‘務安 南村埋香碑’의 판독과 해석

Abstract

Maehyang (埋香) and Maehyangbi (埋香碑) are the Korea’s unique and original religious acts and products that cannot be found in either China or Japan, and they show Korean Buddhism’s characteristics and Koreans’ religious aspects precisely. This article tries to decipher and analyze ‘9 lines 77 letters’ of the epitaph of ‘Muan Namchon Maehyangbi that Seongju Chuiunhyangdang (翠雲香 堂) owns’ which was newly discovered lately. The time of building ‘Muan Namchon Maehyangbi’ is 1584 (Seonjo 17), so it is the latest among the Maehyangbi that have been discovered so far, which makes its value even higher. In fact, it has lengthened the latest limit of Maehyang in terms of their periods. Furthermore, it is the first case of Maehyangbi that has been discovered to be Jeonnam Muan region’s. Yet, one thing regretful is that we cannot figure out its original position since it was moved to this place. The marking of the year of ‘Namchon Maehyangbi’ adopts a Confucian marking system of ‘Secha (歲次)’ regarding the era name. This proves that the rural society of Joseon Dynasty period during the late 16th century maintained Buddhistic rituals represented by Maehyang or Maitreya faith but Confucian order was washing over there gradually. The classes participating in ‘Namchon Maehyangbi’ include Hyangdo (香 徒) of ‘Muan Namchon’ and ‘Jindo Daesaeupgot’, monks of ‘Muan Seungdalsan Beopcheonsa (法泉寺)’, or Gyewon (契員) of ‘Samcheonbo (三千寶)’. It also contains the terms referring to religious associations like Hyangdo, Bo (寶), or Gye (契), and there was no precedent other than ‘Namchon Maehyangbi’. Moreover, it is also characterized by the fact that the leading class of Maehyang was not the monks but ordinary people and it mentions the name of a temple, Beopcheonsa, directly. Considering the scarcity that Maehyangbi has, the current status of the tombstone’s morphological aspects and epitaph, or the diversity and importance of the contents that the epitaph has, we can surely evaluate ‘Muan Namchon Maehyangbi’ as one of the Maehyangbi representing Korea.