A New Study on the Buddhist Themes in the Uighur Caves of the Western Thousand-Buddha Grottoes in Dunhuang
Focusing on the themes in the Uighur caves of the Western Thousand-Buddha Grottoes site,this paper points out that a group of statues depicting the Medicine Buddha begging for alms reflects that the Buddhist beliefs held by lay practi-tioners of the time tended to be highly secularized and largely uninfluenced by canonical scripture.Study on the relics from the Uighur period in these caves has also demonstrated that a painting of Three Buddhas sitting side by side on the north side of the central pillar in cave 9 is a combination of Buddha Amitabha,in the center,and two other Buddhas,Sakyamuni and Maitreya.The combination of these figures reflects that Buddhist teachings mixed with Pure Land belief was very popular a-mong the people of Dunhuang,particularly faith in the existence of the Western Pure Land.These more secularized beliefs,es-pecially in combination with canonical themes from Buddhism,exerted a far-reaching impact on the themes and features of Buddhist art in the cave temples of Dunhuang.
Western Thousand-Buddha GrottoesUighur periodimage themesBuddhist beliefssecularization
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