Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as Thousand Buddha Cave, is located in Dunhuang at the western end of Hexi Corridor. It was built in the years of Zhao Xuan and Fu Jian in the former Qin Dynasty, and has developed into a huge scale after the Northern Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Xixia and Yuan Dynasty, with 735 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals and 24 15 clay sculptures. It is the largest and richest Buddhist art site in the world.
The Mogao Grottoes were built during the period of Fu Jian, Emperor of Zhao Xuan in Qin Dynasty. According to the book Li Kerang Rebuilds the Monument to the Mogao Grottoes in the Tang Dynasty, in 366 BC, two years after the founding of the Qin Dynasty, the monk Lezun passed by this mountain and suddenly saw the golden light shining like Buddha, so he dug the first grotto on the rock wall.
Since then, Zen master Fa Liang and others have continued to build caves here to practice, which are called "desert grottoes", meaning "high places in the desert". Later generations renamed it "Mogao Grottoes" because of the common "desert" and "Mo".
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The construction and historical process of Dunhuang Grottoes, the long history of Dunhuang, the local influential clans and surnames, and the relationship between Dunhuang and neighboring ethnic groups and the western regions are not or rarely recorded in history. There are thousands of portraits of patrons in Dunhuang Grottoes, of which 1000 still holds the nomination title. Portraits and inscriptions provide vivid, rich and true historical information and clues.
We learned about Yin, Suo, Li, Zhai, Zhang, Cao and other historical events closely related to the history of Dunhuang and the construction history of Dunhuang grottoes, and they created the historical facts of Dunhuang grottoes. They are valuable materials for studying the history of Dunhuang during the rule of Zhang and Cao Gui.
It also enables us to understand the activities of minority regimes such as Tuoba Xianbei, Tubo, Tuyuhun, Uighur and Dangmeng in Dunhuang in different historical periods, the complex relations among ethnic groups and their culture and art; It reflects the etiquette and hygiene system, the handmaiden system, the Tubo official system and the control over the rebel regime in the Tang Dynasty.