Strictly speaking, there is no author, because the construction of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes took nearly a thousand years and is the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people of our country.
If there must be an author, it can be said to be the monk Lezu. According to the Tang Dynasty's "Li Kerang Rebuilding the Buddhist Shrine Monument of Mogao Grottoes", in the second year of Jianyuan of the former Qin Dynasty (366), the monk Lezun passed by this mountain and suddenly saw a golden light shining like ten thousand Buddhas, so he dug the first stone into the rock wall. A cave. After that, Zen Master Fa Liang and others continued to build a cave here to practice meditation, which was called "Mogao Cave", which means "high place in the desert".
The Mogao Grottoes are a national key cultural relics protection unit, commonly known as Thousand Buddhas Cave. They are located in Dunhuang at the west end of the Hexi Corridor. They are world-famous for their exquisite murals and statues. It was built in the pre-Qin period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, and has gone through the construction of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Xixia, Yuan and other dynasties, forming a huge scale. There are currently 735 caves and 45,000 square meters of murals. With 2,415 clay colored sculptures, it is the largest and richest Buddhist art site in the world. In modern times, the Buddhist Scripture Cave has been discovered, containing more than 50,000 ancient cultural relics, and has spawned a discipline that specializes in the study of the classics in the Buddhist Scripture Cave and Dunhuang art - Dunhuang Studies. However, the Mogao Grottoes have suffered a lot of man-made damage in modern times, a large number of cultural relics have been lost, and their integrity has been seriously damaged. In 1961, the Mogao Grottoes were announced by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In 1987, the Mogao Grottoes were listed as a world cultural heritage. It is one of the four major grottoes in China
The Mogao Grottoes are located on the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, China. It faces the Danquan River in front and faces east. It is 1,680 meters long from north to south and high. 50 meters. The caves are distributed in high and low places, row after row, with up to five floors above and below. It was first built during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. According to the Tang Dynasty's "Li Kerang Rebuilt the Buddhist Shrine Monument of Mogao Grottoes", in the second year of the Jianyuan year of the former Qin Dynasty (366), the monk Lezu passed by this mountain and suddenly saw a golden light shining like ten thousand Buddhas. So the first cave was dug into the rock wall. After that, Zen Master Fa Liang and others continued to build a cave here to practice meditation, which was called "Mogao Cave", which means "high place in the desert". Later generations changed its name to "Mogao Grottoes" because "Mo" and "Mo" were interchangeable. During the Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties, the rulers believed in Buddhism, and the construction of grottoes was supported by the princes and nobles, and developed rapidly. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the prosperity of the Silk Road, the Mogao Grottoes became even more prosperous. At the time of Wu Zetian, there were more than a thousand caves. After the Anshi Rebellion, Dunhuang was successively occupied by the Tubo and Guiyi armies, but the statue-making activities were not greatly affected. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Western Xia Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, the Mogao Grottoes gradually declined, and only the cave chambers of the previous dynasties were mainly renovated, with very few new ones being built. After the Yuan Dynasty, with the abandonment of the Silk Road, the construction of the Mogao Grottoes also stopped and gradually disappeared from the world's sight. It was not until the 40th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1701) that people noticed it again. In modern times, people usually call it "Thousand Buddha Cave".