신라 하대 현실 인식과 佛土觀의 변화

Abstract

It is not easy to find aspects of the people's perception of realities in the ancient Korean society. The limit of historical records is thought to be the biggest factor, but fortunately, a glimpse of such aspects can be obtained since relatively many epigraph in Late Silla with which aspects of the Buddhist community can be examined, including the Zen monks’ epitaph, remain. In this paper, examples in which the Late Silla Buddhism perceived the contemporary era as the degenerate age(末法) have been examined, and although common expressions related to the degenerate age were seen, the fact that the situation perceived as the degenerate age was different depending on the subject of the Buddhist custom was able to be found. In particular, the fact that the royal family perceived the contemporary era as the degenerate age can be said as a perception deviating from the one-sided understanding that the degenerate age perception held an anti-royal feature. The background behind the spread of the degenerate age perception was due to not only the domestic situation of the proliferation of the Maitreya belief since the Jinpyo(眞表), but also the foreign situation, the return of the Zen monks by the persecution of Buddhism(破佛) of the Chinese Tang(唐) Mujong(武宗). Since the Tang’s situation of the weakening of the royal family and the rise of local power resembled the reality of Silla, Silla also perceived the degenerate age in light of the Tang which resulted in the extreme situation on the persecution of Buddhism. The Buddhist community responded actively without neglecting such reality. The thought of the Buddha Land(佛土觀), which in the previous periods had spread centering around the royal family and the royal capital, changed into a local-centered ideology, proliferated the perception of accomplishing Buddhahood(本來成佛), and attempted to overcome the crisis of chaotic reality of Late Silla. As such, the Buddhist community persistently made an effort to communicate with the society and lead the society.