조선후기 전북지역 불교건축의 양상과 장엄

Abstract

Throughout Chosun including the Jeonbuk area in the late Chosun Dynasty, there were efforts made to restore the national territory and major temples that were left in ruins after the revolt spurred by western powers. There are currently 17 main temples left with the period of construction known clearly among Buddhist architectures built in the Jeonbuk region. The reason why the reconstruction of Buddhist architecture could be so actively carried out was because the people who suffered from the turmoil of war looked for relief through Buddhism. Furthermore, pending political issues of the royal throne such as the birth of the Crown Prince was tied to the temples, and because the perception of the Buddhism changed greatly because of the heroics of the Buddhist monk soldiers during the war. In addition to the efforts made by the Buddhist powers, merchants who gained wealth and farmers also participated newly in the reconstruction of the temple. Under the hypothesis that such trend of times and the difference of demographic and geographical environments of temples would have been actively reflected in the Buddhist architecture, this study classified the main temples of Buddhist temples built in the Jeongbuk area in the late Chosun Dynasty as temples supported by the royal throne and government offices, temples supported by agricultural and commercial capital located on riversides and estuaries, and fatherland-defense and Buddhist monk camp temples located in the mountain areas depending on the demographical and geographical environment, and the character of the sponsor and temple building force. And based on this, the features of the types and decoration of each type of Buddhist temple architecture were examined. Examinations found that most of the currently existing main temples were reconstructed in the 17th century following the revolt spurred by western powers, and that they built more in the western fields than the eastern mountains. Furthermore, while Buddhist architecture share the common role as being a space of manifesting the world view of Buddhism, there were differences in the scope of the Buddhist temple, size and materials of the enshrined Buddhist statues, and decoration and types inside and outside of the Buddhist temples depending on the demographical and geographical environment, and the character of the forces that built the temples. In particular, such characteristics are displayed clearly in temples supported by farming and commercial capital located on the coastline and river estuaries of the western fields. While temples such as Sungnimsa, Naesosa and Gaemsa were small in scale, it procured maximum space for worship and they enshrined wooden statues of Buddha that were mid-sized and had friendlier names than the larger Buddhist statues found in temples supported by the royal throne and government offices. Also, the interior and exterior of the temples were decorated extravagantly, yet simply. This can be said to be the result of the survival strategy of Buddhism that aimed at accommodating more worshippers by increasing the internal space and decorating it brilliantly, together with the preferences and demands of the common people whose economic capacities were increased. This study is the first to examine the features of Buddhist architecture through the decoration types inside and outside of Buddhist temples, as well as the characteristics of the sponsors, together with the demographical and geographical environments. It is expected to contribute to the research in regional Buddhist cultural heritages in the Chungnam and Jeonnam regions as well.