한국 복장(腹藏)에 수용된 포자법(布字法)의 전개와 특징

Abstract

Following the aniconism period, anthropomorphic representations of Śākyamuni Buddha began to be sculpted around the firstcentury C.E. in the Gandhara and Mathura regions. Similarly to pagodas, Buddhist sculptures enshrined sacred objects, including physical relics found in the cremated remains of the Buddha and relics of the dharma that he left behind as his incorporeal legacy, thus embodying sacredness and Buddhist ideology. The structure of the enshrined relics changed along with the underlying ideology and varied by country. Regardless, the ultimate objective of these enshrined relics was to religiously vivify the image in question. In this paper, I aim to examine the ideological backgrounds reflected by the objects placed inside Korean Buddhist sculptures. In Korea, palyeoptong(八葉筒, eight-petaled containers) and huryeongtong (喉鈴筒, containers with a tube) were considered the actual heart of a Buddhist sculpture and vivified the image. The process of enshrinement of these objects was called bokjang(腹藏) in Korean. Palyeoptong and huryeongtong were inserted a round double-sided mirror(兩面圓鏡), Five-Wheels Seed Syllables(五輪種子), and True-Mind Seed Syllables(眞心種子) all of which embodied the pojabeop(布字法), a meditation of middle Esoteric Buddhism performed by a practitioner visualizing seed syllables covering his body and meditating on their esoteric meanings. Therefore, the pojabeop Esoteric Buddhism meditation method from the Goryeo period became established as an element of Buddhist enshrinement rituals unique to Korea. During the Joseon Dynasty, pojabeop were perceived to carry seed syllables for a consecration ceremony called eye-opening(點眼) for a Buddhist image in several Buddhist ritual manuals and Josang gyeong(造像經, Sūtra on Making Images). It was disseminated through these means. Thus, Joseon Dynasty bokjang developed differently from their Goryeo Dynasty counterparts. Moreover, pojabeop absorbed by bokjang and jeoman came to provide an ideological basis for the enshrinement of relics that became sacred objects of religious belief.