榆林25窟=Cave Number 25 at Yulin; 一佛八菩薩圖=iconography of One Buddha with Eight Bodhisattvas; 八大菩薩曼荼羅經=Mandala Sutra of the Eight Bodhisattvas; 吐蕃=Tubo(Tibet); 益西央=Yixiying
Yulin Cave Number 25 was unique among the caves constructed in the Dunhuang system during the period of Tubo(Tibetan) rule in that there is a distinct difference between the composition and style of the sutra illustrations(jingbianhua),Guanwuliangshou jingbian and Mile jingbian(Maitreya sutra illustrations),on the southern and northern walls of the wall which perpetuate High Tang traditions and the only remaining single Buddha and eight Bodhisattvas on the main wall of the cave.From the inscriptions on this single Buddha and eight Bodhisattvas,we discover when we compare it to the Tang Dynasty translation by Amoghavajra(Bukong) of the Mandala Sutra of the Eight Bodhisattvas that there are differences in the descriptions of the Bodhisattvas in that text with the eight Bodhisattvas depicted in Cave Number 25 at Yulin.However,the cave images do resemble stylistic features of the images shown on silk paintings recovered from the Sutra Cave at Dunhuang,some of which bear Tibetan inscriptions,showing that the Bodhisattvas were intimately connected with the beliefs of Tibetan residents of Dunhuang.The handwritten Tibetan version of Mandala Sutra of the Eight Bodhisattvas found in the Sutra Cave demonstrates that this text formed the basis of local Tibetan beliefs.Images of the One Buddha with Eight Bodhisattvas have been found in Lhasa and Qinghai,of which the cliff carvings in Changdu in central Tibet and at Yushu in Qinghai were carved by the eminent monk Yixiying in the early 9th century,demonstrating the spread of these beliefs throughout Tibetan areas.Comparing these other images and those in Cave Number 25 at Yulin we discover that the images of these popular deities were not fixed,but their composition and style was similar,and the images of these deities used in Cave Number 25 at Yulin probably originated in Tibetan areas.
