한국 불교회화의 판타지: 감로도의 아귀상

Abstract

Iconography in amrita paintings, based on the Water and Land Ritual, depict the journey of many lonely spirits of the deceased, represented as preta, to paradise in a structure comprising upper, middle and lower sections. It can be said that the images in three sections generally show a reconstitution of successive miracles that occur in the course of ceremonies for the deceased, such as the conveyance of the soul ritual, which take place over several days and nights, by organically linking each section. They therefore comprise events that occur in each stage of a long ritual, but these multiple times are spatially unified in the present through use of techniques incorporating scenes from multiple time periods in the same painting. The principle elements in the upper, middle and lower sections bear the characteristics of each stage of the ritual; the later scenes, in which the preta are saved, can be identified as visual representations of the lower section. Opposing concepts such as suffering and happiness, ugliness and beauty and hell and heaven are momentarily annihilated by a huge religious vow based on the virtue of mercy. In this sense, amrita paintings can be said to show an ascendent and holistic symbolic journey, manifested as the long period of karma as the soul progresses through the upper, middle and lower sections corresponds with reality. The Bodhisattva of Mercy descended from the upper realm by transforming herself into a preta and manifesting herself in the lower realm in order to experience the pain of the real world for herself. She suffered the same terrible hunger as other preta, further reinforcing the belief system of salvation and mercy. A preta is the epitome of beauty and mercy incarnated in the ugliest, most anguished form possible. The Bodhisattva of Mercy thus becomes at once an agent and an object of salvation, eliminating dualistic categorization. Amrita paintings contain the implicit message that opposing concepts such as hell and heaven are indivisible. Just as beauty is premised on ugliness, death simultaneously means new life and the existence of hell postulates that of heaven - by acknowledging the possibility of ascendance - thus giving visual form to the embodiment of religious salvation. And the amplification of fear and pain brought by the preta in amrita paintings represents the ascendance to a world of noble pleasure, located in an opposite position. It can be said that the preta paradoxically represent the sanctity of religion through pain. Preta were born of the endless quest to fulfill desire, given the form of huger to represent extreme deficiency. In this sense, the more grotesque the depiction of preta, the more they inspire consciousness of the endless desire produced by life in this world. They would also have helped attract patrons to sponsor Buddhist rituals, a source of income for temples.