Bingling Temple Grottoes


Bingling Temple Grotto is located upstream of Liujiaxia Reservoirs on the north bank of Yellow River in
southwest monastery gap in Yongjing County. Bingling Temple Grotto is one of the three rock caves in
Gansu and one of China’s five major rock caves.

Bingling Temple Grotto has more than 1,600 years of history. When the capital of west Qing capital was
built in the late autumn, the king personally came to the grotto and wielded a brush inscription that
remains till today. Bingling in the Tibetan language means a place for one hundred thousand Buddhas
to live in, and is similar to Qianfo Cave and Wanfo Cave in Chinese. Bingling Temple is one of the most
important grotto temples in China.

The historical significance of the Bingling Temple, Gansu is what draws the travelers to the region. The temple comprises Buddhist grottoes that
are located inside the natural caves. The grottoes boast of some of the best Buddhist sculptures in the world. The caves have been worked upon
for more than 1000 years now. The construction work began way back during the time of the Western Jin Dynasty. That was the time when the
grottoes began to be put in place. Various other dynasties also contributed to the construction of the Buddhist sculptures including the Wei, Sui,
Tang, Ming and Qing dynasty.

The grottoes in Bingling Temple include Shang Temple, Xia Temple, Wild Stork Gully, Buddha Temple and Shuilian Cave, etc, with more than 200
niches. Among them Xia Temple is the most valuable one. According to the extant calligraphic epigraph in No. 169 Grottoes, the grottoes in
Bingling Temple were first carved in the Western Qin era (385-431) of the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (304-439). It
experienced continuous cutting and repairs almost in every dynasty. Currently there are about 776 Buddhist
sculptures and statues made of stone or clay, and about one thousand square meters of murals.

It is one of the places in China that boasts of immense historical and cultural significance. Traveling to the region is
not something that you would find difficult because of the various options of transport available in the region. To see
the best of the Buddhist sculpture in China, Bingling Temple, Gansu is one of the must visit places for the travelers.