Mogao Cave 427

Mogao Cave 427 was constructed in Sui Dynasty (581-618AD). Cave 427 consists of a front chamber and a main chamber. There is a central pillar in the main chamber with the ceiling gabled in the front and flat in the back. A large triad of the Buddha and two Bodhisattvas is on the front side of central pillar. The central image wears red kasaya in tongjian style. The Bodhisattvas wear jeweled crowns and stand on lotus bases barefoot, with upper body in red sanghatis and lower body in dhotis that are very delicate and changeful some are thin like silk and some are thick like brocade. The lozenge-shaped motifs with images of lion and phoenix inside*and the square-shaped motifs with linked pearls on the costumes are Persian style introduced along the Silk Road. A similar triad is respectively on the south and north walls. The three groups of sculptures imply the three assemblies of Maitreya Bodhisattva. They and the illustration of the Parinirvana Sutra on the front ceiling demonstrate that the future Buddha Maitreya will be born down in Jambudipa and rescue all the living after the nirvana of Sakyamuni. Judged by the rows of thousand-Buddha motifs on the east slope, the images are originally decorated in golden color, though the color changed badly.
The front chamber is a four-pillared wooden structure of three jian dating from the Song dynasty. According to an inscription in black ink on the beam above the entrance, this cave was restored in 970, when Cao Yuanzhong governed Dunhuang. Four symmetrical lokapalas, two on each side, wear jeweled crowns and armors and trample. on prostrate demons with clenched fist and wide-open eyes. And two guarding warriors, naked to the waist with lower body in dhoti, flank the opening of the entrance corridor and look awful. These sculptures were all painted in the Song dynasty, yet the original bodies are remained.