통일신라 관음보살상 연구 시론

Abstract

Avalokiteśvara(Guanseum, 觀世音 in Korean) is one of the famous bodhisattvas in the Mahayana Buddhism(大乘佛敎). He has made a great vow to listen to the prayers of all sentient beings in times of difficulty. According to Samguk-yusa(『三國遺事』), lots of people in the Unified Silla Period(統一新羅時代) believed and prayed to Avalokiteśvara. Some people prayed to have a son, and some people wanted not to fall into the perils. Murim(茂林) in the King Sunduk(善德) period, had prayed to Avalokiteśvara to have a son, and he got a boy named Jajang(慈藏). Jangchun(長春)’s Mother Bogae wanted for her son to come back safely, so she prayed to Avalokiteśvara from her heart. Like these stories, there are many stories related to the Avalokiteśvara faith in Samguk-yusa. Even if the faith in the Avalokiteśvara was flourished in those times, the images of Avalokiteśvara were not yet known to the people in nowadays. Many images of Avalokiteśvara in those days might have been painted ones, which were easily lost. One can assumed that the people in the Unified Silla had sculpted the Avalokiteśvara image following the iconography of the precedent. Small statuettes with a Buddha image on the crown would be Avalokiteśvara images. A small gilt bronze image in Leeum is a good example. Another iconographic feature for the judgement of Avalokiteśvara is holding a water-bottle(水甁) in his hand. A small bronze image excavated from Guwon-ri, Hapchon, a gilt bronze image from Yongil, and another small image in the National Museum would be Avalokiteśvara image which is holding a water-bottle. On the other hand, bodhisattva images made with stone can be easily distinguished as an Avalokiteśvara. Since the stone image of Avalokiteśvara was commonly one bodhisattva of a Amithabha triad set, it can be discriminated with ease. Amithabha triad in Sundo-san (仙桃山), Amithabha triad in Gunwi(軍威), and Amithbha triad in Gulbulsaji(掘佛寺址) are consisted of Amitha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahasthamaprapta. In these set of images, Avalokiteśvara is holding a water-bottle, or a piece of long scarf. So one can assume carefully that the iconography of the stone image of Avalokiteśvara was not always consistent. It seems that several types of new iconography of Avalokiteśvara have been transmitted from Tang dynasty after the 7th century. Therefore the decision of Avalokiteśvara from many bodhisattvas is more difficult and cautious as it was in the Three Kingdoms Period.