Mogao Cave 302: Illustration of the Sutra on the Field of Merits

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Sui dynasty

This illustration is located on the west slope of the gabled ceiling and is arranged like a horizontal scroll painting. Six of the seven Dharma practices expounded in the Sutra on the Field of Merits are presented in the mural. The scenes include: felling trees for construction, erecting a stupa, planting an orchard, building a pool for bathing, tending to an enclosed garden, tending to the sick, building a boat to ferry people across a river, erecting a bridge to ease travel, digging a well beside a roadway, and a monk establishing a vihara. The varied scenes reflect daily life during the Sui dynasty (581–618).
The illustration is one of two murals of this subject matter within the Mogao Caves. The other is from the Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581) and is on the north ceiling slope of Cave 296. The two murals represent the short-lived influence of the Three Stages school in Dunhuang.