Figure 1 Qianfo Cliff, Guangyuan City, Sichuan In the Tang Dynasty, temple statues gradually became the mainstream, and the art of grotto statues was no longer as prosperous as it was in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. However, Buddhist grotto statues in Sichuan ha

Figure 1 Qianfo Cliff, Guangyuan City, Sichuan

In the Tang Dynasty , temple statues gradually became the mainstream , and the art of grotto statues is no longer as prosperous as it was in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, but Buddhist grotto statues in Sichuan have been at a peak of development from the Tang to the Song Dynasty.

What I would like to introduce to you now are the cliff grotto statues in Qianfoya, Guangyuan City, Sichuan, which were excavated after the Tang Dynasty.

Tang Dynasty, Thousand Buddha Cliff Grottoes, Guangyuan, Sichuan, cliff statues with two Buddhas sitting side by side

Figure 2 Thousand Buddha Cliff Grottoes, Guangyuan, Sichuan, two Buddhas sitting side by side in the cave

In the Lotus Sutra, it is said that when the Buddha was preaching the Lotus Sutra to his disciples, Multi-Treasure Buddha heard the news and came from heaven to help Sakyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sutra. Buddha Seeing the arrival of the Many Treasures Buddha, he stood up and paid respects. The Many Treasures Buddha then sat half-way in front of Sakyamuni Buddha. So the picture of two Buddhas sitting side by side tells this story.

The two Buddha statues in this photo are round and plump. They do not have a sense of robustness, but rather a sense of plumpness and obesity. The open face is a characteristic of Buddhist statues after the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The hair is in a high spiral bun and the open face is round and plump.

It can be seen from this that Guangyuan Thousand Buddha Cliff Buddhist statues were basically excavated after the prosperous Tang Dynasty, so the style shows the plump and fat beauty of the late prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Tang Dynasty, Thousand Buddha Cliff, Guangyuan, Sichuan Cliff statues of one Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and two disciples

Figure 2 Thousand Buddha Cliff Grottoes, Guangyuan, Sichuan One Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and two disciples

Figure 3 is another Buddhist cave in Thousand Buddha Cliff, with a group of statues of one Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and two disciples.

You can clearly feel that the plump Buddha statues after the Tang Dynasty had a profound influence on Sichuan statues. However, when the scale of fatness is not well grasped, the statues tend to look bloated and dull. This problem exists in this group of statues. We can feel that although it is of the same era as the statues we saw earlier, it feels dull and lacks vividness.

Tang Dynasty, Thousand Buddhas End, Guangyuan, Sichuan

Picture 4 Thousand Buddhas End, Guangyuan, Sichuan One Buddha, two disciples, two Bodhisattvas and two powerful men

Picture 4 is a Buddhist niche cave with one Buddha, two disciples, two Bodhisattvas and two powerful men. The statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva disciples in the

cave are quite satisfactory and have nothing special, but the statues are relatively well preserved. What is more special is the two statues of strong men on both sides in front of the cave niche, which well express the pursuit of bodybuilding and strength in the Tang Dynasty, highlighting the beauty of dynamic changes in body shape and muscles. This is exactly the same as the statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva in the cave niche, forming a sense of change between stillness and movement.

At this point, we have finished talking about the Buddhist statue models in the Tang Dynasty. Finally, we will summarize:

1) The bodybuilding statue style of the early Tang Dynasty is divided into two parts: Chang'an style and Luoyang style. Chang'an style Buddha statues mainly wear low-collared clothes, exposing more of the breasts. Luoyang style Buddha statues mainly wear shoulder-length clothing, with no upper body exposed.

2) The main difference of Chang'an style is that Bodhisattva bares his upper body, wears fewer accessories, does not have Yingluo , wears a shoulder-baring diagonal silk shawl, and twists his body in an S-shape. The Luoyang style Bodhisattva wears more accessories, including Yingluo, and the body twists are relatively smaller. It can be seen that Chang'an is much more open than Luoyang.

3) After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the style of Buddhist statues changed greatly, from bodybuilding to plump statues.

Therefore, the body-building style of Chang'an and Luoyang in the early Tang Dynasty and the fat style after the prosperous Tang Dynasty together constitute a model of fullness and change that gives a dynamic sense to Buddhist statues in the Tang Dynasty. This model had a great influence on the development of Buddhist statues in later generations. This was the most exciting and glorious period in the development of Buddhist statues after the localization of Chinese Buddhist statues.

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