第六章 · 千年回响 / Chapter VI · Echoes of a Thousand Years / 第六章 · 千年の残響千年回响 / Echoes of a Thousand Years / 千年の響き莫高窟第220窟 · 初唐乐舞 / Cave 220 · Early Tang Music & Dance / 莫高窟第220窟 · 初唐楽舞
At the center of the band, four dancers divide into civil and martial groups, performing on a round rug the whirling Huxuan Dance — the Tang dynasty's most fashionable Western-Region dance. One whirl sends their sashes flying; one turn holds ten thousand breaths still.
The seating follows Sui-Tang court music principle: plucked instruments inward for acoustic focus, winds outward for balance, percussion at the front to lead the beat.
At the center of the north-wall music-and-dance scene in Cave 220, on the same plane as the four dancers, three grand and intricately structured lantern arrays are depicted. ▸ Nine-tier Lantern Tower Positioned at the exact center, shaped like a nine-storied pavilion. It is the visual focus and largest object of the entire lantern assembly. ▸ Four-tier Lantern Wheels (Lantern Trees) Placed at the outermost left and right of the composition, tree-shaped with four tiers. Scholars have variously described them as "seven-tier wheels" or "three-tier trees," reflecting different readings of the layered structure — yet the "tree" form remains consistent across interpretations.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Religious Significance: Offering of Lamps
These lanterns are no mere ornament. They strictly follow the Bhaisajyaguru Sūtra (Sui Dynasty translation by Dharmagupta, "Sūtra of the Original Vows of the Medicine Master Tathāgata"). The seven Medicine Buddhas painted in the middle register, together with the lamp-lighting scene below, form a visual enactment of the sūtra's rites of "feeding monks and lighting lamps" — the offering of light as devotion.
Offering lamps to break the darkness — as the Medicine Buddha illuminates all beings.