Where did the flying dance come from?

Dancing comes from the murals of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes.

Flying in Dunhuang is the business card of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and the symbol of Dunhuang art. As long as you see the beautiful flying, people will think of the art of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. Almost all of the 492 caves in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are painted with flying sky.

The origin of the name

In the Tang Dynasty's Collection of Golden Light and Ming Classics, it is said: "It is also heaven to call on God in foreign countries." In India, god flying in the air is called flying. Tian Fei often appears in the murals of Buddhist grottoes. In Taoism, mythical figures who have ascended to heaven are called "immortals", such as "leading immortals", "celestial immortals" and "barefoot immortals", and immortals who can fly in the air are called flying immortals. In the Song Dynasty, the Taiping Magnolia Volume 622 quoted a cloud in Fairy Products: "Flying in the clouds, lightly deifying, thinking that immortals are also flying in the clouds." There are all kinds of immortals in the tomb buried with Yu people. There were immortal scenes in the tombs of the Warring States and even earlier, which became more popular with the spread of immortal thought and early Taoism after the Eastern Han Dynasty. After Buddhism was introduced into China, it exchanged and merged with Taoism in China. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when Buddhism began to spread, the flying immortals in murals were also called flying immortals, which was the difference between flying immortals and flying immortals. With the in-depth development of Buddhism in China, the flying of Buddhism and the flying fairy of Taoism are integrated in artistic image. It now refers to the flying gods in Dunhuang Grottoes, and later became the proper term of Dunhuang mural art unique to China.

Tian Fei in Dunhuang is not a god in terms of origin and function. It is a complex of Ganlu Slope and Kinnara. Ganlupo is a transliteration of Indian Sanskrit, literally translated as the god of songs. Kinnara is a transliteration of Sanskrit in ancient India, literally translated as the God of Music, because he is full of fragrance. Gandiwa and Kinnara were once the entertainment gods and dance gods in ancient Indian mythology and Brahmanism. Myths and legends say that they are a loving couple, who can sing and dance, and are inseparable and harmonious. Later, it was absorbed by Buddhism and became two gods among the eight gods. Hui Lin in the Tang Dynasty explained: "The true Dharma was Kinnara in ancient times, with a low voice, which can be sung and danced. Men are horseheads and can sing; Women are upright and can dance. Next time, my daughter will marry her godmother. " With the development of Buddhist theory, artistic aesthetics and artistic creation, Ganlupo and Kinnara have gradually evolved from the ferocious face of the horse's head to a beautiful face and figure, dancing and soaring in the sky. The original functions of Ganlu Po and Kinnara among Buddhist gods are different. The mission of Ganlu Baole God is to spread incense in the pure land of Buddhism, offer flowers, treasures and praises to the Buddha, live among flowers and fly in the heavenly palace. Kinnara-Song Shen's mission is to play music and dance for the buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods and celestial bodies in the pure land of Buddhism, live in the heavenly palace, not fly in the clouds, and then do it. The donkey girl can also play musical instruments, sing and dance; Kinnara also rushed out of the Heavenly Palace and flew into the sky. Ganlupo and Kinnara, regardless of gender, merged into one and became the flying Dunhuang of later generations. During the Western Wei Dynasty, there were flying songs and dances in Mogao Grottoes. After the Sui Dynasty, Ganlupo and Kinnara became one, and they can't be separated anymore. Only when writing an article in the music and dance circle, in order to distinguish it from musicians, the foster mother who played music in the early days of heaven was called Tiangong musician, and the Tian Fei musician who later merged music and dance was called Tian Fei musician.

As far as artistic image is concerned, Dunhuang Tian Fei is not a cultural and artistic image, but a synthesis of various cultures. Although Tian Fei's hometown is in India, Tian Fei in Dunhuang was bred by Indian culture, western culture and Central Plains culture. It is a flying sky with China cultural characteristics. It is a long-term exchange between Indian Buddhist heaven and human beings and China Taoist feather people, flying in the western regions and flying in the Central Plains. It was a featherless, round, dull, colorful and cloudless sky, soaring mainly by fluttering dresses and fluttering ribbons. Flying in Dunhuang is the most talented creation of China artists and a miracle in the world art history.