中國 石窟의 金剛力士 - 북위 후기 금강역사의 세 가지 변화를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study purposed to identify the main reasons for three changes in Vajrapani, which had been imported from Gandhara to China via the western region, during the late period of Northern Wei. Among the three changes in Vajrapani during the late period of Northern Wei, first, Vajrapani, which had originally been single, became a pair in East Asia for some reason. An issue involved in this change is the switch of Vajrapani’s role from guarding Buddha to guarding the precinct of temple. Second, since Vajrapani became a pair in East Asia, there appeared ‘a’‐shape mouth and ‘hūm’‐shape mouth. One of phenomena appearing with the emergence of Vajrapanies in pair is that one of the two opens its mouth wide (‘a’ shape) and the other compresses the lips firmly (‘hūm’ shape). Thus, we discussed from what time the pair came to have a different shape of mouth and what the reason for the difference was. Third, the hands make a fighting posture. Vajrapanies in Gandhara and India always hold a vajra in their hand, but those in East Asia show various forms of hand and a variety of tools held in the hand. Some hold a vajra like those in Gandhara, but some grip a long spear or a club. Moreover, there are Vajrapanies whose bare hand makes a fighting posture. In such cases, one hand holds a weapon with the other bare, making a fighting posture, or as in those created in the later period, both hands make a fighting posture without a weapon. The objective of this paper is to find where the three changes came from. An interesting fact is that all the three changes happened in China at similar times during the late period of Northern Wei, namely, from the late 5th century to the early 6th century. We may assume that the three changes occurred not separately but together. It is quite a universal concept that two guardians stand on the left and right sides of a gate and guard the noble being within the gate. Of course, Vajrapanies in pair standing outside the gate of Buddhist caves, which began to appear during the late period of Northern Wei, can be understood from the same viewpoint. However, it is not difficult to reckon that the three changes borrowed ideas from Han traditional art considering the fact that the shape of Vajrapani was transformed specifically during the late period of Northern Wei when Han traditional art was highly appreciated. It is because all the three changes share the same context with traditions from ancient China. Particularly from around 500, the boundary between tomb art and Buddhist art was blurred, and one of representative cases showing this situation is Vajrapani. With given peculiarity of Buddhist caves, like doorkeepers or muscle men were deployed on the left and right sides of a structure, it might be believed effective to stand a pair of Vajrapanies at the entrance of a Buddhist cave. Though the shape of Vajrapani changed over time and area, the basic role of Vajrapani, which is guarding someone, did not change. The only change was that the object to be guarded was expanded from Buddha to the entire precinct during the late period of Northern Wei. In order words, as the images of various doorkeepers or muscle men in ancient China were reflected in Vajrapani, it naturally resulted in the expansion of Vajrapani’s role to protecting the temple, standing on the left and right sides of the temple gate. Of course, it might be another important reason that in China Buddha was regarded as a transcendental being who did not need to be guarded closely by Vajrapani. Vajrapani is noteworthy in that it shows clearly how foreign‐origin Buddhism was settled in China during the late period of Northern Wei.