Hangzhou was one of the centers of Buddhism and its art in China since the tenth century, where Buddhist cave temples and cliff images with rich motifs and contents are preserved. The cliff images at Tianlong Monastery is one of such sites of Buddhist art, originally belonged to the Tianlong Monastery sponsored by Qian Chu(r.948-978), the last king of Wuyue Kingdom(907-978). At the ruin of Tianlong are three imagery niches,and the niches numbers 1 and 2 were carved around 965 CE when the monastery was founded. The main Buddha of niche number 1 is Maitreya,the future Buddha, with Tang Dynasty(618-907)style. The attendant Bodhisattva and Heavenly King figures represent the typical styles of Wuyue Buddhist art.Niche number 2 contains only one figure, Amitabha Buddha, representing the worship of this Buddha and his Western Paradise in Wuyue Kingdom. The two niches exhibit the good wishes of Wuyue Buddhists toward their next world. Niche number 3 contains a Water Moon Guanyin image, which is a form of Guanyin produced by Chinese Buddhists and Artists. It can be dated around 1343 CE during the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368), when the reconstruction of Tianlong Monastery was completed.
