Yungang Grottoes and Buddhist Restoration

It was in the year 453 that the monk Tan Yao hurried to Pingcheng (present-day Datong in Shanxi Province) through the barren Loess Plateau of northern Shanxi. He had been summoned by the newly enthroned Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Seven years previously he had run for his life along the same route, but in the opposite direction. He had been fleeing from the so-called Taiwu Suppression of Buddhism, in which Buddhist temples and images were razed, scriptures burned, and monks killed. This destruction and slaughter were an expression of the then emperor’s disavowal of Buddhism; it was the belief system’s first imperial repudiation since being introduced to China in the first century.

The Taiwu Holocaust

The Northern Wei Dynasty had been established by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei (Sienpi) ethnicity, of what is now northeast China and Inner Mongolia. The third emperor Taiwu, named Tuoba Tao (408-452), was enthroned in 423. He was respected as a fearless and bold armored emperor, who personally commanded his troops on the battlefield. Emperor Taiwu led the military expeditions necessary to put an end to what had been a gradual 130-year-long disintegration of northern China.

It was into Northern Wei Dynasty-ruled northern China that Buddhism first entered, and where Buddhist politics, medicine, architecture and art had a profound influence. From there it spread throughout China. The first two emperors of the Northern Wei, Tuoba Gui and Tuoba Si, were both Buddhists. Tuoba Gui selected officials, artisans and monks from areas he had occupied and relocated them to Pingcheng. He also built many Buddhist temples in the capital. Tuoba Si, also a devout Buddhist, was instrumental in Buddhism’s rapid development in the early Northern Wei Dynasty.

Emperor Taiwu, however, rejected Buddhism and become a Taoist. His conversion is largely attributable to the influence of his Prime Minister Cui Hao and Cui’s teacher, the Taoist monk Kou Qianzhi. Cui Hao was well versed in the theory and practice of Taoism. He also had good standing in the Northern Wei Dynasty court, having made meritorious contributions to its establishment and stabilization during his terms of office under its first three emperors. Both he and his teacher Kou resented Buddhism’s supplanting of the indigenous belief system Cui and Kou’s frequent extolling of the virtues of Taoism and decrying of Buddhism gradually convinced Emperor Taiwu that TaoismTaoism was the true faith. He eventually established a Taoist temple in the southeastern part of the capital city and gave himself and his reign the Taoist name of Taiping Zhenjun, or True Man of Harmony and Peace.

The statue in Cave 20 sanctifies Emperor Wencheng, who restored Buddhism to China. (Image: China Today)This dramatic change of faith by Emperor Taiwu was also due to the heavy demands that maintaining the capital’s Buddhist temples and their monks, who paid neither taxes nor living expenses and were not expected to do corvee labor or military service, made on the imperial coffers. Added to the heavy military expenditure that constant warfare had generated, the emperor often found himself short of both funds and manpower. In 438, Emperor Taiwu decreed the secularization of Buddhist monks below the age of 50 in order that they do both corvee labor and military service. In 444 he issued another imperial decree forbidding the shelter in any household of Buddhist monks, on pain of death.

Emperor Taiwu captured the enemy stronghold of Chang’an (Xi’an) in an expedition he led against an uprising in 446. In one of the city’s Buddhist temples he discovered a cache of weapons that seemed indisputable evidence of an alliance with the vanquished rebels. In a rage, he ordered the killing of all the monks, and that the temple’s properties be confiscated. During a subsequent inventory, they were found to include winemaking implements and valuables belonging to officials and wealthy families. The temple also housed a women’s sanctum. This decided Prime Minister Cui Hao that the time had come to annihilate Buddhism once and for all. He reported these discoveries to the emperor, urging him to eradicate Buddhism by killing all monks, burning all scriptures and destroying all temples and statues. The severity of his proposal shocked even his teacher, Kou Qianzhi, who warned Cui Hao that he would one day pay heavily for his cruelty. The emperor, however, acted on his prime minister’s advice and issued the decree launching a nationwide suppression of Buddhism.

Fortunately for Buddhist monks elsewhere, opposition to the decree by crown prince Tuoba Huang lessened the extent of its execution. The crown prince submitted frequent memorials to his emperor father, urging him to disregard Prime Minister Cui’s proposal. Although these appeals ultimately went unheeded, they created the time necessary for monks to secrete Buddhist statues and scriptures and for them to make their escape. Tan Yao was among those who fled.

Soon after the suppression, Kou Qianzhi died of illness, and Emperor Taiwu also fell sick. Its chaotic aftermath and Cui’s apparent ill intent made the emperor regret the severity of his action. He found a pretext for ordering Cui Hao and his 100-strong family members’ execution, and in 452, six years after the suppression, Emperor Taiwu died in his palace. The succeeding Emperor Wencheng ordered the restoration of Buddhism upon his enthronement.

Buddhist Restoration

When word of the impending suppression reached Monk Tan Yao, he initially refused to flee, vowing to die for his faith. It was only after the crown prince Tuoba Huang came personally to persuade him that he finally agreed to leave the capital.

