上石壩河石窟=Shangshibahe Grottoes; 西游記壁畫=murals depicting the Journey to the West; 觀音救難壁畫=murals of Avalokite vara rescuing people from disaster; 觀音信仰=belief in Avalokite vara; 三教合一=combination of three religions
Though the Shangshibahe Grottoes in Sunan are so small and remote that few people know they exist, due to the popularity of the murals describing the Chinese Buddhist story of the Journey to the West they contain this grotto has been gradually gained in popularity in recent years. This paper attempts to interpret the murals in cave 3 for the first time by studying the spatial distribution, theme selection, and contents of the murals in detail. The authors have not only identified all the scenes pertaining to Journey to the West, but also discovered several murals about Avalokite vara rescuing people from disaster. On the basis of these analyses, the paper puts forth a preliminary discussion on the combination of themes, the relationship between content and form,the intention behind the caves’ construction, and the social ideology implied in the murals.
