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Regarded as one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, Shanxi is home to numerous cave temples. Among them, the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, features 252 caves and more than 51,000 statues with the earliest dating back more than 1,500 years.　

The Yungang Grottoes feature many caves that were carved during different periods, but the most striking of these are Caves 16 to 20. These five earliest grottoes are known as the “Five Caves of Tan Yao,” named after the designer of their five giant Buddha statues. Tan supervised thousands of workers to carve out the caves and statues in a ridge of Datong’s Mount Wuzhou. Dating between 453 and 465, the statues range from around 13 meters to nearly 18 meters in height.

Tan Yao initially oversaw the construction of the Tiantishan Grottoes close to what is now Wuwei in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. These are considered the earliest grottoes in China. They were built under the Northern Liang (397-439) regime, founded by a branch of the nomadic Xiongnu people during the turbulent Sixteen Kingdoms period.　

In those war-torn times, political powers in the north rose and fell in quick succession. Different groups competed to adopt Buddhism in order to assert cultural dominance and meet the spiritual needs of the populace.　

However, Buddhism did not bring lasting stability to the Northern Liang, which soon was conquered by the Northern Wei (386-534). This was a pivotal dynasty in Chinese history, ending the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms and unifying the north. Later, the Northern Wei implemented a policy of Sinicization, playing a crucial role in the continuation of Han Chinese culture. Yet, it was one of the bloodiest dynasties in Chinese history: of its 14 emperors, 10 died unnatural deaths and only four died of natural causes – and even then, they died young. According to traditional Chinese beliefs, few of them could be said to have died a “good death.”　

Many later scholars attribute it to a policy established by the founding emperor of the Northern Wei, Tuoba Gui, that stated: “When the son is honored, the mother must die.” The purpose was to prevent empress dowagers and their clans from interfering in state affairs. As a result, when a crown prince was appointed, his birth mother was executed. This practice had been used before – most notably by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) – but it was an isolated case. In the Northern Wei it became institutionalized and was applied consistently, making the palace a place of unending bloodshed from the start.　

Tuoba Gui, known as Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei, was the model for the famous colossal open-air Buddha in Cave 20 of the Yungang Grottoes. He founded the dynasty at the age of 15 and began a series of military campaigns, defeating nearly all neighboring regimes. But in his later years, his temperament changed drastically, and he began killing indiscriminately. After appointing his son Tuoba Si as crown prince, he had the boy’s mother executed. The young prince was devastated, weeping uncontrollably. Fearing his father’s wrath, he fled the palace.　

Soon after, Tuoba Gui imprisoned another favored concubine, possibly planning to make her son, Tuoba Yu, the new crown prince. This incited Tuoba Shao, a hot-tempered 16-year-old prince and son of another concubine, to break into the palace overnight and kill his father with a single blow. Thus, the great founding emperor Tuoba Gui met a violent end at the age of just 39 in 409. Ironically, in the context of Northern Wei emperors, this already made him one of the longest-lived rulers – second only to one other.　

The exiled Tuoba Si later returned to the capital with his troops, killed his brother Tuoba Shao to quell the rebellion, and ascended the throne as Emperor Mingyuan. Tuoba Si was considered a relatively good emperor, but he reigned for only a little over a decade before dying of illness brought on by the rigors of war. He was only 32, and had ruled from 409 to 423.　

His successor, Tuoba Tao, became the third emperor of the Northern Wei and was known as Emperor Taiwu. He was a formidable and powerful ruler who, during his reign from 423 to 452, unified northern China and pushed his military campaigns from the Yellow River region all the way to the Yangtze River. It was Emperor Taiwu who conquered the Northern Liang kingdom.　

After the fall of the Northern Liang, Tan Yao – the monk who had once overseen the construction of the Tiantishan Grottoes for the Liang royal family – was captured. Whether as a master craftsman or an accomplished monk, he possessed exactly the right skills the Northern Wei urgently needed. Tan Yao was taken to the Northern Wei capital of Pingcheng (modern-day Datong), where he received generous treatment and established connections with the ruling Tuoba family.　

Emperor Taiwu had a profound impact on Chinese history, not only for unifying the north but also for initiating the first of the four major anti-Buddhist persecutions in Chinese history, known collectively as “the four suppressions of Buddhism.”

Unlike later anti-Buddhist campaigns, which mainly forced monks to return to secular life and reclaimed temple-owned land for economic reasons, this first persecution was brutal: countless monks and nuns faced death, their lives hanging by a thread.　

Fortunately, Crown Prince Tuoba Huang was serving as regent in the court and responsible for carrying out the emperor’s orders. Tuoba Huang knew his father was acting out of rage, and while he had no choice but to enforce the decree to suppress Buddhism, he was a devout believer. So, when it came to the executions, he deliberately slowed down the process, causing delays and reducing the severity of the measures. This gave Tan Yao and a number of other eminent monks the opportunity and time to escape from Pingcheng.　

