Huagaisi Grottoes

Huagaisi Grottoes

Huagai Temple grottoes, located in the west of Gangu County, east of 20 villages on the South Bank of Weihe River. The green grass on the top of the mountain is like a red monk hat, which is worn on the Red Cliff like a column, so the local people call it Lama hat top. Because of the peculiar mountain situation, a peak protrudes like a knife and an axe, straight into the clouds, like a red man with a green top. The caves arranged in zigzag shape above the cliff are scattered, like a beehive, so it is called Huagai cave.

Huagaisi Grottoes

geographical position

Huagai temple is adjacent to Zhushan mountain in the West with red sunset; Weishui River in the north with green waves; Qinling Mountain in the South with dangerous air. Dingtian road at the foot of the mountain is full of water and horses. Since ancient times, Sangzi is an ideal place for Buddhism and Taoism.

General situation of Grottoes

There are 18 numbered caves in Huagai temple, which include Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and ancestor worship. The dominant one is Taoism. There are 60 statues in the 18 caves, including 44 statues more than 60 cm, 13 miniature sculptures less than 13 cm, and three exquisite head portraits of Fu Lu Shou Sanxing. Among them, there are 46 Taoist statues, accounting for three-quarters of the total. From the combination of statues, except Wuliang hall and Yuhuang cave are group statues, Confucius cave, Fuxi cave and Lingguan cave are single statues, the rest of the caves are all statues of one master and two followers. The painting and layout of murals are basically the same in each cave. Except for story paintings in Wuliang hall and Sakyamuni cave, other murals are painted on the left and right walls, and the top of the cave is round light fan or painting and calligraphy.

History of Grottoes

The Huagai Temple grottoes were excavated in the TAIDING period. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoism and rejected Buddhism. Many temples were changed into Taoist temples. The confluence of the three religions was very common in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although Daxiangshan was a Buddhist place mainly in the Tang Dynasty, except for the Giant Buddha, all the other grottoes were changed into Taoism or the combination of the three religions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, Taoism was the main form of Daxiangshan, Xianlong cave and Huagai temple in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, all the statues in other grottoes were destroyed, and only the statues in Huagai Temple Grottoes survived because they were in hiding places

Address: 10 Li west of Gangu County, Tianshui City

Longitude: 105.2566986084

Latitude: 34.722583770752