Animal-faced images have been found in many Buddhist caves throughout China: cave 285 at the Mogao Grottoes, cave 133 at the Maijishan Grottoes, Cave 1 at the Beishiku Cave Temple( Northern Cave Temples), Cave 2 at the Eastern Thousand-Buddha Grottoes, Cave 4 of the Yulin Grottoes in Gansu Province, caves 7, 8, 12, and 13 at the Yun'gang Grottoes in Shanxi Province, and Guyang Cave at the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province. For a long time, most of these images have been identified as depictions of the taotie motif( "Monster of Greed"), a traditional Chinese decorative pattern. A comparative study of these images suggests that the so-called taotie motif corresponds to Kirtimukha("glorious face") in Buddhist culture.
