The thousand-Buddha motifs on the four walls of Mogao cave 246 were painted according to the Sutra on the Names of the Thousand Buddhas in the Bhadrakalpa in the Dunhuang documents, which is similar to S.4601(the first volume of the sutra) and No. 848 in Beijing Capital Library(the second volume). The statues on the central pillar in this cave were intended to express Buddhist thought on the Ten Directions and Three Ages, while images of the Tenth-Stage( tenth-bhumi) Bodhisattvas are painted on the walls of the corridor. The themes of the statues and paintings in cave 246 correspond to the "three masters and seven monks who testify," having been invited to the Ceremony of Conferral illustrated in the text of Buddhist Clerical Certificates from Dunhuang documents. The author therefore infers that some ceremonies of conferring Buddhist titles and certification were likely held in this cave at that time.
