朝鮮時代 阿彌陀淨土圖 硏究 = A Study on Amitabha Pure Land Paintings in Joseon period

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Amitabha Pure Land Paintings from the period of Choseon, about 20 of which now remain in scroll and the others in mural, is the subject of study in this thesis. Among other genres of Buddhist art in choseon period, Pure Land Painting exhibits particularly distinctive characteristics between the subtypes yet tends to share identical layouts of scenes. Thus a new criterion for categorizing the types of this genre is introduced by this thesis. First, the works with obvious symbolic representation of individual icons of Amitabha mediation sutra(觀無量壽經) are categorized as illustration of mediation sutra image painting. Secondly, among the works in the late choseon period, those that are not related to traditional Amitabha mediation sutra image painting is classified into a separate category.
Amitabha Pure Land Painting refers to the painted works of art that visualize Amitabha Pure Land, the afterlife paradise in Buddhism. The images of the paradise depicted in Pure Land Painting is based on some Buddhist scriptures that are fundamental to Amitabha buddhism, such as Infinite life Sutra(無量壽經), Amitabha mediation Sutra(觀無量壽經), Amitabha Sutra(阿彌陀經). These scriptures explicate what is the characteristics of the paradise, which was built by Amitabha in order to save people, along with how to be reincarnated in the paradise and the paths to be taken. In brief, Pure Land Painting is works of art designed and produced for the purpose of edifying the viewer about the afterlife salvation of Amitabha by way of visualizing the Buddhist paradise.
Pure Land Painting of choseon period first started as a continuity from the works of Koryo period, but gradually picked up new characteristics of its own. This could have been due to the change of conception about the paradise. The Buddhist monks in choseon kept the traditional view that defined the “Paradise in Buddha’s nature” in our mind as Pure Land, but they also encouraged a more pragmatic view to lay people that the paradise is “the Western Paradise” that they go to after death. The monks published many kinds of books and deliver their belief in Amitabha’s salvation after death and in the possibility of reincarnation in the paradise by calling out the name of Buddha alone. As suggested by the above, choseon period saw a gradual increase of the pragmatic point of view that one can be reincarnated in the Western Paradise through Amitabha’s salvation.
Early choseon period looked for a new change while keeping the tradition from Koryo. Pure Land Painting in this period inherited the traditions of Koryo dynasty, but more focused on realistic depiction of Amitabha’s edification of those who reincarnated in the paradise. This tendency cannot be irrelevant to the interest in Amitabha’s salvation after death, which led to the introduction of Yongseonjeobin(龍船接引) scene and acceptance of amitabha mediation sutra painting from China’s Ming dynasty. Yongseonjeobin scene is the reflection of the Boat of Amitabha concept, which metaphorically explicates the rebirth in paradise as the act of Amitabha’s leading the boat of people to the paradise, onto the motif of “dragon boat” from Koryo’s works. Sutra print from Ming dynasty has the same iconic roots as Koryo’s Painting on Amitabha mediation sutra but shows differences in composition and expressions in some of the scenes. These scenes, which depicts the arrival of the dead at the Pond in the paradise, are one of the elements that particularly exhibit the uniqueness of choseon’s Pure Land Painting, along with Yongseonjeobin scene. As shown above, the layouts of Pure Land Painting in choseon are designed with a focus on the depiction of the reincarnated arriving at the paradise. As a result, the image of the paradise had been finally realized in the direction of both the sight of the paradise itself and the scene of the reincarnation being in organic harmony. This in turn became a basis for the production of Simjeokam Pure Land Painting, the most typical image in late choseon period. This image spread throughout the end of choseon dynasty in the form of copies that sprang from the same original and in the form of re-makes with transformation of the existing works. It is spread thanks to the Gijeon(水龍堂 琪佺) school based in Kyong-Sang province. They transformed the images of Simjeokam painting according to each person’s taste and style, but later works show the weakening of the original characteristics due to the schematization process over generations.
As well as the spread of Simjeokam painting images, Late choseon period witnessed a new stream of works with unprecedented characteristics. The newly-emerged works can be grouped into two categories: one showing only the scene of the reincarnated heading to the paradise in the dragon boat, and the other showing the reincarnated now having arrived and going through the Lotus-rebirth as they listen to Amitabha’s sermon. These works can be considered as the result of the specialization of the existing images of the paradise, in that each scene of the reincarnation process was given a status of an independent artwork. Also, this tendency is thought to be related to the prevalent religious view of the time which paid more attention to the after-death salvation by Amitabha rather than to the actual sights of the paradise itself.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 머리말 = 1
• Ⅱ. 阿彌陀淨土圖의 槪念과 信仰 = 5
• 1. 阿彌陀淨土圖의 槪念 = 5
• 2. 朝鮮時代 淨土信仰의 特徵 = 8
• 1) 淨土觀의 變化 = 8
• 2) 往生說話의 傳來 = 14
• Ⅲ. 朝鮮前期 정토이미지의 成立 = 19
• 1. 高麗 觀經變相圖의 繼承 = 19
• 2. 圖像의 創案과 受容 = 29
• 1) 龍船接引 場面의 導入 = 29
• 2) 明代 板本圖像의 受容 = 36
• 3. 規範의 定着과 移行 = 44
• Ⅳ. 朝鮮後期 阿彌陀淨土圖의 展開 = 54
• 1. 朝鮮後期 淨土圖의 形成 = 54
• 2. 정토이미지의 확산 = 62
• 1) 圖像의 傳承 = 62
• 2) 多樣性의 摸索 = 67
• 3. 場面의 分化와 新傾向 = 78
• 1) 龍船接引圖 = 78
• 2) 九品往生圖 = 84
• 3) 蓮池九品圖 = 98
• Ⅴ. 맺음말 = 104
• 參考文獻 = 108
• 圖版 = 132
• ABSTRACT = 150