고려의 중국불화 선택과 변용

Just as Buddhism was adopted on the Korean Peninsula by way of China, Goryeo Buddhist paintings were produced under the direct and indirect influence of Chinese Buddhist paintings. Goryeo and Chinese Buddhist paintings thus have close links, but in order to understand these, understanding and study of Chinese Buddhist paintings is needed, not to mention that of Goryeo Buddhist paintings. Regrettably,however, the true nature of Chinese Buddhist paintings has still not been brought to light with any precision I believe, moreover, that tying up Chinese Buddhist paintings into a single concept is impossible. Chinese Buddhist paintings are as varied as their complicated history and the differences found in peoples, languages, ideologies and climates in which they were produced. Buddhist paintings from the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties, too, embody countless other aspects inherent in each era, which were affected by factors such as temporal contexts, geography, purposes, ideologies and artists even within the same era. There is no way of discussing Chinese Buddhist paintings while ignoring such aspects. Goryeo and China, as well as being geographically close, maintained a historical relationship of both intimacy and estrangement, in various forms, for a long time. It has been believed that a considerable amount of mutual influence and exchange occurred between the two states through their common religion, Buddhism. Unfortunately, however, historical materials related to Buddhist paintings of the two countries are lacking to an unacceptable extent. Among approximately 150 Goryeo Buddhist paintings, around 120 are related to Amitabha, Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha. Therefore, it cannot be said that Goryeo Buddhist paintings are abundant in iconography they are very monotonous in comparison to the variety of iconography in Chinese Buddhist paintings, which combines esoteric and exoteric Buddhism, Daoism and folk religions. Meanwhile, Goryeo is presumed to have adopted Chinese Buddhist painting selectively, and is thought not to have accepted iconography that diverged from typical forms of Buddhas and bodhisattvas and could be regarded as unorthodox. In terms of composition, too, Goryeo Buddhist paintings have a strong tendency to emphasize only the main subject, such as Sakyamuni, whereas the constituent elements of their Chinese counterparts are organic and descriptive. In the process of being introduced, adopted, understood and established, Buddhist iconogr