Mogao Cave 98 was patronized by Cao Yijin,governor of the Return-to-Allegiance Army.There are about 700 images of Buddhas on the four slopes of the ceiling,each having a colophon.By transcribing and examining these colophons,the authors discover that the names of the thousand Buddhas on the four slopes should derive from the Sutra on the Names of the Thousand Buddhas of the Bhadra Kalpa.Its draft should be similar with S.6485.There paintings on the four slopes show the scene of the Buddhas from ten directions attending the assembly with colophons which read" inviting(Buddhas of the ten directions) to take abode in this cave;" and the four corners present the images of the four heavenly kings with colophons reading " inviting(heavenly kings) to descend to this cave." By consulting Buddhist canons as well as some Dunhuang documents on confession rituals, the authors come to the conclusion that cave 98 should be considered a Buddhist Monastery for confessional rituals.
