전남 곡성군 죽곡면 당동리사지 석조여래좌상은 불신의 삼면에 불상을 배치하여 결국 사면에 불상이 배치되고, 방형대좌의 상·중·하대석에도 존상을 배치한독특한 형식의 조상이다. 본고에서는 이러한 독특한 불상의 봉안장소와 조성시기및 조성배경 그리고 각 존상들의 존명에 대해 고찰해 보았다.
당동리사지 석조여래좌상은 불신의 사면에 불상을 배치한 특이한 형식으로 그조성시기를 알아보기 위해 각 존상의 세부형식을 살펴보았다. 불신의 사면에 배치된 사면불상은 전체적으로 양감이 줄어든 신체와 하체에 비해 긴 상체, 도식화된 옷주름, 둥글게 처진 어깨와 짧은 목, 비교적 살이 오른 얼굴로 표현되었고, 대좌는 고려시대에 나타나는 상·중·하 3단으로 구성된 방형대좌로 모서리각을죽인 말각방형에 편평하고 도식화된 복련이 彫飾된 하대석의 표현 등 고려전기의특징을 보여 고려 11세기 후반에 조성된 것으로 추정된다.
당동리사지 석조여래좌상이 봉안되었던 사찰의 건립시기와 폐사시기는 국립광주박물관에서 시행한 발굴조사에 의해 통일신라 9세기경에 창건되어, 고려전기에 중창된 후 14세기경에 왜구의 약탈로 인해 폐사된 것으로 보고되었다. 그리고 발굴조사를 토대로 석조여래좌상이 봉안되었던 장소의 위치를 추정해 본 바고려전기에 중창된 정면5칸 측면3칸에 방형대좌가 조성된 동향의 불전 내부에 안치되었던 것으로 판단되며, 또한 석조여래좌상이 사찰의 중창과 함께 조성되었을가능성을 제시했다. 그리고 불전 내부의 중심축에서 향우측으로 약간 치우친 중심공간에 방형대좌가 위치한다는 점에서 석조여래좌상의 본존불 격인 환조불이남쪽을 향해 봉안되었을 것으로 생각된다.
석조여래좌상 불신의 사면에 배치된 각 존상의 존명을 살펴본 결과 동면의 불좌상은 약수를 담은 약병을 지닌 약사불, 남면의 변형촉지인 불좌상은 사면불의주존불이라는 점과 동향을 한 불전의 내부에 안치되었을 경우 남향을 한다는 점등의 정황을 토대로 석가불로 제시해 보았다. 그리고 서면의 촉지인 불좌상은 서쪽이라는 방향성과 촉지인불좌상이 유행하면서부터 촉지인약사불좌상을 비롯해현전하는 문헌기록과 銘文에 의해 아미타불로 밝혀진 촉지인아미타불좌상의 조성사례들을 바탕으로 서방 극락정토의 교주인 아미타불로 보았다. 그리고 북면의불좌상은 한국·중국·일본에서 동면 약사·남면 석가·서면 아미타·북면 미륵의 사면불이 조성되었던 사실에서 미륵불로 살펴보았다.
석조여래좌상을 받치고 있는 대좌의 부조상들은 금광명경에 등장하는 상들을 상징적으로 도해한 것으로 추정해 보았다. 그러나 석조여래좌상에 표현된 사면불과 금광명경에 등장하는 사방불의 존상이 서로 符合되지 않는 원인에 대해서는 석탑 사면불상의 조성배경과 같을 것으로 생각된다. 즉 통일신라시대에석탑의 조탑경으로 인식되어온 무구정광대다라니경에 의해 석탑이 조성되었다면, 그 탑의 표면에 배치된 부조상들도 같은 경에 의해 조성되었을 것으로 생각해 볼 수 있다. 무구정광대다라니경에는 신장상과 시방불이 불사리를 수호한다는 내용을 석탑의 표면에 도해할 경우 그 형상이 명확하지 않은 시방불의 경우당시에 널리 신앙되고 조성되던 대중적인 불상들이 표현되었을 가능성이 있다.
이상에서 당동리사지 석조여래좌상은 고려 11세기경에 조성된 것으로 추정해보았다. 그러한 시대상황 속에 동방 약사불·남방 석가불·서방 아미타불·북방미륵불의 현세구복적 성격을 가진 사불과 호국·수호의 성격이 강한 금광명경 에 등장하는 상들을 함께 조성하여 현실복락과 극락왕생을 기원하고 나아가 국가의 안정과 안녕을 염원하기 위해 조성된 사면불상으로 생각된다.
At Dangdong‐ri, Jukgok‐myeon, Gokseong‐gun, Jollanam‐do are enshrined two seated stone Tathagata statues moved from the Dangdong‐ri Temple and the Hwajang‐sa Temple. In particular, the statue from the Dangdong‐ri Temple shows a unique style that has never been found in Korea, China and Japan, deploying four Buddha images, respectively, on the four sides of the Buddha’s body and engraving sacred images on the top, middle and bottom stones of the square pedestal. Thus, this study examined the unique Buddha statue, focusing on the place of enshrinement, the date and background of creation, and the name of each sacred image.
