by Nicholas Field

The Yungang Grottoes (雲崗石窟) are a series of Buddhist cave temples located in Shanxi Province, China, near Datong. Plaques on site mention that the caves were mostly constructed in the fifth and sixth centuries during the Wei dynasty, with later additions in Tang and Ming dynasties. More recently, the site was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and has featured incredible amounts of construction and renovation.

As part of the 2010 Buddhism in China program funded by the Woodenfish Project, several academics and graduate students had the opportunity to visit the site, myself included. During our visit (on the 19th of July, 2010), there were large amounts of construction in virtually all parts of the site, preventing our access to some of the caves. Since there are already numerous works on the site’s history and art in both English and Chinese, this brief article is not a historical description of the site but a short overall description of the caves and their state in July of 2010. Most of the information here comes either from observations on-site or from notes taken from one of the site’s plaques.

Although there are many small caves and shrines at the site, the major grottoes are numbered one through forty-five, starting with the eastern-most cave (Cave 1) and proceeding westward. Unfortunately, due to construction caves 1-4 and caves 40-45 were inaccessible during our visit (July 19th, 2010). Thus Cave 5 was the first to be visited.

Painted wooden dragons decorate the outer wooden structure of Cave 5, and within the antechamber two steles flank the archway leading to the inner chamber. This chamber contains a storied pagoda, with Buddhas on each side. The four walls of the chamber are also engraved with Buddhas, and furthermore each of the four columns of the pagoda has a Buddha within, as well.

Like many of the larger caves at Yungang, Cave 6 has two parts: an antechamber and a larger inner chamber. The antechamber is decorated with murals depicting two guardians, while the inner chamber includes the Buddha Shakyamuni as the central figure. Surrounding the statue are reliefs depicting Shakyamuni’s life which cover the inner chamber’s four walls.

There is an historical stele in the antechamber of the conjoined Caves 7 and 8. The caves’ donors appear carved in the archway leading to the inner chamber. The inner chamber includes sixteen (or eighteen) arhats, as well as the Trikala Buddhas (Buddhas of the three times – past, present and future). Also, in the archway of Cave 8 are Shiva (riding Nandi, the bull) and Vishnu (riding a peacock), relatively well preserved.

Caves 9 and 10 are also joined together, sharing an antechamber featuring colourful painted reliefs and octagonal pillars. Neither inner chamber is accessible – they are barred – but the statues and artwork within remain visible and well-preserved. Cave 9’s inner chamber includes a statue of Shakyamuni and reliefs of Jataka scenes, while Cave 10 includes a statue of Maitreya along with decorations with motifs of birds, flowers and apsaras.

Cave 11 features a central statue of Maitreya and a pagoda, as well as many alcoves with Buddhas that retain their colours and detail. While some portions of the cave are quite weathered, others are in remarkable condition. One especially well-preserved feature is the roof of the inner cave, which includes a brilliantly coloured flying dragon.

The reliefs and statues of Cave 12 follow a musical theme, with deva musicians and yaksha holding musical instruments.

A statue of Maitreya occupies the central location of Cave 13, surrounded by reliefs of Buddhas and bodhisattvas on each side. The figures are painted white against a red background and feature ochre highlights. Maitreya’s vajra support and the colourful flaming halo behind him suggest a tantric motif.

Cave 14 is badly eroded, with its four central pillars damaged or destroyed. There are, however, some surviving sections of reliefs including a depiction of Vimalakirti.

Cave 15 has an animal motif, including fish, birds and animals among the thousand Buddhas carved into its walls.

Like Cave 14, Cave 16 is unfortunately also badly weathered, as only the head remains of the central statue of Shakyamuni.

The central statue of Cave 17 is also poorly preserved, but at least here the depiction of two Buddhas, one to either side of the central figure, are better preserved.

Trikala Buddhas of varying sizes flank the central figure in Cave 18, who is one of the few Buddhas at Yungang to wear a distinctive piece of clothing: a kasaya covered with a thousand Buddhas.

Cave 19 is one of the Yungang caves to feature “windows” – openings in the rock walls of the caves – that allow one to see the face of Buddhas which being in the inner chamber. These windows allow one to see the faces of the Trikala Buddhas flanking the central figure. Unfortunately, many of the smaller Buddhas depicted on the outer reliefs have been badly weathered and continue to crumble.

Religious activity and tourist attention are at their peak in front of Cave 20. This cave features the site’s largest Buddha statue, which is quite well preserved and features extremely elongated ear lobes. This image of Shakyamuni includes several smaller Buddhas carved into the halo surrounding its head. Due both to the size and the openness of this image – there is no rock wall obscuring view of the statue – it was a popular site for group photographs and incense offerings. During my visit, it was the only statue with cushions for prostrations in front of it.

Unfortunately, during my visit many of the smaller caves to the west of Cave 20 were barred or lacked any figure within. Almost all lacked a plaque describing the history of the particular caves or even basic markings enumerating each cave. Only Caves 21 and 39 were visibly marked. The majority of these caves were empty and quite shallow, or else contained damaged central figures and weathered outer reliefs. Cave 21 continued the motif of two Buddhas talking beneath a tree, while Cave 39 featured a stone pagoda in the inner chamber, with Buddhas lining the walls within. As mentioned above, Caves 40-45 were inaccessible due to construction, so Cave 39 was the farthest west a visitor could go.

It is worth noting that there were several characteristics shared by multiple caves. One was the motif of multiple Buddhas, either in the form of reliefs of the thousand Buddhas, or else of two Buddhas talking beneath a tree. These motifs show the distinctly Mahayana background of the caves, and the image of two Buddhas beneath a tree may specifically depict a scene from the Lotus Sutra (Dr. Robert Jones, personal communication, July 19 2010). A second common trait was that many of the cliffs, reliefs and statues had shallow circular holes, even in key places such as statues’ faces. A tour guide on site stated that these were used during the site’s construction for supporting scaffolds, and would have later been plugged with clay and painted over. Presumably time and erosion have revealed these marks. Furthermore, the same guide stated that water seepage from within the cliff was responsible for the crumbling of several of the reliefs.

It is not just erosion and water that have changed the Yungang Grottoes, for human construction is rapidly transforming the site. When we arrived as a group, our bus was stopped by the development of a road leading into the site. As we continued on foot, we passed by a larger, quite shallow and likely artificial lake next to the footpath. Workers were constructing several buildings (which looked like hotels or stores) on a platform supported above the lake by pillars. The buildings were still under construction in July but the platform was several hundred meters long.

Construction nearer to the caves was less pronounced, except for the caves that were inaccessible due to construction. Only one cave had a modern wooden exterior, and additions to other caves were kept to a minimum (lighting, the occasional glass wall to prevent damage to vulnerable parts of murals, etc). Gift shops were minimal – mostly small stalls off to the side, which included post cards and books about the site (including a bilingual Chinese-English volume). Signs and informative plaques were in Chinese, English and occasionally French as well. Thus while there are many modern amenities (clean washrooms, parking lots), there is little modification of the caves themselves. It will be interesting to see how the site changes in upcoming years due to construction, increased tourism and the need to preserve the original grottoes.

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