병령사석굴과 골굴석굴에 대한 고찰

Abstract

The Byeongnyeongsa(炳靈寺) cave, which is a stone cave that was excavated in the Hexi(河西) corridor, is located at the intersection of East and West cultures. As Buddhism was practiced in the place from early on, not only study of Buddhist doctrines were established, but also meaningful Buddhist art were created. The most important cave in the Byeongnyeongsa cave is the 169th cave, and this cave provides absolute data for the study of the stone cave, as the traces of Buddhist statues and Buddhist monks who convey the faith at the time of the founding remain as murals. Disciples of Byeongnyeongsa cave used strangely shaped natural rock surface to create alter with seating Buddhist. They began and announced their spiritual training by seating down in front of statue of Buddha and closing their eyes. The Golgul(骨窟) cave at the eastern end of the Silk Road does not contain any information indicating the form of faith, but the existence of the big engraved Buddha on the rock surface and the large and small natural caves formed around it are similar to those in the early days of Byeongnyeongsa cave. Since Buddhism was recognized during King Beopheung(法興王) of Silla era, Buddhist temples were built in various places in Gyeongju, the capital city of Silla, and many people became Buddhist monks or believers. The disciples of Buddhism breathe with the public to promote the Buddhism, but have not neglected the original teaching of Buddhism and their own training for enlightenment. As the Buddhist scriptures say, for the place for meditation, well-built Buddhist temples, forests, under trees, and beautiful rock caves were favored. As such, the Byeongnyeongsa and Golgul caves were natural places of practicing Buddhism. This is not a space where a large number of people can enter and worship or preach the Buddha's will, but it is best for disciples who practice Gudohaenggak(traveling the whole country to practice Buddhist doctrine, 求道行脚) with ilnyeom(one thought, 一念). Looking at the early records of the Byeongryeongsa cave, several foreign Buddhist monks came to cave making Buddha statues, thinking deeply with conviction, in order to advance to the level of enlightenment. Like the Byeongnyeongsa cave, the Golgul cave would have taken the same form of faith. In other words, just like the caves in the Three Kingdoms period, such as Danseoksan(斷石山) Buddha engravings, Samhwaryeong(三花嶺) cave, Bulgok(佛谷) cave, and Tapgok(塔谷) Buddha Group in Namsan, Gyeongju, the disciples thought deeply about the statue of Buddha and trained themselves to move on to the ultimate goal of enlightenment. On the other hand, big Maitreya Buddha, the symbol of the Byeongnyeongsa cave, was built in the Tang Dynasty of China, and the image of Buddha engraved on rock, the symbol of the Golgul cave, was engraved in the 9th century of the Unified Silla. The case of creating a large-scale symbol representing numerous caves did not happen until the Tang dynasty of China. Most of the statues chosen as symbolic Buddha have many Maitreya Buddha in the form of sitting on a chair, and it is often associated with the political ambitions and power. Maitreya Buddha is a Buddha who descends after Sakyamuni Buddha who descends into the world to rebirth, but when the time when he will descend must be the period of the reign of Chakravarti, the ideal monarch of Buddhism, which was a very good faith to politicize. The big Buddha engravings in the Golgul cave is religiously considered to be the Buddha of Sakyamuni, and is considered to be in the late 9th century when it was engraved. The 9th century of Silla was a period of great political and social unrest due to the struggle for kingship among royal families. In times of social unrest, the faith of the future Buddha, Maitreya, emerged in the limelight regardless of the times. Perhaps looking deeper into the time when the big Buddha was engraved, the creator of the Buddha dreamt of a new world, longing for a peaceful new era in the place such as the time of great achievement of the unification of Three Kingdoms, unified by King Munmu(文武王) of Silla. As the engraved Buddha was created overlooking of the tomb of King Munmu of Silla, the possibility of engraving of big Maitreya Buddha was cannot be excluded. Of course, the origin and background of its creation can be found sorely in the beliefs of the big Buddha engravings that were often established during the Tang Dynasty, such as Dunhuang, Byeongnyeongsa cave, and Mt. Cheonje.