[Edit this paragraph] Name source
The name of Tian Fei in Dunhuang comes from Buddhism, which refers to deified figures who have turned into pure land and whose heaven is heaven, such as Brahma, Virtuous Heaven, Virtuous Heaven and Thirty-three Days. There is a cloud in Tibet in the Tang Dynasty: "It is also heaven for foreign countries to call on God." In Buddhism, the gods fly in the air, which is called flying. Tian Fei often appears in the murals of Buddhist grottoes. In Taoism, mythical figures who have ascended to heaven are called "immortals", such as "leading immortals", "celestial immortals" and "barefoot immortals", and immortals who can fly in the air are called flying immortals. In the Song Dynasty, the Taiping Magnolia Volume 622 quoted a cloud in Fairy Products: "Flying in the clouds, lightly deifying, thinking that immortals are also flying in the clouds."
Meaning:
1. Fly to the sky. Li Yong's "Japanese Fu" in the Tang Dynasty: "When I first went to sea, I was prosperous for a while and suddenly flew into the sky." Tang Wei Zhizhong's "Baiyun Unintentional Fu": "I think it was left by the Han Dynasty and filled the air."
2. The abbreviation of "Flying Dragon in the Sky". It is a metaphor that the king wins the world and has the image of Longxing. The language "Ganyi": "The Ninth Five-Year Plan, the flying dragon is in the sky." The book of Confucius and Ying Da: "If a saint has a dragon virtue, he will soar and live in heaven." Tang Huang Tao's "Long Xing Fu on Monday": "Fly away and break the new country of Yin."
3. Gods flying in the air in Buddhist murals or stone carvings. Sanskrit calls God a "god". Because "Tipo" has the meaning of heaven, it translates as flying. Xu Chi's Goldbach Conjecture under Qilian Mountain: "There are lotus flowers at the top of the cave. Fly at the four corners. "
[Edit this paragraph] Flying in Buddhism
Tian Fei is the incarnation of Ganlu Po and Kinnara in Buddhism. Dry donkey woman, literally translated as Tian Ge God, Kinnara, literally translated as Tianle God. Originally an entertainment god and a dance god in ancient Indian mythology, they were a couple, and later they were absorbed by Buddhism as one of the gods of Tianlong Babu. The task of the nectar girl is to send out fragrance in the Buddhist country, present flowers and treasures to the Buddha, live among the flowers and fly in the heavenly palace. Kinnara's task is to play music, dance and dance in Buddhism, but he can't fly in the clouds. Later, Manna and Kinnara mixed, regardless of gender and function, and became one flying thing. Now, those who played music in the early days are called "Yue Ji in Tiangong", and those who later sang and danced with musical instruments are called "Yue Ji in Tian Fei".
The style of flying in Dunhuang is characterized by no wings, no feathers, relying on clouds instead of clouds, but flying in the air by fluttering dresses and fluttering ribbons. In a variety of ways, this is based on the national tradition, absorbing and integrating the achievements of foreign flying art, developing and creating the flying image of Dunhuang.
