因緣=karma; 時=contemporary background; 地=geographical environment; 人=wandering monks; 取經=going on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures; 傳譯=spreading and translating; 開窟=building caves
Since the opening of the Silk Road, Dunhuang became a hub of traffic and a metropolitan area where Chinese and non-Chinese lived together, circumstances that provided a large stage of cultural convergence for Buddhism in its earliest dissemination into china. From inspection of three aspects—historical background, geographical environment, and the activities of wandering monks, this paper comprehensively discusses the reasons why the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes were constructed over 1600 years ago. The authors conclude that the forms and contents of the earliest caves built by Le Zun and Fa Liang not only evince a strong flavor from Central Asia and the Western Regions, but were also influenced by styles from the Chinese Central Plains, forming a multiethnic cultural and artistic style which laid a firm foundation for the emergence and development of a prosperous Dunhuang.
