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Dunhuang Story Atlas

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From 366 to 1900 CE: ten stories carved in steles, sutras, murals and verse — retold on the basis of classical scholarship.

100Stories 1534Years of History 3Languages 📜Grounded in Stele, Sutra, Mural & Verse

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Featured Timeline

A Millennium in Ten Tales

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Follow the great scenes carved in steles, sutras and murals, in chronological order.

Story Gallery

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Jataka, Buddha's life, avadana, sutra art, apsaras, donors, caissons, landscape, daily life — a hundred stories from a thousand walls.

The Golden Light at Sanwei — How Mogao Began in 366 CE

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Caravan with Camels

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Quick answers

Short, citable answers to the questions readers ask most about this section.

What period do the stories cover?

From 366 CE, when the monk Yuezun dug the first cave at Mogao, to 1900, when the Library Cave (Cave 17) was opened and its manuscripts dispersed.

What sources are the stories based on?

Stone inscriptions, Buddhist sutras, dynastic histories, Dunhuang manuscripts and Tang poetry. Each story names the cave number or documentary source it draws on.

How many stories are there?

Over 100, organised by theme: jataka tales, the life of the Buddha, avadana, sutra art, apsaras, donors, ceiling patterns, landscape and architecture, daily life, and modern history.

Is the Courier brick the one on the China Post logo?

Yes. The Courier brick from the Wei-Jin tombs at Jiayuguan Xincheng, painted between the 3rd and 5th centuries, is the original of the image used on the China Post logo.

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Dunhuang Story Atlas

A Millennium in Ten Tales

Story Gallery

The Golden Light at Sanwei — How Mogao Began in 366 CE

The Nine-Color Deer — Betrayal of the Saved

Feeding the Tigress — Prince Sattva's Choice

The King Who Weighed His Flesh for a Dove

How Five Hundred Bandits Became Buddhas

The Backward Pipa — Heavenly Music Played in Reverse

Wine, Moon-Cup, and the Liangzhou Song

Zhang Yichao Recovers the Hexi Corridor

Xuanzang and Shapanduo — Where Wukong Was Born

The Library Cave — A Millennium Sealed, Sixty Thousand Stories

King Moonlight Offers His Head

King Clear-Eyes Gives His Eyes

Prince Sudana's White Elephant

Syama the Filial Son

Prince Good-Friend's Voyage

Elder Flowing-Water and the Fishes

The Deer Mother's Daughter

The Novice Who Died for His Vow

Sumati Invites the Buddha — Disciples in the Sky

The Crimson of Sattva — Depths of One Image

King Virulha's Thousand Nails — For One Teaching

King Kandraprabha's Lamps

The Girl and the Novice — Grief in Cave 285

Good-Friend and Evil-Friend — Eyes of the Gratitude Sutra

The White Elephant in the Queen's Dream

Birth Under the Sala Tree

The Four Gates — Seeing Birth, Age, Sickness, Death

The Great Departure by Moonlight

Six Years of Asceticism

Defeating Mara — The Night of Victory

The First Turning of the Wheel

The Nirvana Tableau — The Longest Sleep

Lamentation — Kings in Grief

A Life in Eighty Scenes — Cave 290's Scroll

The Bandits Punished — Eyes Taken

The Bandits Take Refuge — Balm from the Snow Mountain

The Nun Utpalavarna — A Woman's Suffering and Release

Sibi Cutting His Flesh

The Nun Utpalavarna

Raudraksha's Contest

Merchants Robbed

Prison Released

Medicine Buddha with Dancers

Maitreya Paradise

Lotus Sutra Transformation

Vimalakirti Sutra

Emperor in Vimalakirti

Amitayus Meditation Sutra

Gratitude Sutra

Lankavatara Sutra

Deva Questions Sutra

Golden Light Sutra

Avatamsaka Sutra

Manjusri

Samantabhadra

Avalokitesvara Sutra

Ksitigarbha Sutra

Elemental Contest

Ghanavyuha Sutra

King Ajatasatru

Sixteen Visualizations

Flower-Scattering Apsaras

Twin Apsaras

Apsara with Harp

Apsara with Pipa

Three Hares Ceiling

Dragon Ceiling Apsara

Offering Apsaras

Kalavinka

Whirling Dance

Heavenly Musicians

Bodhisattva Musician

Lady Song's Procession

King of Khotan

Uyghur Princess

Tibetan King Worships

Lady of the Governor