Page "Mogao Caves" Paragraph 3

The construction of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang is generally taken to have begun sometime in the fourth century AD.

According to a book written during the reign of Tang Empress Wu, Fokan Ji ( 佛龕記, An Account of Buddhist Shrines ) by Li Junxiu ( 李君修 ), a Buddhist monk named Lè Zūn ( 樂尊, which may also be pronounced Yuezun ) had a vision of a thousand Buddhas bathed in golden light at the site in 366 AD, inspiring him to build a cave here.

The story is also found in other sources, such as in inscriptions on a stele in cave 332, an earlier date of 353 AD however was given in another document, Shazhou Tujing ( 沙州土鏡, Geography of Shazhou ).

He was later joined by a second monk Faliang ( 法良 ), and the site gradually grew, by the time of the Northern Liang a small community of monks had formed at the site.

Members of the ruling family of Northern Wei and Northern Zhou constructed many caves here, and it flourished in the short-lived Sui Dynasty.

By the Tang Dynasty, the number of caves had reached over a thousand.