Localization of Buddhism in China - The Case of Pingcheng in The Northern Wei Dynasty

[Background] Gandhara Buddhism in the eastward transmission of Buddhism promoted the translation of scriptures and missionary activities of monks traveling east and west, coupled with the policy of migrating people under the Northern Wei Regime made the culture of Pingcheng communal, which promoted the active Buddhist beliefs and Buddhist activities in the Northern Wei Dynasty. During the Pingcheng period, Buddhism penetrated into the state, the royal family, and among the people, and the quality and quantity of Buddhist statues reached a fairly high level. [Objective] This paper aims to deeply analyze the role of light and shadow art in creating immersive experiences. This paper examines and investigates the evolution of Buddhist art styles from the historical background of ethnic integration in the Northern Wei Dynasty with the concept of art, reflecting the interactive relationship between ethnic integration and the evolution of art styles, which focuses on the analysis of Buddhist statues in the Pingcheng period of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the derivation of localization. [Method] Through the analysis of the changes in the style of specific statues in the early, middle, and late stages of the Yungang Grottoes, further excavation of the development process and social factors of the worship of significant figures of the Xianbei ethnic group in the five caves of the Tanya Caves, and the exploration of the process of the localization of the Buddhist art of Pingcheng. [Results] The population relocation strategy under cultural transplantation led to the convergence and integration of multiple cultures in Pingcheng, facilitating the peak of Buddhist art in the Northern Wei Dynasty. [Conclusion] It can be learned from the diachronic changes of the statues in the Yungang Grottoes that the localization of Buddhism is not a simple accumulation and passive inheritance of foreign Buddhist doctrines but a recreation on the cultural soil of the Chinese nation. The development of the localization of Buddhist statues in Pingcheng during the Northern Wei Dynasty has an indelible influence on the study of the integration of multiple cultures in Chinese history.