Bohyupin Ston Stupa(National Treasure No. 209, Height 1.9 M) in Dongguk University Museum, is the only example of 'The Stupa containing the sutra of Bohyupin' among remaining thousand of Korean stupas. This granite stone stupa had been moved from the ...
Bohyupin Ston Stupa(National Treasure No. 209, Height 1.9 M) in Dongguk University Museum, is the only example of 'The Stupa containing the sutra of Bohyupin' among remaining thousand of Korean stupas. This granite stone stupa had been moved from the site of Taepyungri(大坪里) temple in Choongnam Province to Dongguk University, and it has three parts, which are platform, body, and top portion like other Korean stupas. But, unlike normal stupa, this was made of different size of square stone on the platform, and it has horse ear shaped stone in the four comers and drum in the center of the top. In addition, unique relief of buddha image, Jataka, and buddha's life in each part, cannot be found in any other stupa in Korea. Regarding this unique style, it has been known that this shape had been influenced by the 84,000 Bohyupin stupas made by Jeon Hong-sook in Wu Yu¨eh Kingdom(吳越) and this theory had been supported by several similar shaped stupas in Japan and in China.
Because that I believe that Jeon Hong-sook stupa and Bohyupin Stupa of Taepyungri have some direct or indirect relation each other, I tried to investigate Jeon Hong-sook stupa before I studied Taepyungri Stupa. But, even Jeon Hong-sook Stupa was very unique example in China and I couldn't find any relation between Jeon Hong-sook Stupa and other stupas made in same period. Partially, it reflected the influence of Indian Stupa because it has a drum on the top, and it could be found its origin from the stupa in the period of North and South(A.D. 265 ∼ 581) of China.
In China, 84,000 stupas were respected because they believed that these were made by King Asoka and they had built many similar stupas as 84,000 stupas. Specially, a ruler during in the chaotic period of The Five Dynasties, Jeon Hong-sook, had made a stupa imitating the stupa built by King Asoka who had ruled ancient India with a right teaching of Buddha. Inside of stupa, Jeon Hong-sook, put the sutra of Bohyupin Dharani as a relics of Dharma to protect his kingdom from many disasters, and I found that the relief of buddha image in the platform, Jataka in the body, and the image of dragon and cloud on the top of the Bohyupin Stupa had been related with this sutra.
Among 84,000 Jeon Hong-sook Stupa had been made of bronze and metal, and I could get to know these were built in 955 and in 965 according to the record on the stupas. On the platform, there were decorated with three or four image of seated Tathagata, and on the body, there were covered with four different Jatakas. Also, on the surface of horse shaped stone of four comers, it was decorated with eight guardians and buddha's life.
Since Jeon Hong-sook stupa had been built, many similar stupa were followed this stupa, but copying stupas had made of various kinds of materials, such as stone and silver and in the different style without four horse shaped stones. Even though the style became simple with different decorations on the surface of stupa in Japan, they were based on the Jeon Hong-sook stupa.
Surely, Bohyupin Stupa from Taepyungri temple had been influenced by Jeon Hong-sook stupa. So I compared with Jeon Hong-sook stupa to assume when it was built because there were not any record on Bohyupin Stupa. I believe that Jeon Hong-sook stupa had been delivered to Korea in the process of active exchange of buddhism between Koryo(高麗) and 오월 in the period of King Kwang(A.D. 960). Beside stupa, I assumed that the tradition of putting the sutra of Bohyupin had been introduced and the stupa of Woljung Templ and the prints of the sutra of Bohyupin in 1007 can be a evidence of this. Also, the buddha image in A.D. 1062 from the stupa of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Kumhwa(金華) and in A.D. 1010 of the stupa in Gaeshim Temple(開心寺) is very similar with the buddha image of Taepyungri Stupa, so I assumed that Taepyungri Stupa had been built between the end of 10th century A.D. and early of 11th century.
Compared with Jeon Hong-sook stupa, Taepyungri Stupa is quite similar in structure and the composition of image, but the contents of relief and the technique are different from Jeon Hong-sook Stupa. Taepyungri Stupa has different story of Jataka and they were focused on the climax of each story. The buddha's life on the top is the earliest example in Korea. Therefore, Taepyungri Stupa shows one of a creative authentic sense of our ancestors who built unique and various stupas with granite stone.
Unlike China and Japan, we found only example of Bohyupin Stupa until now, but we have some trace of simplified horse shaped stone in several stupas in Korea.
I studied the Bohyupin Stupa focused on Taepyungri Stupa of Korea and Jeon Hong-sook Stupa of China. But I believe that the deeper research should have been followed in this thesis in two points. One is a relationship with the Stupa of Gandhara Area in India and the matter of material in the part of Jeon Hong-sook Stupa. The other is a more investigation to collect and find out new data on the period and to explain the characteristics of buddha image on the platform. Furthermore, some part of Taepyungri Stupa is missing and I believe that we should consider to restore a complete shape based on deeper research from now on.