공명조(共命鳥)에 대한 관념의 기원과 변천

Abstract

This paper is about the Gongmyungjo(共命鳥) and its story. Gongmyungjo is a translation of jīvajīvaka. It is known a mythological bird which lives in snow mountains of Himalayas. The bird is appeared in many Buddhist scriptures including Sukhāvatīvyūha(阿彌陀經). It is a translated word of jīvajīvaka or jīvaṃjīva by Kumarajīva in 402. According to Sukhāvatīvyūha, jīvajīvaka lives in the Buddhist paradise, namely the land of happiness(sukhāvatī, 極樂淨土), together with swans, peacocks, parrots, shrikes and kalaviṅka. This bird is also characterized in the Buddhist scriptures by the appearance with two heads. We can find the jīvajīvaka story in Saṃyuktaratnapiṭakasūtra(雜寶藏經) and Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra(佛本行集經). It seems that the story of jīvajīvaka was transferred into the Buddhist scriptures in the area of northwest India. Through the translation of scriptures and the moulding of cave paintings, the ideas on jīvajīvaka was spread around the Silkroad. It can be said that the story of jīvajīvaka is one of the representative Buddhist tales. Well, how did the Chinese understand the jīvajīvaka, a bird does not live in China? The mythological bird jīvajīvaka was introduced together with kalaviṅka. Kalaviṅka is an imaginary animal, its upper is a human and the rest is a bird. Jīvajīvaka and kalaviṅka are mentioned together in the names of rare birds live in sukhāvatī. And in many Buddhist paintings they are classified into one group, dancing around the Buddha and flying in the sky. They were accepted with a pair in China, so jīvajīvaka became to understand with two heads of human, not bird. In accordance with the years went by, it was confused that kalaviṅka is jīvajīvaka. This is a case of cultural transformation, when the rare animals or plants was introduced into another country. It shows one case of many confusions and misunderstandings in China, when accept the unfamiliar things from India and the west areas. In the commentaries of Sukhāvatīvyūha, we can find the statements that kalaviṅka is not jīvajīvaka, and this confusion is a mistake.