동해 삼화사지출토 불교유물에 대한 고찰

Abstract

The Samhwasa temple(三和寺) of Donghae(東海市), Gangwon Province, erected during the later half of 9th century of the Unified Silla period, was prosperous during the Goryeo and early Joseon period until it was destroyed during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592. Since the 17th century of the later Joseon period, Samhwasa temple was reconstructed and relocated several times when the temple was destroyed either by fire or landslide caused from flood, and the temple was finally moved to its present place in 1977. The temple-site of Samhwasa has been investigated several times and, since 2018, has been excavated four times. During the fourth excavation, Buddhist artifacts such as the gilt-bronze standing Buddha image, six miniature pyrophyllite stupa, and metal images and fragments were unearthed. The gilt-bronze standing Buddha image of the later half of 9th century shows the typical characteristics of Buddha images of the late 9th century, including facial expression, body-proportion, and detail of drapery. Considering small gilt-bronze images could be found where they were not made, it is interesting that the gilt-bronze Buddha image of the later half of the 9th century was unearthed at the temple-site of Samhwasa, where it was established. The six miniature stupas made with pyrophyllite show that they were enshrined inside of the stone stupa, which follows the enshrining method(formula) of Rasmi-vimala-visuddha–Prabha-Dharani(無垢淨光大 陀羅尼經). In this sutra, Buddha explains that it is as meritorious to enshrine 77 or 99 small stupas as it is to build a myriad of stupas. This sutra was first introduced to Unified Silla in the early 8th century and became widespread in the 9th century. Miniature stupas of the Samhwasa temple- site are unique in their shape with a rectangular niche on the surface. Small metal images and fragments were most likely parts of a small metal stupa, which was popular in the late Goryeo period. It is also interesting to note that gilt-gold is found on the surface of these fragments, which demonstrates that the small stupa was gilt-bronze. It is fair to assume that this gilt-bronze stupa(金銅塔) was enshrined inside of the stone stupa that was restored in the 13th century of the late Goryeo period when Samhwasa was very prosperous.