Luoyang: Capital for Millennia and City of Peonies

The Tang Dynasty and Buddhism 

After the Xia Dynasty, 13 dynasties established their capitals in Luoyang. Among them the Tang Dynasty (618-907) was the most eminent and prosperous. 

Chang’an (now Xi’an in northwestern China’s Shaanxi Province) was the original Tang Dynasty capital, but inconvenient transportation hampered its access to bountiful commodities. Luoyang was hence chosen as the accompanying capital, and later became the national economic center. The third Tang Dynasty emperor Li Zhi and his empress Wu Zetian, who later acceded to the throne, lived in Luoyang for many years. Empress Wu became ruler of China in 690, and moved the capital from Xi’an to Luoyang, changing its name to Shendu, or capital of the gods. Wu was the sole regnant empress in Chinese history. 

During Empress Wu Zetian’s reign, she reformed the system of personnel selection to one where recruitment was based on ability rather than family connections, and paid close attention to agricultural production. She thus laid a solid foundation for the succeeding heyday. She at the same time embraced Buddhism and showed deep respect for eminent monks, treating them as mentors and presenting them with imperial gifts. All this dramatically heightened the social status of both Buddhism and Buddhist monks. During her rule she acted as a patron of Buddhist temples and carvings, and also spent a great deal on translating Buddhist sutras. Buddhism thus flourished in China. 

Listed as the World Cultural Heritage, Luo-yang’s Longmen Grottoes, on a one-km-long stretch of cliffs, house 97,000 or more Buddhist statues. Among them the tallest stands 17.14 meters high and the smallest measures just two centimeters. The Longmen Grottoes, dug around the year 493, later went through more than 400 years’ large-scale construction. Built during Empress Wu’s rule, the grottoes account for two thirds of the total number of statues sculpted during the Tang Dynasty. Records show that Empress Wu made a personal donation of “20,000 strings of rouge and powder money” to complete the Vairocana Buddha, whose face was a likeness of her own. 

The Vairocana Buddha is the tallest of all statues in the Longmen Grottoes. The head is four meters high, with a plump round face and crescent moon-shaped eyebrows above amiable, heavy-lidded eyes that observe the mortals at her feet. The Buddha’s enigmatic, subtle smile signifies inner peace and tranquility, and its robe patterned with concentric lines accentuates the head’s dignified ethos. This Buddha epitomizes the perfect combination of divinity and humanity.