龛

Two everyday compounds. 神龛 is a household shrine holding ancestral tablets or deity images - a staple of traditional Chinese homes, temples, and ancestral halls. 佛龛 specifically holds a Buddha image - these are the famous carved niches at Dunhuang, Longmen, and other rock-cut Buddhist sites. Other compounds: 龛位 (a niche slot, e.g. in a columbarium for cremated remains), 壁龛 (wall niche).

佛龛 carved into cliff faces was the standard way to install Buddhist images along the Silk Road and in Chinese rock-cut grotto sites. The Dunhuang Mogao caves alone contain tens of thousands of niches across nearly five centuries of work. A single grotto wall might hold hundreds of small niches, each with its own statue and surrounding painted donor figures. Knowing the word unlocks Chinese art-history writing about Buddhist caves.