중국 승전(僧傳)에 나타난 출가 동기와 출생담 - 고승전을 중심으로 -

Abstract

In China, strange or abnormal stories about the birth of a god or emperor have been passed down since ancient times. Such stories are ‘supernatural conception folktales(感生說 話)’ and have continued not just since ancient times but through the Han dynasty(漢代) and other emperors who followed. In addition, they led to the birth tales of religious leaders during the Northern and Southern dynasties. In fact, the cases of such strange phenomena related to the birth of religious leaders are quite noticeable since the Liu Song dynasty(劉 宋). This paper begins with the birth tale of monks in Gaoseng Zhuan (The Biographies of Eminent Monk 高僧傳), examine more about the background behind why these strange birth stories were recorded for religious leaders during the Northern and Southern dynasties, and contemplates the meaning of biographies recorded at that time. As Buddhism, Taoism, and Conrucianism were closely interwined with one another during the Six dynasties, there seemed to be an influence between the biographies of monks(僧傳) and the biographies of Taoist saints and immortals(仙傳) in describing their lives. As seen with the common feature in describing with xiānrén(仙人transcendent) and monks are near death, strange stories are commonly found for the birth of Taoist and Buddhist monks. Descriptions are often observed in the biographies of monks that there was a strange dream before a monk’s birth, or there was full of light and scent when a monk was born. There are very few auspicious signs(祥瑞) recorded for monks during the Jin(晉) and he Liu Song dynasty to the early Tang period(唐初). In addition, there are multiple cases of such auspicious signs about childbirth in Song Gaoseng Zhuan (The Song Version of the Biographies of Eminent Monk 宋高僧傳). In the end, it is revealed that the trend which regards monks as a sort of sacred being in Chinese Buddhism has thrived over time.