삼국·통일신라시대 山寺의 정착과 보살주처신앙의 성립

Abstract

While the relations between Buddhism and folk religions in ancient Korea, when Buddhism was introduced for the first time, has been discussed by many researchers, but how the diffusion of Buddhist temples in the mountains affected the establishment of the belief in Boddhisatva's residence has not been analyzed profoundly. This study aims to elucidate the process of Buddhist temples' settlement in mountains during the age of Three Kingdoms, the conflict between Buddhism and mountain worshippers, and the influence of the introduction of Avatamska Buddhism after the Unification and of the belief in Boddhisatva's residence. Since the introduction of Buddhism during the period of Three Kingdoms, numbers of temples were built on flatland surrounding royal district and in the mountains of the capital and provinces. This diffusion of Buddhist temples caused conflict between Buddhist and mountain worshippers. Even though there were local differences, Buddhism generally was predominant and so mountains became the stage of Buddhist belief. After the Unification, mountain worshipping rituals have been conducted continuously, and famous mountains of the country such as Samsan (three mountains) 三山, O-ak (five great mountains) 五岳, and Yisipsasan (twenty four mountains) 二十四山 have three different scale of rituals, large, medium, and small, conducted for them. But such rituals did not weaken Buddhism. As more Buddhist temples were built in famous mountains, more places of Buddhist prayer provided for people. This diffusion also means that the thought of Buddha's land in royal district have been spread domestically. During the process, the belief in Boddhisatva's residence, as a form of Avatamska Buddhism introduced from China to Korea, has been accepted and the Silla people came to believe that Boddhisatva dwells in Mt. Odae, Mt. Cheongwan, Mt. Naksan and others. This belief is another form of the Silla people's wish to realize Buddha's land in their kingdom. Consequently, Buddhist statues were engraved on mountain rocks, Buddhist legends were made, and more temples were built in the mountains. As the temples take their names from the mountains or the mountains take temples' names, the mountains consequently have Buddhist significance.