Bingling Temple Caves (Bingling Thousand Buddha Caves), China
The Bingling Temple Caves were about a 1-1/2 to 2 hour drive from Lanzhou, up through the mountains, on the edge of a lake created by the Liujiaxia Reservoir. This reservoir spared the caves from destruction during the Cultural Revolution. The Sunshine Hotel sent us on our way with a boxed lunch. When reaching the pier, we took a chartered ferry to the temple, about another 50 minutes.
There are a total of 183 caves, carved into the cliffs of a 180-foot high gorge considered second to Mogao Caves in respect of artistic value. The cliffs, composed of eroded and porous rock with many natural caves, were quite unbelievable. The concept of Michelangelo on his back painting ceilings was a minor feat compared to all these people, hanging from ropes, painting frescoes, and carving sculptures, into the face of these cliffs!
Once again we had tickets for the unlocked caves and the "special caves." But, little did we know that we had to climb a series of ladders to get up to a special cave and both ex-Marine and I have serious "ladder phobia." However, took deep breaths, managed to get up to the top, took a very fast look around and told the guide we had to go down. We are not talking steel, extremely secure ladders here... The guide had a great deal of trouble understanding that. But, we didn't care...climbed down slowly and enjoyed the caves from the bottom.
The "piece de resistance" of Bingling Si Caves was this huge Future Buddha, The Maitreya...View image...spectacular from any viewpoint...and you could only appreciate the gigantic scale of this Buddha by looking at the different levels going up next to it...
The construction dated back to the Western Jin Dynasty. Statistics: 183 niches, 694 stone statues, 82 clay sculptures and over 1,000 yards of murals all very well preserved.
A few of the special caves we visited were: #125 with a stone sculpture of Sakyamuni; #128 showing tantric figures and paintings; #132 with its murals from the Ming Dynasty; and #54 with its "God of Strength."
I could consider Bingling Temple Caves the highlight of the Silk Road but then I think back on Kashgar, the sights around Urumqi and Turpan, trying to plod up the enormous sand dunes, riding our camels, the Mogao complex, the friendly Uyghurs and Chinese Nationals, watching noodle-making, haggling for Marlboro hats, even sleeping all night on the floor of an airport....the entire Silk Road trip was one big highlight. An unusual, exotic but doable trip for everyone and then you, too, can say that you've followed in Marco Polo and his camel's footsteps....
