At the beginning of this century, the discovery of ancient documents in Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave shocked the whole world. Let us know more about the Buddhist culture in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The ancient Dunhuang, located at the crossroads of Chinese and western traffic, is the intersection of Chinese and foreign civilizations. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the economy and culture of this area entered a prosperous period. But at the same time, it is also an ancient offensive and defensive place, and the bonfire of war often causes serious damage to it. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Xixia Guoxing established by the Tangut people originated in the northwest. During the reign of Xixia in Dunhuang, local monks hid a large number of ancient scriptures in a grotto complex in Mogao Grottoes, sealed them with bricks, painted them with mud and painted murals. Later, with the passage of time, the secret was forgotten. In the following hundreds of years, due to the development of maritime traffic and the decline of Buddhist influence, Dunhuang gradually lost its position as a transportation hub between China and the West, and its former prosperity was gone forever. After the Ming dynasty, Dunhuang, located in the northwest border, has been very cold and quiet. It was not until the beginning of this century that the collected scriptures in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes were accidentally rediscovered, and the literature treasures were re-presented to the world. The Tibetan Sutra Cave is a rectangular cave, about 1.6 meters high and 2.7 meters wide. The room is full of written documents, embroidery, paintings, instruments and other items. Its large number is still unclear. It is generally estimated that the total number of documents alone exceeds 40,000. The excavation of these documents and other religious works of art provides us with a lot of precious materials for studying the politics, economy, history, religion, literature, art, language and writing of ancient societies such as Sui and Tang Dynasties. From the day it was discovered, people paid full attention to it, and studied it as a special subject together with Dunhuang grottoes architecture, sculpture and murals, forming a world-wide "Dunhuang Studies". Dunhuang documents are mainly written in books, and their contents can be divided into Buddhism and non-Buddhism. Buddhist literature includes: first, classics, laws and theories that have been included in the Tripitaka. Because they are earlier than the printed version handed down from ancient times, they have not been copied, and there are fewer shedding errors, so they can reflect the early forms of these classics and have high collating value. Second, there are classics, laws and theories that are not included in the Tripitaka. These works have never been known, and we can use them to solve some academic problems. Take Zen as an example. At first, the Northern School (Shen Xiu School) prevailed, and then it turned to the Southern School (Huineng School). At first, Nanzong gained power in god, and then turned to South Vietnam and Qingyuan. In this process, due to natural or man-made reasons, the lost materials of various departments have been lost. Today, people rely on Dunhuang documents to understand their general situation. Third, doubt the classics. According to the statistics of relevant scholars, there are 70 or 80 kinds of suspected and forged classics preserved in the Tibetan Sutra Cave. They provide many important materials for studying the changes and development of China's Buddhist thoughts. Fourth, the Sanzang chapter is sparse. The traditional Tripitaka usually only pays attention to the translated classics, but does not pay attention to the chapters on classics, laws and theories written by Buddhist scholars in China. In fact, these chapters are indispensable materials for understanding China's Buddhist thoughts. Five, reflect the religious activities of the temple materials. For example, changing essays and giving lectures are commonly used materials to interpret classical meanings in temple religious gatherings; The handwriting of the precepts, the record of Bussa (checking the monks' observance of the precepts) and the list of monks are the materials for the specific religious activities of the temple. Six, reflect the economic life of the temple materials. There are a large number of tenancy documents in Dunhuang documents, from which we can see the class relationship and economic form of temples at that time. At that time, the rare treasures that appeared in the Dunhuang Tibetan scriptures cave did not attract the attention of the Qing government. On the contrary, western adventurers flocked to Dunhuang after learning the news. First, British Hungarian Stein, then Frenchman Pelliott, then Japanese Otani Guangrui expedition, and Russian Brou Chev and American Werner plundered Dunhuang cultural relics in the name of archaeology. It is estimated that nearly 30,000 written papers were stolen by them. After being stolen, more than 8,000 copies were left, which were later kept in Shi Jing Library (now the predecessor of Beijing Library). Dunhuang is also the meeting point of two Buddhist arts, the Western Regions and the Central Plains. In Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, a large number of Buddhist murals in the Tang Dynasty were preserved. With the heyday of Buddhism, Buddhist paintings in Sui and Tang Dynasties also entered an unprecedented period of prosperity. Among the painters in the early Tang Dynasty, monk Wei Chiyi, a native of Yu Kan, painted many temple murals in Chang 'an. He is good at expressing the customs and figures in the western regions with blurred colors, and at the same time, he absorbs the traditional linear outline of the Central Plains, which makes his figure paintings feel "out of the wall". He made many murals