Many of the Buddhist images of the Kizil Grottoes are identified as"Buddha of the Past," which mainly appeared in the arched niches of the main chambers in the central pillared caves or on the arched ceiling of the caves with rectangular halls.They also appeared in Sakyamuni’s halos.This indicates that "Buddha of the past" was a very important theme in the Kizil wall paintings.Combining written materials including Buddhist texts with various images of "the past Buddha," this paper attempts to study the ideas of Sarvasti-vadin on Buddha and bodhisattvas,uncover the profound connotation of the Kizil Grottoes,and then explore how Buddhism and Buddhist thought developed in Kizil.
