佛敎塔의 구조와 탑돌이에 대한 고찰 - 불교탑돌이의 형성배경과 동아시아적인 변화를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Tabdori(go-round Pagoda) is a world-wide Buddhist culture and a typical intangible cultural asset of Korean Buddhism along with Yeongsanje(靈山齋), Suryugje(水陸齋) and Yeondeungje(燃燈祭). Despite the fact, the studies on Tabdori are very scanty. The modern age is the society where the culture becomes a power. Therefore, the study on Tabdori can be said to be a very important and urgent task of this age. Tabdori is a method to show the respect and honor toward the pagoda. Therefore, the consideration on the pagoda or Buddhist tower should be made first before the study. Buddhist tower was originated from the Indian culture even before the beginning of Buddhism. It was accepted by Buddhism after the modificationaccording to the Buddhist perspectives. Unlike the cases of Indian towers, Buddha limited the objects for construction of Buddhist tower to those of respect and honor, expanding the weight of grandeur by setting the tower at the center of a cross road. It means that the Buddhist tower has relatively greater respects to emphasize the respect and honor rituals like Tabdori than Indian tower. Tabdori as a respect and honor ritual toward the tower came from the custom to express the respect by turning around to the right in the nomadic culture. This Tabdori was also a pre-Buddhism custom that was accepted by Buddhism. In case of Indian tower, it was not built only for the objects of respect and honor. This means that Indian tower did not accompany the rites of respect and honor such as Tabdori at all times. But, in case of Buddhist tower, the objects for its construction were limited and therefore all the Buddhist towers became the object of respect and honor. This means that Tabdori can be made for all Buddhist towers. This kind of change promoted the active development of Tabdori culture in Buddhism. Tower of Indian Buddhism and Tabdori suffered great changes in the Chinese cultural zone when the Buddhism was propagated to East Asia. In the process, the pagoda came to be connected with traditional Myeo-ngdang(lucky site) construction in China, and the Yeondeung(燃燈, lantern) Tabdori with the light of evil repelling became the main trend of Tabdori. But, as the Yeondeung Tabdori can be made only at night thanks to the character of lantern, Yeondeung Tabdori cannot be identified with Tabdori itself but is just included in the scope of Tabdori.