位于河北省唐縣城北兩山峽的厙狄干石窟,為東魏武定三年定州刺史厙狄干率僧人祈雨有靈所建,摩崖碑銘記述建窟緣起和厙狄干部落家世。石窟可以與劉師培《左盦集》著錄的一通佚失造像相聯系,可知原為"水石窟寺",寺主為比丘道能。石窟的興造可以置于漢晉以來的官府祭祀和祠廟修造傳統之中理解,背后是佛教影響下地方官府政治文化的延續和轉換。碑銘對厙狄干部落家世的敘述,以地點、首領地位和世系作為主要要素,是一位懷朔鎮內遷領民酋長的部落身份記憶。厙狄干石窟展現了官府習慣、佛教與地方信仰民俗、部落歷史記憶等多重內涵,成為觀察和理解漢晉歷史景觀在北族、佛教兩種外來因素影響下延續和變化的重要遺跡。

Located at the Liangshanxia(two mountain gorges)in the north of Tangxian County,Hebei Province,the Shedigan Grotto was built in memory of their successful praying for rain by Shedigan,provincial governor of Dingzhou,and the monks under his leadership,in the third year of the Wuding reign of the Eastern Wei dynasty(545 C.E.).Its inscriptions on the tablet record the motivations for the building of the grotto monastery,as well as the history of the Shedigan clan.The grotto can be associated with the description of a lost statue in Liu Shipei’s collection of essays,Zuoanji.Thus it can be seen that the grotto was originally called the□Water Grotto Monastery(□shuishikusi),and the master of the temple was the Buddhist monk Daoneng.Its creation can be understood in the context of the traditions of official worship and temple construction that started in the Han and Jin dynasties.Underlying this was the continuation and transformation of the political culture of local officialdom under the influence of Buddhism.The tablet inscriptions narrate a history of the Shedigan clan in which locations,chiefdom and lineage are the main elements;they contain the memory ofthe tribal identity of a chieftain who led his people from Huaishuo Town.The Shedigan Grotto demonstrates the multi-layered connotations of official customs,Buddhist and local folk beliefs and customs,and memories of tribal history.As such,it is an important site for the observation and understanding of continuity and change in the historical landscapes of the Han and Jin dynasties under the influence of Buddhism and the northern tribes.