아잔타석굴 제 26굴 佛塔浮彫 佛倚坐像 고찰

Abstract

In front of stupa in Ajanta cave 26, India, one full size of Buddha's preaching image sitting on the throne is carved in relief. In this article, the characteristics and meaning of the seated Buddha image carved in relief in front of stupa were contemplated. First, in Chapter II, the origin and the development pattern of the seated Buddha image were examined. It was identified that the throne is the symbol of powerful authority through the fact that ever since the chair was emerged as a seat for clay doll, the woman of New Stone Age, it has been expressed as a seat for ruler throughout the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and through the pattern that later, the Roman emperors during middle of 4th Century, Christ during the later half of 4th Century and Buddha during the later half of 5th century sit on the chair having backrest. As the religious leaders of Buddhism and Christianity sit on the throne, the seat of absolute power established through Egypt and Rome since the prehistoric ages, making the authority symbolized by throne reach to its peak, the throne having backrest had been settled down as a throne of unique god or the god at the vertex position. In Chapter III, the style of seated Buddha image carved in relief in front of stupa was identified and the relation with the image of supreme nirvana put together with this seated image in the same cave were proved focusing on the relation between the stupa and the image of Buddha. For the reason that the stupa and the image of Buddha were put together, I viewed that it suggested the meaning of nirvana as a mysterious miracle and the completion of Buddhist ideal by making the statue of supreme nirvana and the concept that his sermon is continued was visualized by carving the image of Buddha in sermon in front of stupa, which symbolizes the nirvana of Buddha. Based on these results, I mentioned about the possibility describing the meaning of the iconography of seated Buddha image in the history of Buddhist sculpture that the seated Buddhist manage carved in relief on the stupa in Ajanta cave 26 carved as a sacred statue in relatively early period, which is the object of worship, would be a model of seated image in Eastern Asia includingthe Maitreya Buddha of Samhwaryung.