Ancient Buddhist temple found in China’s Taklimakan desert

[oxymoron]

Xinhua: The ruins of a Buddhist temple dating back 1,500 years ago have been discovered in China’s largest desert, offering valuable research material for historians studying Buddhism’s spread from India to China.

The temple’s main hall, with a rare structure based around three square-shaped corridors and a huge Buddha statue, has been uncovered after two months of hard work in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Dr. Wu Xinhua, the leading archaeologist of the excavation project, said Monday.

“The hall is the largest of its kind found in the Taklimakan Desert since the first archaeologist came to work in the area in the 20th century,” said Wu, also head of the Xinjiang archeological team of the Chinese Academy of Social Science.

The ruins are located in the south of the Taklimakan Desert, in the Tarim Basin, known as the Damago Oasis in the ancient kingdom of Khotan, a Buddhist civilization believed to date back to the 3rd century BC.

http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/news/ancient-buddhist-temple-found-in-chinas-taklimakan-desert

[ellisonz]

1. Amazing.

Still visible on corridor walls are mural paintings of items including the Buddha’s feet, Buddhists and auspicious animals. They are painted in a Greco-Buddhist artistic style, which was seldom seen after the 6th century.

[YankeyMCC]

2. hmmm....

Is there a sign that says "Bodhidharma slept here" maybe?

[silverweb]

3. Wildmind's website is a real find, too.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Thank you!