Buddha's gaze into eternity

Son's devotion shines down for centuries in a grotto that still fascinates, Zhao Xu and Ma Jingna report.

How would a son of a great filial piety honor his devoutly Buddhist mother after her passing? Juqu Mengxun (368-433), the second ruler of Northern Liang — a dynasty that partially or entirely controlled the Hexi Corridor between 397 and 439 — answered this by carving Buddhist caves into mountain cliffs, before filling them with statues and covering their walls in sacred art.

He chose Tianti Mountain for this purpose. Less than several kilometers from his power center Wuwei, then known as Liangzhou, this secluded outcrop of the Qilian Mountains was a place of solitude, suited for little but meditation.

While the exact cave resulting from the king's devotion to his mother remains unknown, it is certain that this place became a center of grotto carving, a practice that flourished for centuries to come. An early spring visit, just an hour's drive from Wuwei's city center, brings visitors face-to-face with a magnificent reflection of the legacy: a massive south-facing, 30-meter-high sandstone statue of Shakyamuni Buddha dated to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).