중국 오대산의 발전과 오대산문수신앙

Abstract

The Manjusri Belief and the Mount Wutai Manjusri Belief belong to different forms of religious belief systems. The former is categorized into the Bodhisattva school of Mahayana Buddhism and the latter has been established in accordance with the Avatamsaka Sutra. The Buddhabhadra, of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, had translated the 60-volume Avatamsaka Sutra from the 14th Year of Yixi(418) to the 2nd Year of Yuanxi, in which there are contents of the Abode of Boddhisattva Section indicating that Manjusri often dwelled in the Qingliang Mountain; since the Qingliang Mountain here was interpreted as the Mount Wutai of Daizhou, Shanxi Province, it provided the basis for the formation of the Mount Wutai Manjusri Belief. The development of the Mount Wutai Manjusri Belief in China can be divided into two stages. First, the era of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern Dynasties (418-581), which can be referred to as the “Emerging Period of the Manjusri Belief”. The Manjusri belief in this period was transmitted along with the translations of sutras into Chinese. However, Bodhisattva Manjusri, unlike the wide transmission of Avalokitesvara Belief, in most cases, acted as the attendant Bodhisattva for Vairocana Buddha. It is widely assumed by the academic community that Mount Wutai had already served as the abode of Manjusri during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, however, through literature studies, it can be inferred that the Mount Wutai of the Northern Dynasties period was not that closely associated with Manjusri as discussed in the previous studies, nor has the recognition that Mount Wutai was the place where Manjusri’s shrine was located been formed. In light of the natural environment and geological of the Mount Wutai at that time, meditation and pure land were highly regarded in the Northern Dynasties; whereas Manjusri Belief had yet to dominate the development of Buddhism in Mount Wutai at that stage. Second, the establishment period of the Mount Wutai Manjusri Belief from Sui Dynasty to Tang Dynasty (581-798). In this period, Manjusri Belief had been supported by the monarchies, which prompted Mount Wutai to be transformed gradually from a regional religious center during the Northern Dynasties into a holy mountain belief at national level, and laid the foundation to the notion that “the Qingliang Mountain refers to Mount Wutai”. In the Tang Dynasty, Manjusri Belief was blended with Mount Wutai and the Mount Wutai Manjusri Belief was formed. This formation process was highly associated with the Empress Wu Zetian’s(武則天) propagation of the Avatamsaka Sutra circulation, as well as the creation of the Huayan School and the writing of a variety of commentaries by Fazang(法藏).