신라 약사신앙의 성격 교리적 해석과 신앙활동

Abstract

Following the introduction of Buddhism to Korea, most cultic practices in Korean Buddhism were centered around Śākyamuni and Maitreya, and this remained until the Three Kingdoms’ period. During the Unified Silla period, when Buddhist practices became more widespread and a variety of cults proliferated, other cult of Amitābha, Bhaiṣajyaguru, Avalokiteśvara, and Kṣitigarbha became popular. The cult of Bhaiṣajyaguru combined promises of prosperity in this life with promises of rebirth in the Pure Land. The main feature of the cult of Bhaiṣajyaguru was its emphasis on the healing power of Bhaiṣajyaguru, as part of the worldly benefits that worship of him guaranteed. This belief was based on a reading of the Yaoshijing(藥師經, The Sutra of Bhaiṣajyaguru), according to which one of Bhaiṣajyaguru’s Twelve Great Vows was that he would save all those who were sick and lacked medical care, as well as those who suffered from poverty. The sutra further claimed that the efficacy of the cult would secure the nation in the event of any crisis, invasion, upheaval, or natural disaster, and that it would also prolong the life span of those who believe. It also explains that Bhaiṣajyaguru will save all devotees who wish to be reborn in the paradise, and will guarantee the salvation of those who cannot be reborn in the Pure Land. It also emphasizes the mysterious power of the sutra itself in the ritual of prolonging one’s life span. It claims that if one lit up a seven-story lamp and hung a five-colored votive banner for prolonging life, even a dead person can be resurrected. In Silla period, the healing power of Bhaiṣajyaguru came to be the most attractive component of this cult. Buddhist priest Milbon(密本) was said to have cured Queen Seondeok by reciting the Yaoshijing; while Hyetong(惠通) healed the King Sinmun with a magical Bhaiṣajyaguru mantra. In Silla period, the cult of Bhaiṣajyaguru also developed based on textual understanding. In China several monks—including Jingmai(靖邁) and Kuiji(窺基)—wrote commentaries on the Yaoshijing, but none of them are extant. One commentary has been partially preserved in the Dunhuang collection, the Yaoshijingshu, by Huiguan (慧觀). It is also known that Gyeongheung(憬興) and Doryun(道倫) wrote Yaoshijingshu in Silla period, but they are not extant either. One commentary has survived, the Bonwonyaksakyeonggojeok(本 願藥師經古迹) by Daehyeon(大賢). In Bonwonyaksakyeonggojeok, Daehyeon gives detailed explanations of the Yaoshi liuliguang rulai benyuan gongdejing(藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經), a text translated by Xuanzang. Significantly, it is the only commentary of the Yaoshijing extant from the portion of the Silla period which corresponded with the Tang dynasty. Zenju’s(善珠) commentary, the Yakushikyōsho, is also extant in Japan. Most commentators on the Yaoshijing were from the Yogacara School. In addition to the number of commentaries written about the sacred literature of the Bhaiṣajyaguru cult, the large number of Bhaiṣajyaguru statues which have survived in Silla period also attests to the popularity of this cult. Before the ritual manuals of Bhaiṣajyaguru were fixed, Bhaiṣajyaguru’s attribute was often portrayed as a cintāmaṇi(a wish-fulfilling jewel). Increasing belief in the mysterious healing power of the cintāmaṇi, however, gradually led to the power of Bhaiṣajyaguru being represented symbolically as a medicine bowl. The cintāmaṇi is then the major iconographic feature of Bhaiṣajyaguru statues in Silla period. There are more than thirty extant examples of statues in Silla period. One statue of the Four Directional Buddhas shows Bhaiṣajyaguru as the Eastern Buddha. The cult of Bhaiṣajyaguru was popular both because of the rewards it offered in this life and because of the rewards it offered in the afterlife. The forms of worship for the Bhaiṣajyaguru which were established in Silla period became the archetype for the Bhaiṣajyaguru cult in Korea. These forms of worship continued through the Goryeo and Joseon periods.