관음보살신앙(觀音菩薩信仰)의 설화화양상(說話化樣相)과 의미연구

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the background and the way of formation of the folk tales of miracle and their meanings in the faith in the Goddess of Mercy which is one of the three major faiths of buddhism in Korea. The Goddess of Mercy has very humane and transcendental personality, who fulfills desires from the reality in human life. As she presents herself with appearances as various as human's desires, her folk tales of miracle are found to have created and transmitted as so diverse and rich.The Goddess of Mercy is Eungsin with 33 faces, existing in order to save human from suffering. To summarise what they are saved from, they can be categorized into three, saving from the current hardship, helping of the inquirer, and leading to Nirvana after death. The appearances of the Goddess of Mercy in her incarnations in the tales are various, according to the situation, including the Goddess of Jinsin Mercy, an ordinary woman, a mercy monk, a naive child monk, and a pure Gwaneum bird. These appearances can be interpreted as being formed by the representations in Koreans' minds for the Goddess of Mercy. For the ways of the incarnations of the Goddess of Mercy, there are three of them including Hyeonjungapi, Mongjunggapi, and Meongyhungapi.The structure of the folk tale of miracle is found to be constituted of the three divisions of ‘lacking-praying-response to a prayer’. The place the Goddess of Mercy accommodates is known to be Botanagasan, an island in the middle of the south sea of India. The fact that the holy placea of Mercy are usually located in the East, West and South seas of Korea indicates that the original image of the Goddess of Mercy has influenced on formation of the faith in the Goddess of Mercy in Korea.