The Buddhist architecture of the Three Kingdoms period in Korea

Abstract

In recent decades, East and South-East Asia have became both politically and economically significant for the West and it is no longer possible to ignore the history and culture of this large portion of the world's population. Advanced studies on the various aspects of the rich heritage of these civilisations will contribute to a better understanding of the aspirations and strength of these countries as well of their cultural and historical antecedents and social limitations. The achievements of civilisation are still largely unknown in the West and Buddhist is no exception to this rule. The present thesis discusses the earliest evidence of Buddhist on the peninsula and thus tries to establish a basis on which future studies on can be built. The discussions of the relationship between the Buddhist of the peninsula and that of the Chinese mainland and the Japanese archipelago lead to a reappraisal of the place of early Buddhist in the history of world on an equal footing with that of China and Japan. The thesis is divided into five chapters, the first of which introduces the history and culture of Korea before the introduction of Buddhism. The second to fourth chapters present the historical and material evidence of Buddhist in the early kingdoms of Ko-gu-ryo (Chapters 2.1 and 2.2.), Baek-che (Chapters 3.1. and 3.2.) and Ka-ya and Ancient Sin-la (Chapters 4.1. and 4.2.). The characteristics of the various traditions and their relationships to China and Japan are explored in the last part of each chapter (Chapters 2.3., 3.3. and 4.2.). The time scale of the study stretches from the introduction of Buddhism into Ko-gu-ryo in the late fourth century AD to the unification of the larger portion of the peninsula by Sin-la in the middle of the seventh century AD. This period of history is commonly called the Three Kingdoms' period in spite of the fact that until the middle of the sixth century four political entities shared the peninsula. The conclusions form the fifth chapter which includes a summary of the main results (Chapter 5.1.), a comparison of the Buddhist architectures of the Three Kingdoms period (Chapter 5.2.), discussions of the archetypes of East Asian Buddhist and the development of the temple layout types in Korea (Chapter 5.3. and 5.4.), as well as an assessment of the various influences on the development of temple layouts and Buddhist in Korea (Chapter 5.5.). The main results of the study are as follows. The Buddhist architectural traditions of Ko-gu-ryo and Baek-che were directly introduced from the Chinese mainland. While many typical Chinese architectural elements were shared by the Buddhist architectures of both these kingdoms (site selection, polar organisation, wooden skeleton structure, tile roofs, etc.), the differences of temple layout and of building types of the central pagodas indicate that the Buddhist architectures of the two kingdoms originated from different Buddhist architectural traditions in China (possibly a northern and a southern tradition ?). The Buddhist architectures of Ancient Sin-la and early Japan, however, represent a later stage of development which can be characterized by a combination of elements of various traditions including those of Ko-gu-ryo and Baek-che, and possibly some additional Chinese ones which are still largely unknown. A survey of the main developments of the Buddhist of Korea in later periods would show that many of them can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period. Such elements are the courtyard-centered temple layout of the mountain temples of the Cho-son period (1392 - 1910 AD) and the miniature Stone and brick pagodas which were particularly popular in the Unified Sin-la period (668 - 935 AD). Three spheres of influence have contributed to the development of Buddhist architecture: Indian Buddhism has provided the religious and philosophical doctrines, the monastic order and a large part of the iconography; Chinese civilisation has contributed its social and ethical system, the courtyard architecture and the wooden construction system with tile roofs; the local culture, by filtering and developing these influences and by combining them with typical elements, succeeded in creating an original architectural tradition which can be considered one of the most balanced in East Asia. The study shows that culture in general and its in particular was already highly developed and featured a number of specifically Korean characteristics by the end of the Three Kingdoms period in the early seventh centuries AD. The deep Chinese and Buddhist influences on the one hand and a constant effort to preserve cultural and political independence from China and Japan on the other hand are two of the most remarkable aspects of civilisation. This double aspect of culture is supplemented by a high degree of creativity in various fields of science and art in which Buddhist occupies a prominent place.