감로도에 나타난 조선의 비구니승가

Abstract

This paper concerns the representation of Buddhist nuns in kamnodo, Buddhist nectar ritual painting. Originating in the mid-Chosŏn period, nectar ritual paintings depict Buddhist rites that are performed to save sentient beings from the sufferings of samsara by offering nectar to them. Presently there are about seventy extant paintings in this genre, among which roughly thirty contain the iconography of Buddhist nuns. My article first addresses three criteria by which nuns can be identified among the diverse groups of human figures in the paintings. The first and most decisive factor is pangje, a title describing the contents of an image. Ten paintings include references to Buddhist nuns: “piguni (bhiksuni),” “sikch’amana (siksamana),” and “samini (sramanerika).”A veil on a shaved head serves as another notable marker of a female monastic in the paintings. Nuns also tend to be distinguished from monks, who are often indicated by dark faces, moustaches, and long and thick eyebrows, etc. The second section of my article examines various characteristics of the representations of Buddhist nuns in the nectar ritual paintings. Of particular interest are nuns’ robes and postures, the size and location of a group of nuns within each painting, and their spatial relationship with monks. The last part of the article discusses the socio-historical and religious significance of the new information on Chosŏn Buddhist nuns that the nectar ritual paintings bring to light. The recurring vibrant images of the nuns suggest how actively they engaged in the lives of the commoners, contrary to the general perception that they had virtually disappeared from mainstream society in late Chosŏn. Special attention should be paid to the surprising portrayals of the nuns as the performersof the ritual. These images undermine the widely accepted view that the ritual has historically been conducted only by monks. Equally striking are the appearances of siksamanas in some paintings, which reinforce the legitimacy of the Korean nuns’ ordination lineage and the historical continuity of their sangha throughout Chosŏn.