In the Eight Tribes of Protector Gods, the God of Music and the God of Song occupy an important position, and others such as Yakshas are also good at music. It is no wonder that among the more than 400 caves in Dunhuang, except for a few very small ones, there are almost a large number of murals of gods playing music and dancing. It is these music and dance murals that make Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes a world full of beautiful music.
There are more than a thousand music and dance murals in the Mogao Grottoes, and the painting time spans from the Northern Liang of the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Qing Dynasty, which is more than 1,500 years. Among them, the Tang Dynasty murals have the largest number and are the most spectacular. There are also handwritten music scores and dance scores from the Tang and Five Dynasties more than 1,000 years ago. The famous flying and bouncing pipa are representative works in the music and dance murals. They have already flown out of Dunhuang and gone to the world. However, the more brilliant and magnificent music and dance scenes, dozens of unique musical instrument images and other sacred and beautiful music murals are rarely known. There are many forms of music and dance on Dunhuang murals, which are painted in different positions according to Buddhist theory, which is very particular.
On the highest level, there is a group of musical instruments tied with colorful streamers hanging in the void, including pipa. There is no one to play the harp, sheng, flute, waist drum, etc. This is the so-called heavenly music that sings without drumming. In fact, this is a method of painting music invented by ancient Chinese painters. Buddhist theory says that when cultivation reaches the so-called "Singing Music Heaven" above the thirty-three days, the environment will be bright and full of light, it will be daytime forever, and the music will come from itself. Self-sounding heavenly music represents this state.
Going down, there are Tiangong Music, Feitian Music, Buddha Music and Dance, Yuren Music, Yaoyou Music, etc.
Tiangong Jiyue are fairies who circle around the cave. They wear long scarves and are half naked, playing musical instruments or dancing with their bare hands.
Feitian Jiyue are Tiangong Jiyue who fly out of the pavilion. They form a mighty music and dance queue in the sky, with curling ribbons and light dancing postures, like flowing clouds and flowing water.
Buddhist worship, music and dance are the scenes in Jingbian paintings where music, dance and music worship the Buddha and entertain the Buddha. It is painted in the most eye-catching place in the middle of the cave wall. The picture is huge and numerous. For example, in the "Oriental Medicine Master's Sutra" in Cave 220 in the early Tang Dynasty, there is a 26-member band divided into two groups, two people sing accompaniment, and four female dancers dance in a row on a small round felt. Two of them were wearing brocade, trousers, gauze skirts, jewel crowns on their heads, royal bracelets on their hands, colorful streamers on their shoulders, singing and dancing. The other two were naked, wearing tassels, holding colorful streamers in their hands and spinning wildly. The atmosphere was very lively. "Viewing the Sutra of Infinite Life" in Cave 112 of the Mid-Tang Dynasty is a famous rebound pipa dance with as many as 11 accompanists. The kind-hearted female dancer puts her weight on her right foot, lifts her left leg, and places her pipa behind her with her back facing forward.
Yu Ren Ji Le and Yao Sha Ji Le are both protector gods. The former has a human face and the body of a bird, while the latter is a mighty warrior, often playing musical instruments or dancing in Jingbian paintings.
The music and dance scenes of these gods account for more than 90% of the entire music and dance murals, which is dizzying. Except for those flying acrobatics, other music and dance scenes seem to be no different from human music and dance scenes. Some instruments are still in use today. Various dance postures have also been integrated by modern experts to create an ancient Dunhuang dance. Its representative work is the "Silk Road Flower Rain", which is well-known at home and abroad.