The murals in the Daxiongbaodian[Hall]of Kaihua Temple in Gaoping,Shanxi Province,are some of the most intact extant temple murals of the Northern Song Dynasty.They illustrate the sutra titled Dafangbian Fo Bao’en Jing and comprise four large panels with eight Jataka episodes.They illustrate stories of filial piety in a Buddhist context and the idea of the incorruptibility of the Jinggang.On the basis of a number of surveys,the author has reproduced the murals in line drawings and applied iconographic techniques to explain the content,as well as discussing their intellectual content and artistic style.