Nevertheless, this maneuver brought disaster upon Tuoba Huang. His political enemies, especially Zong Ai, the emperor’s favored eunuch, seized the chance to accuse one of the crown prince’s trusted ministers of plotting rebellion. Enraged by the supposed betrayal, Emperor Taiwu immediately ordered the execution of the minister. Tormented by fear and grief, Tuoba Huang soon fell seriously ill and died in 451, aged only 23.　

Upon his son’s death, Emperor Taiwu was filled with regret. Zong Ai, realizing that the emperor might now take revenge for the crown prince’s death, decided to strike first. He entered the palace and assassinated Emperor Taiwu. And so the once-mighty Taiwu died in confusion and betrayal at the hands of a eunuch at just 45 years old, though it was enough to make him the longest-lived emperor in the history of Northern Wei.　

After Emperor Taiwu’s death, Zong Ai installed the late crown prince’s younger brother, Tuoba Yu, on the throne. Yet within six months, Zong Ai assassinated the new emperor as well. Court officials, shocked that Zong Ai had now murdered two emperors in succession, finally rose up, executed Zong Ai brutally, and enthroned Tuoba Jun, son of the late crown prince Tuoba Huang. He became known as Emperor Wencheng, who ruled from 452 to 465, dying at only around 25.　

Emperor Wencheng is remembered for two particularly notable achievements. One was his marriage to Empress Feng, a woman of the Feng clan who would later become the famed Empress Dowager Feng and a key figure who promoted the full-scale Sinicization of the Northern Wei and played a pivotal role in preserving Han Chinese civilization. The other was his complete reversal of Emperor Taiwu’s anti-Buddhist policy, instead becoming a vigorous supporter of Buddhism.

Having personally witnessed the bloodshed and terror of the anti-Buddhist persecutions, Tan Yao constantly feared that such tragedies might one day return. Seeking to allow Buddhism to permanently take root in China and be spared from destruction by future emperors, he drew inspiration from the Indian and Central Asian practice of carving monumental grottoes.　

His idea was simple but powerful: if the Buddha statues were carved large enough to be grand and imposing, they would awe officials and the public, and would be physically difficult to destroy. Even if someone wished to erase them, it would take enormous effort.　

But beyond size, Tan Yao had an even more ingenious idea. He proposed modeling each of the Buddha statues after the physical likenesses of the five emperors of Northern Wei up to that point, from the dynasty’s founder Tuoba Gui to the reigning Emperor Wencheng, Tuoba Jun. This way, the images would not only serve their religious purpose but also honor imperial ancestors, ensuring that future rulers would hesitate to destroy what were essentially portraits of their forefathers, even if they turned against Buddhism.　

This plan won the full support and approval of Emperor Wencheng, and Tan Yao began excavating the first five caves of the Yungang Grottoes, now numbered Caves 16 to 20, each corresponding to one of the five emperors. Within two of them, he incorporated some especially thoughtful design elements.　

Among the “Five Caves of Tan Yao,” the largest Buddha statue is that of the founding emperor, Daowu (Tuoba Gui). But what about the third emperor, Emperor Taiwu, who was infamous for persecuting Buddhists? Since he was the reigning emperor’s grandfather, leaving him out was not an option. So, Tan Yao came up with a clever solution: he dressed the statue in a heavy “Thousand-Buddha Robe,” adorned with over a thousand small Buddha heads, symbolizing the immense karmic debt Taiwu owed to the Buddhist community. The statue’s hands were posed in a gesture of repentance, and the weight of the robe represented the lasting burden he was to bear.　

As for the fourth emperor, who was placed on the throne by the eunuch Zong Ai and quickly killed, Tan Yao made a significant adjustment. Instead of portraying this short-lived ruler, he replaced him with a statue of the late Crown Prince Tuoba Huang, Emperor Wencheng’s father.　

After all, it was Tuoba Huang who had slowed the enforcement of Emperor Taiwu’s anti-Buddhist decree, saving countless monks and nuns, though at the cost of his own life. Still, since Tuoba Huang never officially became emperor, his statue was made slightly shorter than the others, subtly indicating that even a Buddha must compromise with worldly rules, and that even sanctity bends before imperial power.　

Tan Yao’s approach, even by modern standards, proved remarkably effective. His “Five Caves” sparked a wave of Buddhist grotto carving throughout northern China.　

Over the next century, the Yungang Grottoes expanded from the original five caves to 45 major caves and over 200 subsidiary niches. Buddhism flourished across China alongside this monumental artistry. With later reforms and the relocation of the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang by Emperor Xiaowen (Tuoba Hong, 467-499, a grandson of Emperor Wencheng), Central China’s Henan Province, a new golden age began, marked by the grand, centuries-long excavation of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang.　

Today, both the Yungang and Longmen Grottoes are UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites, admired around the world. And in the Five Caves of Tan Yao, the five great Buddhas, modeled on dynastic leaders who operated and witnessed the rise, fall and revival of Buddhism, still sit in solemn majesty, silently watching the tides of Chinese history.