Go straight from the back, and on the north wall of the second cave is the most famous map of Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures.
This part of the mural is obviously the most important exhibit at the bottom of the box.
There are lights on the rock wall above the top of the mural. There are also several cameras on both sides, which is the most high-end equipment here.
The series of Buddhist scripture drawings in front are also clearly visible under the lighting.
Although there are six sets of Buddhist scripture drawings, only the first three are actually clear. The first one is still a line drawing, and most of the rest are blurred.
Xiaomi now introduces to everyone:
"The sutra-seeking pictures in the Thousand Buddhas Cave are really a treasure. In the past, no one knew that there were these six murals here. The Mogao Grottoes have long been famous, and tourists go there when they come to Dunhuang. Few people know about the East Thousand Buddhas Cave.
It wasn't until two years ago that the rock formation suddenly suffered a large-scale landslide. The stone wall inside collapsed, leaving a large hole, which revealed the six murals behind it.
These paintings were bright and eye-catching when they were created. After expert appraisal, they have the longest history.
The Dunhuang Academy then announced that these six murals are the earliest paintings of Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures in China. They were painted in caves in the ancient Xixia era and were blocked by stone walls. However, the painters still could not predict them.
These paintings just came out and there was not much publicity, so no one knows about the existence of these murals now!
If all the bosses come to see this, it means they are all understanding people!"
Xiao Min was chattering there alone, while Chen Zhi and the others turned on the searchlight and looked at the murals carefully.
I saw that there was no protection in front of the mural, and you could reach it directly with your hand. The first one was a line drawing, and the second and third ones were more colorful. The overall color was blue-green and orange-yellow. The content and expression techniques were basically the same. Most of them were
It is not an independent screen.
As for the content of the mural, it is actually similar to the photos on the Internet. Xuanzang is wearing a cassock, Sun Wukong with the head of a monkey is holding a white horse, and Guanyin in front is guiding them.
All the pictures symbolically represent Xuanzang's 17-year arduous journey to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures.
Chen Zhi once read on the Internet: There is a certain historical reason why the picture of Xuanzang's search for scriptures appears in the Dunhuang Grottoes murals.
According to the analysis of the Dunhuang Academy, the documents unearthed from the Dunhuang Scripture Cave contain many stories about Xuanzang's journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, and there are also many records about Xuanzang himself.
It proves that Xuanzang has a very close relationship with the people of this place.
"The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" clearly records that Xuanzang received adventurous help from local officials and people when he passed through Guazhou on his journey to the west.
There is another point in the legends of the local people that is different from "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty".
According to local legend, Xuanzang received Guanyin’s guidance here, telling him the path ahead for his journey to the west, and enlightened Sun Wukong to become his disciple. From then on, this great disciple protected him all the way, slaying demons and demons, and served as his disciple.
Dharma protector.
The third "Sutra-seeking Picture" on the north side of the west wall of Cave 2 shows this content. The Tang Monk in cassock stands on the bank of the rolling torrent, with his hands clasped together, worshiping Guanyin.
Behind him, Sun Wukong has a hair shawl and a golden hoop on his head. He is holding a white horse in one hand and looking at Guanyin in the distance with the other hand raised in front of his forehead. He does not salute and jumps up on the wall in a disrespectful manner. It is obvious that his wildness has not been lost.
When he looked more closely, Chen Zhi always felt that the colors of these murals were too muddy. They were layered one on top of another. After years of oxidation, signs of mixing of colors could be seen.
We know that after blue is covered with yellow, no matter how bright the yellow is, green will always appear after time wears off. This is called the fusion of colors.
When red is covered with yellow, orange will also appear. This painting is like this now, with many traces of color superposition.
In the following time, Chen Zhi asked Pang Wei to find a reason to drop Xiaomi and two scientific researchers into a nearby cave.
He stayed here, opened some of his magnifying glasses, and examined the murals carefully through the light.
The content of the next three murals is obviously different from the previous ones, and the colors are still turbid and superimposed, making it very mottled and difficult to distinguish.
It can be roughly seen that Master Xuanzang is standing sideways in the painting, with long eyebrows, slightly closed eyes, a solemn expression, hands clasped together, wearing a long monk's robe and cassock, and has a bald head.
The person behind him appears to be wearing a light cyan short shirt, brown trousers, cyan leggings on his calves, thin flat shoes, a cape wrapped around his neck, a long stick on his left shoulder, and his head turned to one side.
There is a brown horse behind him. The mural is mottled, but there should be nothing on the horse's back.
Although the contents of these three scripture-seeking murals are consistent with the previous ones, the characters and painting styles are quite different, as if they were painted very deliberately.
Chen Zhi carefully integrated it and found that there were three doubts in these scripture drawings.
First, there are traces of scrubbing on the mural. The area where the figures are located is light in color, but the surrounding areas are dark brown like smoke. "Wiping" traces can also be seen on the statue of Shuiyue Guanyin. It should be that someone deliberately cleaned the painting.
I cleaned it, not sure why.
Secondly, behind the peeled-off part of the sutra drawing diagram on the wall, the underlying mural has been clearly exposed. In the incomplete part, ripples of ink lines painted on the stone green can be seen, which are similar to the color and painting method of the water waves painted in the previous murals.
Thirdly, and the most important point, the skeleton of Guanyin in this painting... is somewhat uneven.
"These paintings have been modified!" Chen Zhi stood close to the murals and said softly...
"Yeah?",
Fat Wei immediately put his face against the mural. After looking up and down carefully, his face became very serious:
"Yes, it is indeed!
Absolutely he is.
We've seen this happen before, it's a picture within a picture!
The ancients were very particular about it. Sometimes they believed in this god and had statues, murals, etc. painted on them. If something went wrong after a while, these paintings would be hidden.
Because I wanted to hide the content of the painting below, I added it to the picture later, so the colors and styles were messy and did not match.
Because the top is just a cover, and the bottom is the original!
Damn it, why do I feel so awkward looking at these paintings? It turns out that tnd is a pirated version!"
"There must be something hidden here!",
Chen Zhi stared at those pictures and said:
"It's the original author of these words, something hidden in the picture that he doesn't want the human world to know..."