As Tan Yao made his way along the main road leading to the capital, he met with a distinguished company on horseback led by the newly enthroned Emperor Wencheng. The emperor knew of the widely esteemed Monk Tan Yao through his father, crown prince Tuoba Huang, and earnestly sought his acquaintance and counsel. Tan Yao joined the emperor’s party and made his way to Pingcheng. He was soon given an official post whereby he was responsible for all Buddhist affairs, most notably Buddhist monks. Believing that full restoration of Buddhism depended on appeasement of the ruling class, Tan Yao decided to integrate religious worship with obeisance to the emperor. On his instructions, Buddhist statues erected in temples of the capital city were fashioned to resemble the emperor. One stone Buddha built on the orders of Emperor Wencheng was modeled entirely after him, right down to the moles on his face and foot that were replicated with two black pebbles. In 454, Buddhist monks erected five Sakyamuni statues in the main temple of Pingcheng in honor of the first five emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 460 Tan Yao launched a still more grandiose project to consolidate the theocracy he had created.

Buddhist “Mount Rushmore”

Tan Yao proposed to Emperor Wencheng that five grottoes be chiseled out of the Wuzhou Mountain cliffs in eastern Pingcheng. His idea was to place a statue of Buddha honoring one the first five Northern Wei Dynasty emperors in each, and to build temples above them. Wuzhou Mountain was where Emperor Wencheng and his predecessors had prayed for rain and the blessing of deities. Tan Yao’s reasoning was that the project would safeguard the prosperity of the dynasty while at the same time upholding Buddhism. Emperor Wencheng happily accepted his proposal and offered support in the form of manpower, materials and finance. The grottoes were named Yungang after the Wuzhou Mountain’s highest peak.

At 17 meters in height, this Buddhist statue in the rear chamber of Cave No. 5 is the largest in the Yungang Grottoes. (Image: China Today)Tan Yao had previously traveled to Gansu’s Liangzhou (present-day Wuwei) to make his Buddhist devotions. He had visited the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and been enchanted with their frescoes. Construction of the Yungang Grottoes started in 460 under his supervision; the five emperors’ grottoes were completed five years later. They are the earliest and most magnificent of the caves at Yungang, their superb workmanship and exquisite carvings rendering them masterpieces of grotto art. They are currently numbered Caves 16 to 20, and popularly known as the “Five Tan Yao Grottoes.”

Each grotto enshrines a giant stone Buddha honoring one of the five Northern Wei emperors. Although no record exists as to which emperor each represents, the popular assumption is that cave numbers 16 to 20 are dedicated to Emperors Daowu, Mingyuan, Taiwu, Jingmu and Wencheng. Cave 18 is believed to enshrine Emperor Taiwu, grandfather of Wencheng and destroyer of Buddhism. This is testament indeed to the sincere Buddhist advocacy of forgiveness and leniency. The statue in Cave 18 is no less magnificent than its fellows but does have subtle differences. Its left hand is placed on the chest, in a gesture of apology, and its “thousand-Buddha kasaya” is engraved with numerous Buddhist images believed to represent the monks that were killed in the Taiwu Suppression of Buddhism. The image represents the belief that in clinging to the body of Taiwu the slaughtered monks would be lifted out of the sea of bitterness upon Taiwu’s ascent to Heaven.

The Buddhist statue in Cave 19 is, at 16.8m in height, the largest and tallest of the five. Yet the personage it represents -- crown prince Tuoba Huang -- was never actually enthroned. As the father of Emperor Wencheng, his title as emperor was posthumous. Although he died young, the crown prince was actively involved in imperial administration. His greatest merit is in having saved the lives of many monks and prevented the destruction of large amounts of Buddhist scriptures, statuary and other objects. Tuoba Huang was given the credit for Buddhism’s rapid restoration after the suppression.

As Cave 20 has collapsed on one side, its giant Buddha sits out in the open air. The statue, robustly built with a high-bridged nose, thin lips, reflective eyes, and long earlobes that reach the shoulder, is said to represent Emperor Wencheng. It sits in a meditative position, its calm smile and soothing expression conveying universal love and benevolence. Emperor Wencheng was greatly respected by his people. Tan Yao once compared him to a “living Buddha.” The statue is the most frequently published symbol of the Yungang Grottoes.

From Yungang to Longmen

In 494, the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital southward from Pingcheng to Henan’s Luoyang. More caves were accordingly chiseled out of the Longmen Mountains in the suburbs of the new capital. The Longmen Grottoes are built into two cliffs that face one another across a river. They contain more than 97,300 Buddhist statues, most of them chiseled during the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Northern Wei Dynasty is also the largest contributor to the grotto art at Mogao, whose construction spans several dynasties.

The Northern Wei is actually famous for being a “dynasty of rock.” Its ancestors originated in the caves of the Greater Hinggan Mountains in Northeast China. They later emerged from the primeval forests into the areas of grassland, and eventually to the Central Plains. During the process, this primitive minority ethnic tribe developed into an economic, military and cultural giant that established its kingdom on the Central Plains. The Xianbei branch and other minority ethnic groups in the Yellow River Valley gradually assimilated into the local Han people. Under the reign of the Northern Wei Dynasty the war-trodden Yellow River Valley prospered.

The three largest grottoes in China, including Yungang, have been inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List.