Abstract:

Compared with caves excavated before the mid-Tang, there were many new characteristics in Dunhuang murals during the middle and late Tang periods, which were as following: the appearance of the auspicious Buddha images in the Middle Tang caves like Cave 231, 237 and the revival of Jatakas in the Late Tang caves like Cave 85, 95. This article tries to explain the reasons for the two characteristics and the connections between them. The appearance of auspicious Buddha images and the revival of Jatakas both directed to the past and to the authentic Buddha. What lies behind these phenomena are the decline of Chinese schools of Buddhism and the changing concerns of people in the Later Tang period.

Key words: the murals of Jatakas, the late Tang dynasty, revival, reasons