One class is Buddha Figures, which refer to all kinds of gods and spirits, such as Buddha, Bodhisattva, and Buddha Guards that are worshiped by Buddhists. Most of them are painted in Teaching Doctrine pictures. In the Mogao grottoes alone there are 12,208 figures of Buddha with different expressions and postures in 933 Teaching Doctrine pictures.
A second class is Jingbian Paintings, which refer to an art form that employs paintings and literature to make abstract Buddha Sutra (literature) easy to understand. A drawing that explains abstract Sutra is called bianxiang, and the method of explaining Sutra with words and singing is called bianwen.
A third class is called Legendary Mural, whose subject maters are traditional Chinese legends, which refer to the contents or subjects of Taoist thought appearing in theNorthern Wei Dynasty(386-534). Occurrence of Taoist thoughts in Buddha grottoes reflects the combination of the Buddhist meditative absorption and Taoist Xujing (quietness and calmness) and represents the influence of Buddhist thought and art on Chinese culture.
A fourth class is Almsgivers' Figures. Almsgivers refer to those who believed in Buddhism and financed the building of grottoes. To show their sincere belief in Buddhism and for future fame, they painted pictures of themselves, their family members, and their servants inside the grottoes when building the grottoes.
A fifth class is Decorative Painting: Rich and colorful decorative paintings were mainly used to decorate the construction of grottoes, as well as desk covers, clothes, and containers. The pattern kept changing along with time, revealing outstanding painting skills and a rich imagination of the artists. The patterns mainly include sunken panel, rafter, and edge decoration, as well as others.
Last but not least is the class of Story Painting. To attract more and more people and spread Buddhism with great efforts, it was necessary to transmit the abstract and profound Buddhist Sutra to ordinary people in simple words and vivid form. Therefore plenty of story paintings were painted in grottoes, which exerted an imperceptible influence on people when they saw the murals. The stories are full of rich content and moving plot with strong realism and great charm.
Besides the above-mentioned murals, there are also murals of buildings, containers, flowers and birds, animals, and so on. Dunhuang Murals systematically reflect changes and the history of art exchanges between China and western countries in respect of the art style of various periods in aspects such as arrangement, figure, outline, and color.
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