Cave 10

The decorative patterns, animal and plant patterns and patterns on the lintel of cave 10 cover all the caves in Yungang, accounting for almost one seventh of the space. Among them, green dragon, white tiger, rosefinch and Xuanwu are the most decorative patterns, especially in the caves of the second phase. These four are regarded as the four gods in the sky by the Han people, which are called "four spirits", or four gods. It is said that they are distributed in the East, West, South and north of the sky, playing the role of setting the four directions and symbolizing good luck. Animals and plants play an important role in the decorative art of Yungang Grottoes.

For example, the edge pattern carving on the lintel of cave 10-12 highlights the rosefinch, white deer, lotus and Huasheng boy in high relief on the honeysuckle pattern relief belt with continuous symmetry. This kind of decorative art can be said to be a new creation of national style.

From the perspective of decorative themes, the most important are lotus pattern and tangled plant pattern, which have a great influence on the decorative patterns of Chinese descendants. The pattern of lotus twig plants is a decoration rising in the northern and Southern Dynasties. In the middle period of Yungang Grottoes, trees are often decorated. It was draped in Sakyamuni, and the path was formed under the bodhi tree. Therefore, some Buddhas' heads are engraved with bodhi trees that are as Yin as cover.

The main Buddha is worshipped in the back room of cave 10 in Yungang, but it is a pity that the main statue has been destroyed. The existing master Bodhisattvas and the left and right flanking Bodhisattvas are all supplementary works of later generations, and the artistic level can not be expressed in Japanese.

Address: at the foot of Wuzhou mountain, Datong City, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 113.13492

Latitude: 40.112926

Tel: 0352-3029625