In order to estimate the date of creation based on the unique style of the Buddha images on the four sides of the body in the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue of the Dangdong‐ri Temple, this study analyzed the details of each sacred image. The four Buddha images on the four sides of Buddha’s body have a body of somewhat reduced volume, the upper body longer than the lower body, patterned folds, round and drooping shoulders, short neck, and a relatively chubby face. The base is a square pedestal consisting of the top, middle, and bottom layers, and the base stone is of cut‐corner shape and engraved with flat patterned overturned lotus. As these characteristics are observed in works from the early Goryo Dynasty, the statue is believed to have been created in the late 11th century of the Goryo Dynasty.
According to the findings from excavation by the National Gwangju Museum, the Dangdong‐ri Temple, in which the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue had been enshrined, is believed to have been founded in the 9th century in theUnified Shilla Dynasty, reconstructed in the early Goryo Dynasty, and destroyed by Japanese pirate raiders in the 14th century. When the location where the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue was originally placed was estimated based on data collected from the excavation, it is believed that the statue might have been enshrined inside the Buddha hall facing the east where the square pedestal was built in the 5th partition on the front and 3rd partition on the side reconstructed in the early Goryo Dynasty, and it is likely that the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue might have been created together with the reconstruction of the temple. The square pedestal is situated at the center slightly right to the central axis inside the Buddha hall, and this suggests that the Buddha statue in the round, which is the main Buddha statue of the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue, might be enshrined toward the south.
According to the results of examining the names of the sacred images deployed on the four sides of Buddha’s body in the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue, the seated Buddha statue on the east side is believed to be Bhaisajyaguru Buddha holding a bottle of medical water, and the Buddha statue on the southern face making a mudra pointing the earth is believed to be Sakyamuni Buddha because it is the main statue of the four‐sided Buddha and the main statue usually faced the south when it was enshrined in a Buddha hall facing the east. In addition, the Buddha statue on the western face making a mudra pointing the earth is believed to be Amitabha Buddha, which is the head of the Western Pure Land, based on its facing the west and other cases of seated Amitabha Buddha statues with a mudra pointing the earth found through extant literary records and inscriptions, which were created with the popularization of seated Buddha statues making a mudra pointing the earth including the seated Bhaisajyaguru Buddha statues. In addition, the seated Buddha statue facing the north is believed to be Maitreya Buddha based on the fact that four‐sided Maitreya Buddha statues with Bhaisajyaguru on the east side, Shakyamuni on the south side, Amitabha on the west side, and Maitreya on the north side were created in Korea, China, and Japan. In that a Buddhastatue seated on a chair was placed on the north side of the four‐sided Buddha in the Three‐storied Stone Pagoda at the Jungheung‐sa Temple in Gwangyang, it is considered likely that Sakyamuni Buddha, the head of Saba (mundane world), was deployed on the south side and Maitreya Buddha, the future savior, was deployed on the north side.
The relief images on the pedestal supporting the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue are believed to illustrate symbolically the characters appearing in Golden Light Sutra. With regard to the fact that the four‐sided Buddha expressed in the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue does not match the sacred images of four‐directional Buddha in Golden Light Sutra, however, the reason may be the same for the background of creation of the four‐sided Buddha image on the stone pagoda. That is, if the stone pagoda was created based on Raśmivimalaviś uddhaprabhā nā ma‐dhāraṇī, which has been regarded as the sutra on the building of stone pagodas in the Unified Shilla Dynasty, the relief images deployed on the surface of the pagoda might have been based on the same sutra. According to Raśmivimalaviś uddhaprabhā nā ma‐dhāraṇī, divine guardians and Buddha in the ten directions protect Buddha relics, and if this content was illustrated on the surface of stone pagodas, the Buddha in the ten directions, the image of which was not clear, might have been expressed in Buddha statues that were created and worshipped widely in those days. This assumption is supported by the four‐sided Buddha images on the Three‐storied Stone Pagoda at the Jungheung‐sa Temple and the relief sacred images on its pedestal. Like the four‐sided Buddha images on the stone pagoda, the foursided Buddha on the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue of the Dangdong‐ri Temple is believed to represent Buddhas worshipped generally in those days.
This study examined the icon of each sacred image on the Seated Stone Tathagata Statue of the Dangdong‐ri Temple and the date of its creation. The Seated Stone Tathagata Statue of the Dangdong‐ri Temple is believed to have been created in the 11th century of the Goryo Dynasty when the state was in chaos due to the change of government, political turmoil, riots by local slaves,droughts and resultant desolation of the land, poverty and outbreaks of diseases, frequent invasion of foreign enemies, etc. In such a situation, however, Buddhist images such as the four Buddhas (Eastern Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, Southern Shakyamuni Buddha, Western Amitabha Buddha, and Northern Maitreya Buddha) believed for seeking out fortune in this world, and the characters in Golden Light Sutra might have been created together in the form of four‐sided Buddha images in order to pray for practical blessings, entrance into Nirvana, and the peace and security of the nation.