ABSTRACT

The tradition of rock-cut Buddhist cave temples originated in ancient India where they were used for liturgical purposes and daily use, the use of rock-cut caves, however, traces its origins to the cave tombs of the powerful nobles of the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt. "The Guanfo sanmei fa (Methods of Visualizing the Buddha Image and Dhyana Samadhi)" in The Siwei Lüeyao Fa (Outlining the Methods of Contemplation) mentions that after one visualizes the Buddha image, one should return to a quiet place and close one's eyes to contemplate, keeping the Buddha image in mind without distracting thoughts. Wuzhou Mountain was an important northern frontier as far back as the Han dynasty. The Weishu noted that about 1,100 Xiongnu horsemen attacked Wuzhou Fortress in the first year of Yuanguang ??. The flat top of the mountain extends north and south for more than a half mile.