The Development of the Buddhist Relic Cult from Unified Silla to Early Koryŏ

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 서울대학교 종교문제연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 종교와 문화 / 18호 / 117 ~ 138페이지
· 저자명 : Vermeersch Sem A C

초록

While the relic containers of Unified Silla and Koryŏ have been extensively studied, there has been comparatively little reflection on the religious practices associated with these relics, in other words there has been no attempt to define the Korean "relic cult." This article aims to show that the concept of a "relic cult," though mainly shaped by the study of Christian practices and later also Indian and East Asian Buddhist practices, is also relevant for Korea. Although there is little textual evidence regarding the use of the relics and the beliefs in them, it is sufficient to show that there are both parallels with the Buddhist relic cult in China and Japan and interesting divergences. The main question addressed is how the sponsorship of reliquaries and the stūpas in which they were placed could help to strengthen royal authority. While all the evidence points to the fact that Unified Silla kings used the power of the relics for private ends, especially to pray for the good rebirth and enlightenment of deceased kings, from the 1021 Hyŏnhwa-sa stele inscription we know that early Koryŏ kings, perhaps for the first time,used the magical reproduction of relics as a sign of their authority as Buddhist monarchs (cakravartin). We can therefore speculate that whereas Silla kings strictly treated the relics as "subjects," in other words not as "things" but as actual presences of the Buddha, in the course of the Koryŏdynasty there was a shift towards treating them more as "objects,"material things that can be reproduced. While aimed at strengthening the image of kings as Buddhist monarchs, this does not seem to have succeeded. Henceforth, the importance of relics would remain mostly in the domain of private faith.

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