A special kind of murals found on the wall above the east entrance of the main chamber in the Mogao caves depicting portraits of the supporting donors' parents and grandparents or other seniors first appeared during the Tibetan Occupation and was continued into the family caves of the late Tang and Gui-yi-jun Regime periods. By associating this work with the local popularity of “portraits” and relevant ceremonial architecture such as Buddhist caves, temples, family temples and tombs, the author finds an uncanny similarity between these donor figures and other portraiture, and concludes that the portrayal of the donor figures in these murals resulted from a combination of the Buddhist idea of "being reborn into the Pure Land (Sukhāvatī)" and the traditional Chinese idea present since the Han dynasty of "ascending to heaven and becoming immortal." Both reflect that the donors wished for their seniors to be reborn in heaven as immortals and provide further evidence that Buddhist caves began at this time to function as family temples.
