of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the splendor of the ancient capital of the thirteen dynasties has reappeared, but when introducing the historical sites in Luoyang, we must not forget the legendary building built because of a big dream – the White Horse Temple.
It is 12 kilometers east of the ancient capital Luoyang, not far from the west of the Han and Wei cities. Among the lush ancient trees in the long forest, the towering pagodas and towering pagodas are faintly revealed. This is the White Horse Temple, known as “the first ancient Buddhist temple in China“. Baima Temple has a history of nearly 2,000 years and is the earliest temple established after Buddhism was introduced into China. Due to its long history and the styles of China, India, Myanmar and Thailand, the White Horse Temple occupies an important position in the history of Chinese Buddhism, and is honored as the “Shiyuan” and “Ancestral Court” of Chinese Buddhism.
The White Horse Temple obviously has too much history to tell, the most famous being its origin story. In the eleventh year of Yongping in the Eastern
Han Dynasty (68 years), after nearly half a century of governance by Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty Liu Xiu and Emperor Liu Zhuang of Han Ming Dynasty, the Han Empire achieved unprecedented prosperity in military, culture and economy.
This year, Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Dynasty was 41 years old and in his prime. Externally, he sent Dou Gu to send troops to conquer the Northern Huns, and sent troops to go beyond the Western Regions to reopen the “Silk Road” from Luoyang City to Rome; internally, he advocated Confucianism, appease the refugees, build water conservancy, and control agriculture. Sang… It was also the same year that Emperor Ming of the Han wrote an edict: “Build a monastery in the north of the three-mile imperial road outside Xiyong Gate in Luoyang City.” For this edict, Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Dynasty had been preparing for four years.
One day four years ago, Emperor Han Ming had a strange dream. He dreamed of a six-foot-tall Ability God flying around the palace. After waking up, he hurriedly called his ministers and asked him why he was dreaming. Some officials said that this god belonged to the Western Tianzhu Kingdom (in today’s India), so Emperor Ming of Han sent Lang Zhong Cai. Min, Ph.D. disciple Qin Jing and others went to Tianzhu to seek the Dharma, and it took three full years. Until 67 AD, a group of people traveled thousands of miles from Tianzhu to Luoyang. With Cai and Qin, there were two Tianzhu monks, a white horse, and several boxes of scriptures. The following year, the first Buddhist monastery in Chinese history was built. Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty named the monastery as the White Horse Temple because of his meritorious deeds in reciting the Sutra of the White Horse.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the White Horse Temple suffered its first catastrophe. When Dong Zhuo moved westward with Emperor Han, Luoyang City was burnt to ruins. Afterwards, the coalition forces led by Yuan Shao, the prefect of Bohai Sea, besieged Luoyang, forming a semi-encirclement trend. In order to prevent the residents from escaping, Yuan Shao burned down all the houses within 200 miles of Luoyang City, and the White Horse Temple was also burned to the ground. Until Cao Pi became emperor in 220 AD, he rebuilt Luoyang City and Baima Temple on top of the ruins of Luoyang City in the Eastern Han Dynasty, helping it restore the grandeur of the Han Dynasty. At the same time, the eminent Indian monk Tan Kejialu came to the White Horse Temple and translated the first Chinese Buddhist commandment in the history of Chinese Buddhism.
But in fact, the most glorious period of Baima Temple was not during the Han Dynasty, but during the reign of Wu Zetian. In director Tsui Hark’s “Di Renjie” series of films, the main line of the story revolves around Wu Zetian and Buddhist monasteries, making people feel that there is always an inextricable connection between the ancient regime and the worship of Buddha. This is also true in history. In the Tang Dynasty, Xue Huaiyi and others not only managed the White Horse Temple into a fairyland with splendid pavilions and flowers and trees, but also wrote a “Great Cloud Sutra”, comparing Wu Zetian to the true destiny of Maitreya Buddha. Son of Heaven. Therefore, Wu Zetian respected Buddhism even more. In addition to continuing to excavate the splendid Longmen Grottoes, the White Horse Temple became the royal monastery at that time.
In the long history of nearly 2,000 years, the White Horse Temple has witnessed too many alternations of rise and fall, kings and emperors, and has experienced many destructions and reconstructions. Now it still has a towering pagoda, a towering hall, and a solemn and quiet record of the past. Possessing the present – even though she has experienced glory and loss, she still has infinite tolerance, stands majestically at the foot of Mang Mountain, and is famous at home and abroad.
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