RT Article
T1 The Dhāraṇī Coffin from the Nongso Tomb and the Cult of Shattering Hell during the Koryŏ Dynasty
JF Religions
VO 14
IS 1
A1 Lee, Seunghye
LA English
PB MDPI
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1831203243
AB Inscriptions of Buddhist mantras and dhāraṇīs were interred in Chinese tombs on behalf of the deceased from the Tang dynasty onward as the fear of postmortem judgment and punishment in the ten courts of hell became firmly rooted. This notion of the afterlife and the practice of enclosing dhāraṇī inscriptions in tombs seem to have been received by Korean Buddhists by the beginning of the Koryŏ (918–1392). This paper, through a close examination of a wooden inner coffin excavated in 2014 from a tomb in Nongso-myŏn, Ullim-ri, Sunch’ang-gun, North Chŏlla Province of Korea, sheds new light on the use of dhāraṇī on funerary objects and structures during the Koryŏ. The coffin bears, on its lacquered exterior walls, inscriptions of the Mantra of the Six-Syllable King of Great Clarities (Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ) and the Mantra for Shattering Hell (Oṃ karadeya svāhā). While defining the dhāraṇī coffin from Nongso Tomb as one form of funerary dhāraṇī, this paper situates it in the historical trajectory of such practice by comparing it with Liao (916–1125) precedents. The dhāraṇī coffins from Koryŏ and Liao tombs attest that the Buddhists made use of mantras and dhāraṇīs promising salvation of the deceased from hell during their lifetime and beyond. This study shows that two different kinds of dhāraṇīs, which are similarly named and believed to have the power of shattering hell, were practiced by Chinese and Korean Buddhists. It also proposes that the Mantra for Shattering Hell (Oṃ karadeya svāhā) may have been transmitted to the Korean peninsula as part of the food bestowal ritual before its incorporation into the funerary context.
K1 Xianmi yuantong chengfo xin yaoji
K1 Mantra for Shattering Hell
K1 Mantra of the Six-Syllable King of Great Clarities
K1 Liao
K1 Koryŏ
K1 funerary dhāraṇī
K1 food bestowal
K1 East Asian Buddhism
K1 dhāraṇī coffin
K1 Cultural exchange
DO 10.3390/rel14010121