In the early days of Dunhuang, flying sky was mostly painted on the top of the cave, decorated with algae wells on the top of the cave, the upper edge of the niche and the heads of the main characters in the Bunsen story painting. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the scope of Tian Fei's paintings has been extended to illustrations and Buddhist niches. Although the image of flying still retains the characteristics of flying in the western regions, it has changed and gradually turned into flying in Dunhuang. For example, on the back of the north wall of Cave 226 in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a scattered flower flying above the west side of the picture. The face is transformed from goose egg to long and full, with small nose and mouth, symmetrical facial features, slender figure, fluttering skirt, flying across the sky, heroic and spirited, like flying cranes, fragrant flowers, beautiful posture and strong sense of movement. Tian Fei in Sui Dynasty was in a period of integration, exploration and innovation. Mainly manifested in different shapes, slender figure, moderate proportion, soft waist and graceful appearance. Some faces are comely, while others are plump. Clothing is different, some are semi-naked, some are long-sleeved and some are short-sleeved. There are different flight modes, including solo flight, group flight, up flight, down flight, against the wind and downwind flight. By the Tang Dynasty, Tian Fei in Dunhuang had completed the process of absorbing and integrating Chinese and foreign countries, completely formed its own unique style, and reached the peak of art. The four murals in the Tang Dynasty caves were all large-scale paintings. Flying is not only painted on seaweed, shrines and four curtains, but most of them are painted on classics. Buddha said in Elysium that the sky flies around, and some land slowly on colorful clouds; Some hold their heads high, swing their arms and soar upwards; Some hold flowers and go straight into the sky; Some hold flower trays and float across the sky. Skirts swaying with the wind and fluttering ribbons make the flying sky look so light, ingenious, chic and moving. After the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, Tian Fei's modeling efforts were not innovative, but gradually formulated. Although Tian Fei's style and characteristics are different, each generation is not as good as the next, and gradually loses its original artistic life.
From the 4th century (Sixteen Kingdoms) to the 4th century14th century (Yuan Dynasty), many flying images preserved in the grottoes in Dunhuang area are treasures of national art and a wonderful flower of Buddhist art. ..
[Edit this paragraph] The symbol and development of flying.
Flying immortals are often painted in tomb murals, symbolizing that the soul of the tomb owner can ascend to heaven. After Buddhism was introduced into China, it exchanged and merged with Taoism in China. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, shortly after the spread of Buddhism, flying in murals was also called flying fairy, which was the difference between flying fairy and flying fairy. With the in-depth development of Buddhism in China, the flying gods of Buddhism and Taoism are integrated in artistic image, but in name, they just regard flying in the air as flying. Flying in Dunhuang is a flying god painted in Dunhuang grottoes, and later became a special term for Dunhuang mural art.
[Edit this paragraph] The artistic image of Tian Fei in Dunhuang
As far as artistic image is concerned, Dunhuang Tian Fei is not a cultural and artistic image, but a synthesis of various cultures. Although Tian Fei's hometown is in India, Tian Fei in Dunhuang was bred by Indian culture, western culture and Central Plains culture. It is a flying sky with China cultural characteristics. It is a long-term exchange between Indian Buddhist heaven and human beings and China Taoist feather people, flying in the western regions and flying in the Central Plains. It was a featherless, round, dull, colorful and cloudless sky, soaring mainly by fluttering dresses and fluttering ribbons. Flying in Dunhuang can be said to be the most talented creation of China artists and a miracle in the world art history.
[Edit this paragraph] The characteristics of Dunhuang Tian Fei
Flying in Dunhuang murals and the creation of Huai grottoes appeared at the same time, starting from sixteen countries, going through ten dynasties, lasting more than a thousand years, and disappearing with the construction of Dunhuang grottoes until the end of Yuan Dynasty. In this long history of more than 1000 years, Tian Fei's artistic image, posture, artistic conception, style and taste are constantly changing due to the historical situation such as the replacement of dynasties, the transfer of political power, the development and prosperity of economy and the frequent exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures. Different times and artists have left us Tian Fei with different styles and characteristics. Over the past 1000 years, Dunhuang Tian Fei has formed a unique history of evolution and development. Its evolution history is roughly consistent with the whole history of Dunhuang art development, which is divided into four stages.
[Edit this paragraph] Rising period
It took about 170 years from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Northern Wei Dynasty. During this period, the flight of Dunhuang was deeply influenced by the flight of India and the western regions, and it was generally the flight of the western regions. However, the flight characteristics of the two dynasties were slightly different during this period. When the Mogao Grottoes are cool in the north, the flying sky is mostly painted on the ceiling, in the decoration of the ceiling caisson, on the upper edge of the niche, and on the head of the subject of bunsen burner's story painting. Its modeling and artistic features are: round head, oval face, straight nose and big eyes, big mouth and big ears, earrings, round head, or wearing tendrils, or wearing a five-treasure crown of India, short stature, half-naked upper body, long skirt wrapped around the waist and a big scarf on the shoulders. Because of the discoloration of the smudge technique, it turned into a white nose and white eyes, flying around in caves such as Qiuci in the western regions.
