The story of Vanquishing heretics is found in three caves of the kizil Thousand-Buddha Grottoes.It is the story of the life of Buddha and was seldom painted in muralsof China and other countries. In the mural,vanquishing heretics was the main contentand Seven Buddhas who were Six Buddhas of the Past,and Buddha of the present,werealso painte.According to the sutra about wise and stupid people,Six Buddhas of thepast had displayed their prowess in the city of Srava. The figures of Maitreya were op-posite the three paintings of vanquishing heretics. This layout of the murals canstitutedthe order of Buddhas of thd past, the present and the Future of Hinayana.The figures of Seven Buddhas and Maitreya painted together in the same painting o-riginated from Gandhara. In China, a large number of their figures appeared in an earlystage of the representations of Buddhas. Using the story of Vanquishing heretics as thesubject to depict seven Buddhas and Maitreya is the artistic characteristics of the repre-sentation of Buddhas in the kizil Grottoes.The three caves with the paintings of van-quishing heretics are dated from the 5 to 6 century.The appearance of the suUect em-phasizing Hinayana of Buddhism related to the history of which Hinayana was rising inthe kucha areas while Mahayana which had been popular there,declined as kumarjivawent to central plains.
