Kizil Thousand Buddha Grottos

The Kizil Thousand Buddha Grottos lied in Halik Mountains within Baicheng County’s border. It was 67 miles away from Baicheng in the east and it was 73 miles away from Kuqa in the west. The grottos were carved in the cliff on the north bank of Muzat River. It was firstly carved in A.D.3 century and it was in period of great prosperity from A.D.5 century to A.D.8 century. The project was completed gradually and it was one of Chinese Four Buddhist Grottos.

It was recorded that the scale of the Buddhist grottos were in period of great prosperity from A.D.5 century to A.D.8 century. Many believers worshiped the Buddha and there were many temples. In A.D.5 century, the population of Qiuzi was more than 100,000 and there were more than 10,000 monks.

The Kizil Thousand Buddha Grottos had 236 numbered grottos. It had 135 complete ones and 80 grottos that had existing paintings. There were two kinds of grottos. One was the Bikeluo Cave that provided the monks for living and doing religious services. Another was Zhiti Cave that provided the monks for worshiping the Buddha and preaching. All paintings were in Zhiti Cave.

The Kizil Thousand Buddha Grottos had its art value and more than 10,000 square decimeters paintings. The contents of the paintings were the stories of Buddha history, Yingyuang and Bensheng. The stories of Bensheng were selected material widely and kept for a long time. It was in the first place throughout the whole country. Except that, lots of rhombus-shape pictures were used in the paintings and they were the feature of the Qiuci Buddhist Grottos. Its arts of Hinayana grottos were different from the arts of Mahayana and had special elegant demeanor. Besides the content of Buddhism, there were many contents of the agricultural cultivation, hunting, dancing and the caravan on the Silk Road and showed the scenes of Qiuci and ancient Silk Road. In 1961, the State Council announced it as the first-class state major cultural remains protection unit.

Written by www.travel-silkroad.com
Translated by Beijing Star-light Translation Center
February 12, 2001