These caves are fewer in number and off the beaten path from Dunhuang. They are very beautiful and distinctly different from the Mogao Caves.
The Yulin Grottoes, whose 1000-year construction spanned the Northern Wei (CE 386-533) to the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasties, but the most interesting thing about the Yulin Grottoes is that they contain
works belonging to the Western Xia (CE 1038-1227) Dynasty, aka the
Tang Empire. The painting of this period is distinctive in the prominent use of a light green pigment, and the combination of different cultural elements that might be expected of a non-native occupying force.
The Tanguts espoused a form of Buddhism that represents a hybrid mix of
Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with elements of animism, or the
belief that all things, animate or inanimate, possess a spirit. The
source of Tangut Buddhism's scriptures is the Chinese interpretation of
Buddhism, translated into the Qiangic language of the Tanguts, though in
practice, the Tanguts mixed elements of both the Chinese and the
Tibetan interpretations of Buddhism, a development that is not at all
surprising, given that the area occupied by the Western Xia Dynasty was
formerly ruled by the Tibetans.
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