Ancient Buddhist art at the Yungang Caves


Advertisement
China's flag
Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong
October 27th 2014
Published: November 13th 2014
Edit Blog Post

Very large Buddhas carved into the cliffVery large Buddhas carved into the cliffVery large Buddhas carved into the cliff

They were at one time enclosed within caves which have since collapsed
From there our driver was taking us to see Muta, a five story wooden pagoda which is the worlds oldest and tallest wooden pagoda. It is 67 metres tall and was standing in the midst of a large open area which added to it's impact. It was built without any nails in 1056 and has very little colour on it. Only the bottom floor is open for viewing now - the clay Buddha in this floor was 11 metres high and sitting under a beautiful conical shaped ceiling. We were pleased the hotel had suggested we visit the site as it wasn't one we probably would have bothered with. Surrounded by the usual souvenir stalls, they were at least quite a long way from the pagoda, not shouldering it as is normal. We left the site and decided to find something to eat from one of the small supermarkets in the neighbouring streets. We obviously took a little longer then our driver expected us to has he was looking a little concerned when we arrived back at the car.

When we were in Datong we realised that Jerry was eligible for the senior discount (over 60 years) that was offered, we thought, only to the locals. By showing his passport he was able to enter everything for half price or free. By the end of that day alone we had saved AUD $60 which was the cost of our hotel room that evening. It was a considerable saving as Chinese tourist sites are not cheap to enter.

From the pagoda we went to the Yungang Caves which contain some of China's best examples of Buddhist cave art. These caves dating from the 5th century hold over 51,000 statues within 252 grottoes and we were very excited at the thought of seeing them at long last. They are also the oldest collection f Buddhist statues in China. We had no real idea of what to expect but the massive newly built tourist complex, enormous temples and manmade lake were not expected. Or at least not the size they were. They were put onto the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2001 and are listed by them as being 'a masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art' And to reach the caves you had to go through them all first! Even the Chinese tourists seemed little interested in them - everybody was just rushing through to get to the caves. It took at least 15 to 20 minutes of fast walking to even get to the beginning of the caves area.there was one piece of modern art that we enjoyed - a life sized bronze tree complete with tiny leaves.

They were absolutely astounding! Six of the caves are closed - the best of them - and are being covered with wooden temple like fronts to preserve their interiors. I think they have been closed for quite a long time. Some of the caves contain intricately carved square shaped pagodas, whilst others are like temple interiors (carved and painted to resemble wood). Many are painted with beautiful frescoes and almost every large cave contains the 1000 Buddha motif (hundreds of tiny Buddhas seated in niches). A couple of the open ones we saw held enormous Buddha statues. The caves began as tunnels high in the cliff face. From the tunnels the caves and all the statues and carvings within were gradually carved from the top of the cave to the base. An amazing feat - and the tunnels are evident in every cave when you look up at the ceilings. I
The large clay Buddha within the Muta pahodaThe large clay Buddha within the Muta pahodaThe large clay Buddha within the Muta pahoda

The domed ceiling above was beautifully shaped
would love to revisit one day and see the other caves when they eventually open to public viewing once again.

This incredible art does need to be preserved and we could understand the need for the wooden roof covers being built in front of them. Many did actually have wooden structures in front of them which have deteriorated many years ago. Our favourite cave enclosed a gilt Buddha which towered above us, surrounded by the incredibly detailed carvings. The whole cave glowed with colour. No photos were allowed to be taken and the rule was strictly supervised. It was so beautiful it literally took our breath away when we first saw it. The act of hollowing out and constructing the caves is said to have taken 50 years, with over 40,000 workers struggling to complete the project. The beautiful sitting Buddha, once enclosed by a cave which has since disintegrated, was 14 meters high. Not as high as the very impressive Grand Buddha at Leshan we saw last year, the one at Yungyang was much more detailed and intricately carved.

We were amazed at not only the beautiful detail of the carvings but that many still glowed with the original pigments of colour. And the paintwork was surprisingly still very bright in places. Remarkable really when you consider directly opposite the site is an enormous coal mine - now the site of the Coal Museum but once an active mine. Combine coal dust pollution with the dusty dry winds which sweep Shanxi province it is a miracle anything is left.

The site was not particularly busy with tourists but a couple of Buddhist monks on holiday, and in very high spirits from visiting the caves, befriended us and spent some time teaching us a Buddhist mantra. Every time they saw us over the next hour they called out the mantra and gave us a cheery wave. Before they left they came up to us and asked for a photo - then presented us both with the prayer beads that they had been wearing. It was an amazing day - one of those holiday memories that will remain in the foreground of your mind for a long time!

We left the complex as it was closing for the day and our taxi then drove us to the airport (an hour away) to catch our 7.30 pm flight to Shanghai. The flight was late leaving and it was very very late when we eventually arrived at our pre booked hotel in Shanghai to find that they had cancelled our booking (despite promising not to) and wanted to charge us double for the same room instead. We refused to pay it on principle so found ourselves without a bed after midnight in a strange city....


Additional photos below
Photos: 23, Displayed: 23


Advertisement



13th November 2014
Close up of the wooden structure of Muta

MU TA & YUNGANG
Not allowed up the stairs at Mu Ta...some caves at Yungang closed for refurbishment...reminds me one time I was at Tiantan there was scaffolding. Looks from your pics you still had a great time at two highlights of Shanxi Provence. Lucky you to have been there...exquisite!
13th November 2014
Muta - the world's oldest and tallest wooden pagoda

Great pic
Great pic of Mu Ta, Linese
13th November 2014
Muta - the world's oldest and tallest wooden pagoda

Photo
Thanks Dave. High praise - your photos are amazing...
13th November 2014
The happy monks and us.

A magical day!
How special the encounters with the monks, and the cave art is fabulous! I must say I'm shocked by the prices if you saved $60 on the discount, and you only only visited the Muta and caves sites--yikes! And while sad you couldn't enter all the caves, and there were new "temples" and tourist services, it's great to see that China is working to preserve its ancient treasures (and money makers).
14th November 2014

Datong
I know you are not allowed up to the top of the Muta but we waited until the guard had a break and then sneaked up to the top floor - amazing. Yungang was one of our highlights also - I just saw a story in a newspaper and thought it might be worth a look - very surprised. On the same day our driver took us to a ruined area of the "wall" and said walk one hour that way and we did while he waited for us to come back - original parts of the wall and then from the gorge the wall just went on and on……oh…memories.

Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 15; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0599s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb