조선 왕릉의 능역과 성속의 구분

Abstract

According to feng-shui that vital force accumulated to the skeleton of the dead brings peace and prosperity to their descendants, to built the royal tomb the Joseon dynasty searched for the feng―shui spot with accumulated vital force and an auspicious site. In the feng-shui spot it built the underground chamber to enshrine the sentient soul called yin soul or baek in Korean and its corpse. On the inner auspicious site in front of the feng-shui spot, an red arrow gate, roads, a T-shaped building, a stone box, etc. were built for ancestral rites. The government designated the belt including four guardian mountains around the royal tomb as the forbidden area. Therefore the royal tomb is not only an grave but the place for the yin soul of the deceased to rest and for ancestral rites. Royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty have been studied in the point of architecture, gardening, sculpture, history, and feng-shui. They confined its area only to the royal tomb consisting of the place of resting, the place of the ancestral rites, and the entrance area in font of the red arrow gate. But in this article, the forbidden area is included in the precincts of royal tomb. It's divided into four areas: the buffer zone to protect from fire, the preserving zone for vital force of the feng-shui spot, the preparing area for the ancestral rites, and the royal tomb consisting of the resting place for the yin soul and the corpse and the place for ancestral rites. About two places of the royal tomb, The previous studies maintain that the resting place is sacred but the ancestral rites area is sacred and profane. It is inferred from Eliade's axis mundi. But this study attempts to hold the royal tomb as a whole is sacred, because the resting place is sacred by feng-shui and the ancestral rites are sacred by Confucianism. In Confucianism-oriented society the ancestral rites are not just memorial but worship for ancestors. The resting place including the feng-shui spot is sacred, because it is the place for the yin soul called baek to rest and the feng-shui spot is the place harmonized with yang vital force from heaven and yin vital force from earth. Through the procedures of rites, the paths of ancestral gods, kings and subjects were examined along with structures. The layout of the royal tomb is compared with the layouts of the Altar for the god for heaven, the Altars for the gods of earth and crops, the Shrine of Confucius and Jongmyo that enshrine the yang souls called hon of deceased kings and queens. The difference of the layouts of their structures, directions and positions means their relative status between the enshrined gods and the king, and the status of their rites. Confucianism was dominating ideology of the Joseon dynasty. As the dynasty was ended, Confucianism lost its effect over society. Today in the westernized and modernized society most Korean think the ancestral rites are memorial, but the ancestral rites should be studied in the eye of people of the Joseon dynasty. With the same eye the forbidden area is included in the precinct of the royal tomb. If four guardian mountains were damaged, the feng-shui spot lost its accumulated vital force. This article studies the precinct of the royal tomb in view point of feng-shui and the ancestral rites in the viewpoint of ancestral worship of Confucianism.