Mogao Cave 465

Mogao Cave 465 was built in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368AD). Cave 465 has a front chamber and a main chamber. Most murals in the front chamber have lost, and only some vague traces of murals and graffiti remain. Some graffiti can be identified and contain the dates of Yuan dynasty. In February 1908, P. Pelliot made a detailed investigation record and took away hundreds of manuscripts from caves 465 and 464, which date from the period af ter the Library Cave* was sealed up and include many Uighur manuscripts.
The main chamber has a central five-stepped round altar (now four steps remain). On the four walls are images of the protective deitie attributed to Peerless Yoga School.
The ceiling center features a mandala of Vairocana in Dharmadhatu-mudra with right shoulder exposed. Aksobhya to the east with black skin is seated on an elephant-throne in tarjani mudra with right shoulder exposed. Ratnasambhava to the south with dark brown skin is seated on a Garuda-throne in paryankabandha gesture. Amitabha to the west with red skin and right shoulder exposed is seated on a peacock-throne in samadbi mudra, and Amoghasiddhi to the north with green skin and right shoulder exposed is seated on a horse-throne, with a bowl in
left hand in front of the belly. The directions of the four Buddhas match with the natural directions, implying that the four Buddhas live respectively in the east, south, west and north worlds. On the four walls are various fierce images of rajas who are multi-armed and multi-faced or cuddling a female deity, and below are 84 figures of unerring performance. The murals are valuable for studying Tibetan Buddhism in terms of the contents and themes.