Mogao Cave 27

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang

The main chamber of this shrine cave has a truncated pyramidal ceiling and a niche in the back (west) wall. The niche has a flat ceiling and enshrines a seated Buddha statue from the High Tang period (712–756). Above the niche on the west slope of the cave’s ceiling is a smaller arched niche containing statues of Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna Buddhas. Suspended in front of this small niche are two Bodhisattvas who kneel upon lotus pedestals. The missing arms of the Bodhisattvas would once have held objects in offering. Together, these niches and statues form a scene from the “Chapter on the Emergence of the Prabhutaratna Pagoda” from the Lotus Sutra, wherein Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna Buddhas appear together within the Prabhutaratna Pagoda in the sky and teach the Dharma. The niche layout is unique among the Dunhuang caves.