佛國寺 금동아미타불상과 금동비로자나불상 新硏究 - 圖像 再考와 尊格의 화엄교의적 解釋을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper presented the Avatamska doctrinal interpretation of the time of the fabrication of the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue and gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple for which no agreement was reached and no appropriate explanation was given among diverse theories about the statues, the reason why the hand sign was reversed, the issue of the representation of Amitabha Buddha statues, and the representation system of the two Buddha statues. The bodies of the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue and gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple are tall. Previously, views that regarded the foregoing statues to have been fabricated in the late 8th century or the first half of the 9th century by placing this characteristic on the extension of the style lineage of Sakyamuni Buddha statues in Seokguram and views that regarded them to have been fabricated in the late 9th century by understanding them to have been affected by the Buddha statues during the period of the Five Dynasties after the end of Tang Dynasty were raised. However, I pointed out that among the ancient Buddha statues in Tianlongshan Grottoes in China, there are examples of long body types like the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue and the gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple and regarded the relevant Buddha statues to have been fabricated in the late 8th century. I also presented the fact that the gilt-bronze standing Buddha statue at Baekryulsa Temple, which is the most similar to the two Buddha statues in terms of styles, is assumed to have been fabricated in the late 8th century and the fact that it had been difficult to construct large gilt-bronze Buddha statues since the 9th century due to national policies as the grounds for setting the time of fabrication to the latter half of the 8th century. These Buddha statues are making reversed hand signs with two hands. With regard to the foregoing, a logical argument that the sitting Zen meditation performance method established by Zhiyi(智顗)requires calming down the restless mind to begin meditation and to do that, the right side, which is in the dynamic phase, should be pressed by the lift side, which is in the static phase, is set out. This Chinese-style sitting Zen meditation performance method transcended sects and times to affect even neighboring countries, and I guessed that the representation of the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue and gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple might have been transformed according to the logical argument. The hand sign of the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple is understood as a variation of the sign for the middle grade low level heavenly world or Buddhist sermons, which is the Amitabha Buddha's hand sign. However, given the signs of the main Buddhas in the “Kusa mandala” and “fundamental mandala in the Buddhist sermon hall” of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan, which are examples of the representation of the same hand sign, it was presumed that the sign was highly likely to be that of Nosana Buddha or Sakyamuni Buddha of Avatamska sect. That is, the hand sign of the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue at Bulguksa Temple is not that of statues of Amitabha Buddha that were formed according to the Sukhavati belief but is undrstood to be basically a representation of the Nosana Buddha statue of Avatamska sect, which has the level of dignity of the Sakyamuni Buddha. Then, the following question is raised, “What did the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue and the gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue, which are believed to have a certain belief system, fabricated together at Bulguksa Temple, intend to embody?” Zhìyǎn(智儼), the second founder of Avatamska sect in China, who greatly affected the Avatamska ideology of the Unified Shilla Dynasty, presented the theory of two types of ten Buddhas that explained ten Buddhas with abstract and ambiguous concepts by dividing them into the area of solution(解境) and the area of enlightenment(行境). In the light of this Buddha's body theory of Avatamska sect, the ten Buddhas that appeared in response to people’s vow can be embodied with the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha statue (Sakyamuni Buddha) and the ten Buddhas, which are the fundamental enlightenment of Sakyamuni, can be embodied with the gilt-bronze Vairocana Buddha statue. Then, in the end, it was assumed that these two Buddha statues were enshrined in the Jangdang(藏堂) (currently Museoljeon(無說殿)), which is a sermon hall, and utilized as educational materials.