敦煌石窟有一种特殊的供养像，即在佛窟主室东壁门上绘制窟主的父母、祖父母形象或本家族其他长者形象。这种现象自蕃占时期出现，在晚唐归义军时期许多家族窟中多有仿效。结合中晚唐敦煌当地流行“邈真像”的社会现状，并将其佛窟、佛寺或家庙（家祠）甚至墓葬等相关的礼仪建筑联系起来考察，就会发现这类供养像与当时普遍流行的“邈真像”有极大的相似性，同时又是将佛教的“往生极乐”概念与中国传统的羽化成仙观念相结合的产物，表明佛窟功能进一步向具有家庙（家祠）功能的家窟转化。绘制生者的供养像是表达了对家族有功者的旌表，而绘制父母（祖父母）像既有“邈真”的功能，同时又寄寓了祈愿先祖升天、成仙的美好愿望。%A special kind of murals found on the wall above the east entrance of the main chamber in the Mogao caves depicting portraits of the supporting donors' parents and grandparents or other seniors first ap-peared during the Tibetan Occupation and was continued into the family caves of the late Tang and Gui-yi-jun Regime periods. By associating this work with the local popularity of “portraits” and relevant ceremonial ar-chitecture such as Buddhist caves, temples, family temples and tombs, the author finds an uncanny similarity be-tween these donor figures and other portraiture, and concludes that the portrayal of the donor figures in these murals resulted from a combination of the Buddhist idea of “being reborn into the Pure Land ( Sukhāvatī)”and the traditional Chinese idea present since the Han dynasty of “ascending to heaven and becoming immor-tal.” Both reflect that the donors wished for their seniors to be reborn in heaven as immortals and provide fur-ther evidence that Buddhist caves began at this time to function as family temples.
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