Feitian Lamp

Feitian

North Slope of Mogao Cave 249
Western Wei Dynasty

One compelling, and often seemingly otherworldly, being that is depicted in the Buddhist murals throughout the 800 years is the Feitian (in Chinese), or "sky spirit".

In Dunhuang art, feitian inhabit their own level of reality, making a distinct division between other areas of the mural: they are at the top, in the air, in images where hierarchies of divine beings are presented surrounding a central Buddha. They are not the bodhisattvas attending the Buddha, nor are they the humans often seen at the bottom, on the earth.

Feitian symbolize the most rarefied level of being. They are often seen painted among archaic Daoist deities, such as the similar-looking gods of thunder and lightning. They come in different sizes even in the same mural. Some feitian appear as archaic deities themselves.