The northernmost Wei-style flying sky is the two-body flying sky above the story picture of "Ben Sen, the dead fart king" painted on the north wall of Cave 254, and the two-body flying sky above the explanatory picture on the back of the north wall of Cave 260. The outstanding features of these four flying bodies are: round heads, Indian five-gem crowns and slender faces. Because of discoloration, the nose is white, the eyes are white, and it is a small face. The upper body is half naked and the legs are slender, forming a "U" shape with a large opening. Skirts are floating, towels are flying, flying in the air, and smallpox is falling everywhere. Although Tian Fei's body and ribbon have changed color, the halo and lines of the skirt ribbon are very clear. Tian Fei's flying momentum is dynamic and powerful, and her posture is free and beautiful.
[Edit this paragraph] Innovation period
It took about 80 years from the Western Wei Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty. During this period, Dunhuang Feitian was in the stage of communication, integration and innovation between Buddhism and Taoism, flying in the western regions and flying in the Central Plains. It is a sky where Chinese and western cultures blend. The Western Wei Feitian in the Mogao Grottoes is painted in the same position as the Northern Wei Dynasty. Only in the Western Wei Dynasty, there were two different styles of flying, one was flying in the western regions, and the other was flying in the Central Plains. Birds in the Western Regions inherited the modeling and painting style of birds in the Northern Wei Dynasty. One of the biggest changes is that: as the goddaughter of Xiang Shen, scattered flowers are flying in the sky, picking up various musical instruments and flying in the air; Kinnara, the god of music and dance, rushed out of the sky fence and flew into the sky. The two gods merged into one, and became the later flying, also called scattered flowers flying, geisha music flying. His representative works, such as the four-body geisha flying on the western wall of Cave 249.
Flying in the Central Plains is a new flying in the Mogao Grottoes with the artistic style of the Central Plains, which was brought from Luoyang by Wang Rong during his tenure as the secretariat of Guazhou. This kind of flight is a combination of China Taoist flying fairy and Hindu flying fairy: China Taoist flying fairy lost its feather wings, bare upper body, wearing a necklace around her neck, a long skirt around her waist and colorful ribbons on her shoulders; Buddhism in India, lost its crown, tied it into a bun and put on a Taoist crown. The publicity of the characters is in the shape of "showing bones and clear images" in the Central Plains, with slender figure, thin face and long neck, wide forehead, straight nose, fine eyes and eyebrows, upturned corners of the mouth and a slight smile. Its most representative is the twelve flying bodies in the upper layer of the south wall of Cave 282. These twelve bodies fly in the sky, with their heads tied in a double bun, their upper bodies exposed, long skirts tied around their waists and ribbons draped over their shoulders. They are slender and fly in the wind, playing drums, clappers, flutes, flutes, lusheng, pipa, Zou and other musical instruments respectively. The ceiling is spinning, the clouds are fluttering, setting off the flying sky and dancing in the wind. As light as a swallow, take care of each other, be free and happy, and travel in space.
The Northern Zhou Dynasty was a minority regime established by Xianbei people in the northwest. Although the reign was short, many caves were built in Mogao Grottoes. The rulers of Xianbei people believe in Buddhism and are familiar with the western regions, so the flying of the western regions once again appeared in the Mogao Grottoes. This new flying man has the style of Kucha and Qizil, with a round face, strong body, short legs, a round head, a crown, bare upper body, a round chest and navel, a long skirt around the waist and a scarf around the shoulders. The most prominent thing is that the face and body are smudged by bumps. Now because of color change, there are five whites: white edge, white nose, white eyes and white chin. The flying posture is an open "U" shape, short and strong, simple and clumsy, almost returning to the painting style characteristics of flying in the northern cool period of Mogao Grottoes. But the image is much richer than that of the Northern Liang Dynasty, and there are many geisha flying in the sky.
