| History |  |
 |
The grottoes of the early period (460-65 CE) are composed of five main caves (16-20); these magnificent and simple caves were dug under the direction of the monk Tan Yao and are named after him. For the layout of the grottoes, large caves were dug to house the giant statues, 13-15m tall. They have a U-shaped plan and arched roofs, imitating the thatched sheds in ancient India. Each cave has a door and a window. The central images have tall bodies and occupy the major part of the caves, while on the outer walls a thousand Buddhist statues are carved, a feature rarely seen in the tradition of Chinese history of grotto carving. Buddhas of the past, present, and future, a thousand Buddhas standing together, are the dominating subject matter. The styles of the statuary reflect some of the characteristics of the Liangzhou Grottoes and the Gandhara and Mathura statues, demonstrating a strong foreign flavor, especially in clothing and jewellery. For the human forms, features of the ethnic groups (tall, robust, powerful) living in northern China at that time may have been imitated, thus creating a new model for Buddhist statuary.
The history of Wei, or Weishu, records that Fa Guo, the Administrator of Monks, required monks to pay homage to the emperor, declaring "the person who has the ability to advocate Buddhist faith is our sovereign. I am not paying homage to the Emperor but to Buddha". The Five Caves of Tan Yao were executed at a time when worshipping Buddha was conceived as being tantamount to worshipping the Emperor. The colossi of Buddhist images inside these caves represent the first five Northern Wei Emperors.
The main images in these five caves are huge figures of Buddha, each dominating the whole cave. These five caves might be divided into two groups according to their layout and main statues. Caves 18,19 and 20 form one group, each containing three generations of images of Buddha. |
| Description | |
On the north wall is a statue of seated statue of Sakyamuni, 13.7 meters high. This Buddha, with his plump face and broad shoulders, is a typical example of the sculptural art of the Yungang caves. A standing Buddha on the east side looks dignified in a Kasaya. The other one on the west side was damaged long time ago. |
See the tabloid