with the theme of "the change of the pure land in the west", which reflected the political stability and economic prosperity in the early Tang Dynasty with colorful, peaceful and quiet pictures. Wu Daozi, who lived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, especially praised Zhang Sengyou while collecting the achievements of various painters. He created more than 400 murals in his life. The clothes of the characters in the murals are dancing and the walls are full of wind, which has become a model of Buddhist and Taoist murals after Kaiyuan (7 14-74 1) and Tianbao (742-756). The statues of bodhisattvas, gods, lux, etc. in temple murals in this period, taking the human posture as the model, more reflected the aesthetic requirements of realism, with rich colors and diverse manners. This shows that the Buddhist murals in China are further secularized. There are 207 painted caves in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, which are divided into four stages: early stage, prosperous stage, middle stage and late stage. Grotto murals belonging to the middle and late Tang Dynasty can be regarded as the representative of Buddhist painting art in Tang Dynasty. Although these murals were created by unknown painters, their styles are similar to those of Wu Daozi and Yan Liben. Dunhuang murals in the Tang Dynasty mostly take "change" as the theme, eulogizing the joy and beauty of the Buddhist country in the form of change. For example, "The Change of Pure Land" depicts seven treasure towers, fragrant flower geisha, lotus pond tree birds and other scenery, deliberately decorating the western paradise with dignity and beauty. This painting reflects the court life and people's wishes at that time in a tortuous way. A large number of murals are also dotted with small scenes of human life, showing the social customs of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, with an optimistic, clear and interesting tone. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, many painters were influenced by the Zen style, so they were detached from the world, so the content and style of their paintings were to express the profound artistic conception of Zen. For example, the great poet and painter Wang Wei, whose dark landscape paintings are very poetic, was later called "poetry in painting". He changed the traditional style of landscape painting and created a detached, free and easy, lofty and indifferent painting style, which had a far-reaching impact on later Chinese paintings. Buddha sculpture is a typical embodiment of Buddhist art, which is mainly preserved in caves dug and temples built in past dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was the moderns of China sculpture. Sculptures are fantastic and exquisite; Sculpture techniques are mature and well-washed, which fully embodies the vigorous and unrestrained atmosphere of the times. Compared with the Northern and Southern Dynasties, this has made new progress. After the Northern Dynasties, the excavation of Longmen Grottoes reached its peak in the period of Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian. The statue of Lushena Buddha in Fengxian Temple is the largest statue in Longmen Grottoes. This colossus was carved in the period of Tang Gaozong and completed in the period of Wu Zetian. Lushena Buddha is the Buddha of Sakyamuni, which means that the light shines brightly. Wu Zetian claims that being an emperor conforms to the will of the Buddha, so she intends to show her authority by carving Buddha statues. The statue of Lushenafo is more than 17 meters high and is located in the center of the grottoes. The Buddha statue is delicate, well-proportioned, rich and beautiful, with a kind and quiet expression; The corners of the mouth are slightly upturned, revealing a slight smile; Head slightly lower, eyes seem to be paying attention to the sentient beings. Wen Ya's sincere image of Buddha makes people feel close, while its lofty and mysterious religious effect makes people feel awe. The period of Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty was the golden age of Buddhist statues in China. The statues in this period were round and plump, with strong figure, wide makeup and high temples, full of vitality, reaching unprecedented maturity and perfection, fully embodying people's aesthetic concepts in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. From the existing works such as Longmen Grottoes, painted sculptures in Bugu Temple and painted sculptures in Dunhuang, we can imagine that the sculptors dominated the Buddhist art stage at that time, which was amazing. Dunhuang in Gansu and Maijishan in Tianshui are not suitable for carving because of loose stones, so the artists are ingenious and change to colored sculptures (painting colors on clay sculptures). Dunhuang colored sculptures in the Northern Wei Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes also experienced the process of gradually accepting the Central Plains culture and constantly sinicizing it. In the Sui Dynasty, the color plastic technology became more and more mature, the techniques were exquisite and delicate, and the Buddha statues were obviously sinicized. In the Tang Dynasty, colored plastic art entered its heyday. It combines western Buddhist art with China culture and creates more and more valuable works. The statues in the early Tang Dynasty were full and vivid, with smooth body curves and changeable rhythm. The statue of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is even more exquisite. For example, the Buddha statue in Cave 45 of Mogao Grottoes has a bare chest and bare arms, a graceful figure, a thin long skirt and a looming smile on his face. Both gentle expressions and dignified gestures vividly show the characteristics of kind and gentle oriental women. However, the king of the same cave is high-spirited and brave. The sharp contrast between the two gives people a particularly profound artistic feeling.