안동 법흥사지 칠층전탑에 대한 고찰

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the origin and existence of the Seven-story Brick Stupa at Bubheung-sa Temple site(法興寺址) in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. According to a study by several scholars, the tower was built by the theory of divination based on topography ideology for the sake of defeating bad things at the time and for happiness. The base of the tower was granite slate with a width of 6.4m and a height of 2.2m. The stupa body and roof used brick to the inside, but it piled up to the inside unlike the Chinese style tower which was empty inside. The first floor has a space (1.6m × 1.4m in width, 1.9m in height) in which a Buddha statue can be placed inside. This hole symbolizes the cosmos tree that connects the sky and the earth of ancient Indian stupa and is the only example in Korea. Maybe it is the only example in Northeast Asia. The original shape of the base is unknown, but it is surrounded by granite stones of 22 pieces (currently there are 19 pieces) that carved the Buddhist gods that were believed at the time when the stupa was built. The sculpture was made up of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the four heavenly guardians of Buddhism, and unidentified sculpture gods. These sculptures are based on Buddhist thought which was believed at that time. The background of the composition seems to have been built by aristocrats on the basis of the "Mugu jeonggwang dae daranigyeong(無垢淨光大陀羅尼經)" which was prevalent in the Unified Silla dynasty. It seems to have been built at the end of the 8th century based on the change of the statues of the foundation. Through this study, it was found that silla people introduced the concept of unlimited merit like ancient Indian stupa. It was the only stupa in Korea that showed the originality of the Silla people symbolically expressing the universe tree connected with the cosmos tree faith of ancient India.