Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-07
BRITISH EXPLORER
DESCRIBES FIND
Caves in Cobb Desert Give Up
Buddhist Manuscripts
and Paintings.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Discovery of priceless treasures, hid
den for centuries in the dark, walled-in
depths of cave temples at the edge of
the Cobb Desert, in Northwestern China,
was described yesterday afternoon at
the FTeer Gallery by Sir Aurel Stern,
famous British explorer and archeologiSt.
The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas
were found near Tun-Huang, an old
military outpost in an oasis near the
western edge of the old Chinese civili-
zation and on the caravan route be-
tween China and Western Asia.
The temples, eXcavated in solid rock,
evidently had constituted great re-
ligious center in the early days of the
invasion of China by the Buddhist re-
ligion, but had been abandoned long
since and practically forgotten by the
native population, when they were re-
discovered by the British expedition.
Sir Aurel found large chambers prac-
tically packed full of ancient manu-
scripts, painting, embroideries and cary
ingS, many of which not only throw new
light on the development of the Budd-
hist creed in a new environment, but
are priceless as works of art. They were
produced in the Golden Age of Chinese
artistic genius and civilization, and al
though most of the paintings are copies
of lest works of the old masters they
presumably retain much of the spirit
and technique of the originals.
Treasures Undisturbed.
The manuscripts and paintings owe
their preservation through so many
centuries to the fortunate location of
the temples in the Cobb Desert, where
there Is very little moisture in the air,
and to the fact that they were walled
up and left undisturbed. Thus they
were recovered little the worse for their
great antiquity.
The treasures recovered, according to
the discoverer, give vivid picture OF
the evolution in the character and
philosophy of Prince Guatama, the
founder of the Buddhist creed, as his
gospel passed from one people to an
other. Even the physical appearance
of the great religious leader changed,
as shown by the works OF art, to adapt
him to tn religious ideals of another
and more vigorous people than those 10
whom he had preached.
Guatama had set up as the highest
good the extinction of the personality
in universal nature, or Nirvana. TO
which one achieved through series
of higher and higher reincarnatlons,
each being in the nature Of a puriflca-
ton process for the ultimate ideal OF
non-existence as an individual. rms
was in striking contrast to the after
life in heaven which was set up as
the ideal of the other great world re-
ligion which developed in the Western
civilization. But the vigorous and nlgn-
ly civilized Chinese of that period. 10
whom life was something more than
the ordeal of suffering which 1t seemed
to the people of India to whom Qua
tama had preached. did not take kindly
to the idea of Nirvana.
Paintings Depict Change.
But there were many elements in the
Buddhist religion, which was being
brought In over the caravan routes
from India, which appealed to them
and they were able to accept 1t by
changing Guatama's concept OF Mir
vana into something approaching the
concept of the Christian paradise. 1t
is the story of this change which APP
pears particularly in the recovered art
masterpieces when they are compared
with the religious pictures of India.
Prince Guatama himself Is seen
Changing from a Hindu to a Chinese in
the concepts of the artists. The char
acteristic repose and lack of personality,
which sometimes seems like SNUG self
satisfaction, disappears from his fea-
lures and he becomes more OF an ac-
tive human personality. The working
of the change is also seen in paintings
where the Indian features are preserved,
but against a background of Chinese
| scenery. Many of the paintings deal
with the lesser divinities of the Buddhist
/ creed and some of the most beautiful
| depict the glories of that paradise which
| seemed essential to the Chinese con-
vertS.
Many Of the paintings were in the
! form of banners always an important
! element of the Chinese worship, which
/ were worked on very thin, nearly trans
parent, silk which in any other sur
roundings long since would have
crumbled to decay. A few of the pic
tu.Ns and manuscripts were exactly
dateS The earliest were from the fifth
century of the Christian era. There is
reason to believe that some of the UNI
dated articles are much older.
Walled Up In Eleventh Century.
The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas
said Sir Aurel, were walled up in the
of invasion, and had not been opened
since until he found them. Now many
of the articles are being studied by
British Museum experts.
Many of the articles, he said, appar-
emily were produced in provincial work
shops for patrons who were not rich
enough to patronize the great masters
of China's golden age. But they indi-
genius of the time in this remote cor
ner of the world. whose civilization de-
yeloped practically unknown TO the resi-