After leaving the urban area of ??Kuqa, we still entered the Duku Highway from the Yanyangou toll station, drove for 1 hour at a very low speed limit, and turned to the provincial highway leading to Kizil. This road extends on the Gobi Desert, and we are going

The place is Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves, 69 kilometers away from Kuqa.

At the traffic police checkpoint, a staff member from the Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves happened to take our car. Because the ID card was degaussed, we could not pass it, so we had to return to the unit to get a certificate.

Under his guidance, we arrived at our destination smoothly.

The location of Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave belongs to Kizil Town, Baicheng County, and is also the center of Qiuci in the Western Region.

Thousand Buddha Cave is located on a steep cliff. Kizil means red in Uyghur, and it is probably named after the red Qiletag Mountain opposite the Weigan River.

Due to changes in religious beliefs, Buddhist murals have been artificially damaged. Some had their eyes broken, and the gold foil was scraped off. Some herders even boiled water for cooking in the caves.

Before the founding of New China, the German Lecoq came here twice, frantically cut the walls, stole a large number of exquisite murals, and shamelessly declared: "Because all paintings are useless if they are not preserved by me or similar institutions in Europe."

Doubtfully leading to destruction.” However, during World War II, more than half of the murals he stole were destroyed in the war, and the rest were kept in the German Asian Art Museum.

Although the murals left in the Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave are still preserved in the cave, they did not receive due protection until the founding of New China, and the Mural Research Institute was established.

All we saw were four caves that were temporarily open, also to protect the murals.

The murals here are in a unique diamond grid pattern. Each grid tells a Buddhist story and reflects the blend of ancient civilizations such as Greece and Rome.

The sun and moon gods in Greek mythology were transformed into the images of the sun and the moon.

Nude images also appear in murals. Tiangong performers, singing girls and dancing gods are naked, and even Bodhisattvas are naked.

In a cave, there were no murals left. On the wall where the murals were stripped was a passage left by the Korean artist Han Leran when he was protecting and cleaning the cave. While he was sorting out a large amount of mural information and flying back, the plane crashed.

, unfortunately died.

Standing at the entrance of the cave on the cliff, looking at the lush banks of the Weigan River and the desolate Queletage Mountain opposite, the wind blows by, bringing infinite sadness. This sadness even exceeds that of visiting Dunhuang Mogao.

The sadness of the cave.

It was only when my eyes shifted to the statue of Kumarajiva in the square that I felt relieved.

His sculptures are not images of Buddha meditating, but like thinkers, who seem to be thinking about the wheel of history and his life.

Kumarajiva's father gave up his family's hereditary official title and crossed the Congling from distant India to Kucha.

He was hired as a national advisor, and the king married his sister Giva to him. Giva gave birth to a son named Kumarajiva.

Kumarajiva returned to his country after completing his studies at the age of 12. He passed through Shule Kingdom and met the eminent monk of the Prajna Kong Sect of Mahayana Buddhism, and then converted to Mahayana Buddhism.

He argued with eminent monks in Wensu State and became famous in the Western Regions.

However, history also gave him a rough experience.

The former Qin Emperor Fu Jian sent Lu Guang to lead his troops to attack Kucha on the pretext of welcoming Kumarajiva.

After Lu Guang captured Kucha, he did not immediately return Kumarajiva to Chang'an. Instead, he got drunk in the city, forced Kumarajiva to drink, and forced him to marry the princess of Kucha.

A monk who broke the precepts.

When Lu Guang returned to Chang'an, the former Qin Dynasty destroyed the country, and he established the Houliang regime in Wuwei, Gansu.

After Lu Guang's death, the Emperor of Later Qin attacked Houliang, and then sent Kumarajiva to Chang'an.

Kumarajiva was not only proficient in Sanskrit and Kucha language, but also proficient in Chinese. He translated many Buddhist classics and even influenced the application of Chinese.

Some people say that if Buddhist culture is completely abandoned, we may not even be able to speak fully.

In the Buddhist classics translated by Kumarajiva, there are many words that are still used in daily life, such as: troubles, wisdom, ultimate, a clean break, great enlightenment, wild imagination, ghosts and snake gods, vast supernatural powers... From the Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave

Walking along the stairs from the cliff to the ground, he passed by the statue of Kumarajiva. He was still in a meditative state.

When I stood opposite him, the Thousand Buddha Cave was in the background.

It seemed that I really met Kumarajiva himself who came from west to east to preach Buddhism.