The most northern Zhou style flying sky is the flying sky in Cave 290 and Cave 428. Flying in these two caves. He has a strong figure, a round face, a round head, an Indian crown, five white facial features, a naked upper body, a long skirt around his waist, a scarf with epaulettes, and a thick and concave body. Now the round navel is more prominent because of discoloration and breast enlargement. Princess Letian, a geisha in Cave 428, is rich in modeling. She can play pipa, cricket, flute and waist drum, with vivid image and beautiful posture. In particular, a flight suit on the west side of the south wall, with two clarinets, purple and gold crowns, and inverted feet, a long belt flew from below, and smallpox fell in all directions, like a swift swallow swooping down. Sui Dynasty is the era when the paintings of Mogao Grottoes fly the most, and it is also the era when the Mogao Grottoes fly with the most kinds and the richest postures. In the Northern Dynasties, Tian Fei painted the location of Tian Fei, mainly around the algae wells on the ceiling, around the upper floor of the ceiling and inside and outside the Buddhist niches on the western wall, mostly in groups. The styles of Tianfei in Sui Dynasty can be summarized as four differences. Regional characteristics are different. In the caves of the Sui Dynasty, there were those flying from the western regions and those flying from the Central Plains. Today, it is a combination of Chinese and Western.
The face is different, and the face is round and delicate; There are strong ones and slim ones. But most of them are slender, moderately proportioned, with soft waist and graceful. Clothes and costumes are different, some are half naked, and some are supported by badges; Some wear sleeveless short skirts, and some wear long skirts with wide sleeves; Some wear crowns, some wear buns, and some fly like bald monks. There are different flying postures such as flying up, flying down, flying with the wind, flying against the wind, flying solo and flying in groups, but the flying posture is no longer U-shaped, and the body is relatively free to stretch. Generally speaking, Tian Fei in Sui Dynasty was in a period of communication, integration, exploration and innovation. The general trend is to develop in the direction of China, which laid the foundation for the complete China of Tianfei in Tang Dynasty. The most sui-style flying days are those in Cave 427 and Cave 404. Cave 427 is one of the large caves in Sui Dynasty. It is also the cave with the most flying paintings in the Sui Dynasty. The four walls of the cave flew around the cave along the wall of the Heavenly Palace, with a total of 108 bodies. This 108 is flying, wearing a crown, half-naked upper body, garlands, bracelets, long skirts around the waist and ribbons around the shoulders, mostly left over from flying in the western regions, and costumes. Although the skin color has turned black, the image is still very clear. Some hands folded, some holding lotus flowers, some holding flower trays, some waving their hands and scattering flowers, and some flying around the cave in one direction with instruments such as cricket, pipa, flute and harp. Its posture is diverse and light, with long skirts fluttering and colorful ribbons dancing in the wind. Flying around, floating clouds dancing, falling flowers spinning, full of movement and vitality. Cave 404 is a medium-sized cave in the middle and late Sui Dynasty. The walls of the cave are drawn along the wall of the Temple of Heaven, which flies around the cave. Tian Fei, like Cave 427, has different postures, some holding lotus flowers, some holding flower trays, some holding scattered flowers, and some holding various musical instruments, flying against the wind in one direction, with light posture and graceful posture. However, great changes have taken place in jewelry and clothing: no round head, no crown, some bunches of peach-shaped fairy buns, some bunches of double-ring fairy buns, some bunches of fairy buns, a face with fine eyes and meters, a slender figure, a light and soft dress and a long towel bandwidth. Clothing, face and posture, like flying in the early Tang Dynasty, have been completely China-oriented.