中國 山東省 南西部에 위치한 洪頂山의 절벽면에는 佛敎 經文과 佛名 및 刻經題記가 20여 점 새겨져 있다. 각경제기 중 네 점에 연대를 적고 있는데, 이 중 한 점은 北齊의 연호로 기록되어, 564년에 제작된 것임을 알 수 있다. 반면 다른 세 점의 기년 명문은 佛滅紀元를 이용하여 제작연도를 기록했는데, 그것이 어느 설에 기반한 것인지 밝히지 않아서 그 정확한 연대의 비정에 이견이 있어왔다. 본고는 홍정산 유적에 새겨진 명문 중 불멸연대를 기록하고 있는 예들을 상세히 살펴보고, 중국 중세 초기에 전해져 있던 여러 불멸연대설들과 홍정산의 연대를 추정한 여러 논고들을 상세히 검토하여, 홍정산의 마애각경을 제작한 불교도들이 慧思(515-577)의 佛滅紀元說을 채택했을 가능성이 높음을 제시한다. 혜사는 불멸연대를 기원전 1067년으로 보았으며, 이에 따라 홍정산에서 불멸연대를 이용하여 기록한 각경제기는 각각 553년과 556년에 제작된 것이 된다. 홍정산에 새겨진 각경의 내용을 보면 그것을 제작한 불교도들이 혜사의 불멸연대 뿐만 아니라, 그의 불교 교학과 사상 및 선정수행 방법도 전해받고 자신들의 수행에 활용하고 있었음이 간취된다. 홍정산 유적은 6세기 후반에 혜사의 여러 사상이 깊게 전해져서 활용되고 있던 불교 사회의 존재에 대해 알려주는 매우 중요한 불교 유적이다.
Mt. Hongding is located in Dongping, in the southwestern part of the Shandong Province and east of Lake Dongping in Dongping County. Overall, twenty-three inscriptions were carved on the mountain and they are divided into three kinds of texts: Buddhist sutra passages, Buddha names, and historical inscriptions. The carvings at Mt. Hongding are of special importance in the study of the Buddhist texts, as it bears the largest number and greatest variety of carved Buddhist texts compared to those found in other Buddhist carving sites in the Shandong Province in early medieval China. Also, it was at Mt. Hongding that the forms and contents of the mountain sutra carvings created in Shandong during this period were established. Thus, the Buddhist carvings at Mt. Hongding are considered the terminus a quo of the history of the shandong Buddhist rock carving sutras and it is needed to determine the exact dates of the engravings. Among the inscriptions at Mt. Hongding, four inscriptions carry a date. Only one of them, however, provides us with a secured date, using the standard calendar, which is based upon the dates of the Chinese dynasties. This secured date is found on an inscription, the “Encomium for Fahong.” At the end of the encomium, the date is recorded as “the third year of the Heqing era of the Great Qi Dynasty,” which corresponds to 564 CE. While the encomium for Fahong follows the standard dynasty-based calendar, the other three dated inscriptions at the site use the Buddhist calendar. These three are associated with a monk, Seng’an Daoyi. The first inscription gives the time of its creation: “1623 years after the twin trees of Śākyamuni.” The expression “after the twin trees of Śākyamuni” refers to the nirvana of the Buddha under the twin trees at Kushinagar in India. Accordingly, the date means the colophon was created “1623 years after Śākyamuni [entered into nirvana] under the twin trees.” The second dated inscription records its creation as “1620 years after [Śākyamuni entered into nirvana under] the twin trees.” The third inscription, the encomium for Seng’an Daoyi also uses the Buddhist calendar, but unfortunately the exact year is illegible, reading “16□□ years after Śākyamuni [entered into nirvana] under the twin trees.” Since the Buddhist calendar begins with the date of the Buddha’s demise, calculating the dates seems fairly simple, provided one knows the date Buddha Śākyamuni entered nirvana. Unfortunately, there is no consensus about the date of the Buddha’s demise and the commencement of the Buddhist era and the dating of Buddhist carvings at Mt. Hongding so it has been subject to debate. There are a large number of theories prevalent in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Through thorough examination of earlier scholarship on the date of the Buddhist engravings at Mt. Hongding and more than twenty written theories, ranging from 1085 BCE to 464 (or 486) BCE, which were circulating in early medieval China, this paper suggests that the most likely theory acceptable to the Buddhist community active at Mt. Hongding during the late sixth century was the one asserted by a renowned priest, Nanyue Huisi (515-577). According to him, the date of the Buddha’s nirvana corresponds to 1067 BCE, Based on this caculation, the inscription using Buddhist calendar at Mt. Hongding can be dated to 553 and 556 CE. This paper’s observation that creators of the Buddhist inscriptions at Mt. Hongding adopted Huisi’s calculations on the date of the Buddha’s demise, was not only because Huisi’s number of years is a better fit, but because Huisi’s Buddhist teachings and meditation techniques were related to the contents of the inscriptions at Mt. Hongding. Particularly, it is noteworthy that his writings on meditation emphasize the six pāramitā and the Perfection of Wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). This repertoire was observed in Buddhist carvings at Mt. Hongding and at other sutra carving sites in Shandong during the period. Furthermore, Buddhists who created the Buddhist engraved texts at Mt. Hongding appear to have conducted a certain meditation practice called “one-practiced absorption (yixing sanmei).” Interestingly Huisi actively used the meditation technique, and the period when this type of meditation was practiced by Huisi and his followers fits well within the 550s-560s, the period during which the carvings at Mt. Hongding were created. Also, in the years between 548-552, Huisi was living in Yanzhou, a city in Shandong Province located near Mt. Hongding. The fact that the Buddhist community’s practice and thoughts, as well as the date of Buddha’s demise, overlapped with Huisi’s ideas and teachings in a significant manner demonstrates that Huisi’s teachings and practices were most likely widespread during that period, even in Shandong. Buddhist calendar used at Mt. Hongding, based on Huisi’s caculation, provides us with a significant indication of the Buddhist community’s existence. In the community, some Buddhists were likely inspired by Huisi, adopted his ideas and practices, and further developed them in their own way.