云冈石窟 The Yungang Grottoes

 

云冈石窟位于中国山西省大同市西郊，主要建于北魏兴安二年（453年）到太和十九年（495年）间，是中国第一处由皇室显贵主持开凿的大型石窟。整个窟群分东、中、西三部分。东部的石窟多以佛塔为主，又称塔洞；中部“昙曜五窟”是云冈开凿最早，气魄最大的窟群；西部窟群时代略晚，大多是北魏迁都洛阳后的作品。

石窟依山开凿，在武州河北岸东西绵延1公里，主要洞窟达51个（其中保存较好的约20个），整个窟群共有大小佛蹲1100多个，大小佛像51000多尊，最大佛像高达17米，最小佛像仅有2厘米高。最大石窟是第6窟（北魏孝文帝时开凿），由地面到窟顶高达20米。

此外，在云冈石窟的崖壁后上方，还保留着建于明代、也称云冈堡的军事要塞遗迹。

1961年云冈石窟被中华人民共和国国务院列为第一批全国重点文物保护单位。2001年云冈石窟被列为世界文化遗产。云冈石窟与甘肃敦煌莫高窟、河南洛阳龙门石窟等中国著名石窟列为世界文化遗产。

北魏时，虽有太武帝七年时诏令毁佛焚经，坑杀僧人的太武灭佛，但大体来说，佛教蓬勃发展，故开窟造像颇为盛行。初期，昙曜上奏文成帝，于和平元年（460年），在桑干河的支流武周川旁的断崖上凿山石壁，开窟五所。之后，武州山开窟造像大规模地展开，进入了崇佛的高潮时期。

云冈石窟的佛像在多種因素的作用下，使許多佛像損壞相當嚴重。這些因素包括了：

- 佛像本身的材質：當年為了雕刻的便利性，選在石頭硬度相對較低的云冈，使得佛像較不耐風吹雨打。

- 盜竊

- 不適當的維護：清朝時為了保護佛像，曾大規模的重新泥塑。工匠將木樁打入佛像並繞上繩子，以類似今日的鋼筋混凝土工程的方式進行維修。但當泥層脫落時，木樁就外露，使得佛像千瘡百孔

The Yungang Grottoes, formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes (Chinese: 武州山 / 武周山; pinyin: Wǔzhōushān), are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes built during the Northern Wei dynasty near the city of Datong, then called Pingcheng, in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao.

The site is located about 16 km west of the city of Datong, in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. There are 53 major caves, along with 51,000 niches housing the same number of Buddha statues. Additionally, there are around 1,100 minor caves. A Ming dynasty-era fort is still located on top of the cliff housing the Yungang Grottoes.

The grottoes were excavated in the south face of a sandstone cliff about 2600 feet long and 30 to 60 feet high. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Yungang Grottoes are considered by UNESCO to be a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... [and] ...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices.