The Study on the 天.王 Embroidery in Korean Gasa

한국가사(韓國袈裟)에 나타난 천(天).왕문(王紋)에 대한 연구

Gasa was a surplice of Buddhist monk. It was usually worn in the religious ceremony. Gasa was such a religious cloth that was ruled strongly by Buddha's Commandments, and a kind of cloth that was also reflected by historical, cultural, and ideological factors of each nation. Korean Gasa had various features comparing to the Original Gasa or to that of South Asia which is the birthplace of Buddhism. One of them was 天 王 embroideries that we could find upon the regular square base in the four comers of Korean Gasa. These figures symbolized the Four Devas which were believed guarding Buddhist sanctum. These Devas appeared from the era of the Three Kingdoms when Buddhism imported. Buddhism as a alien religion had been developed through conflicting and fusing with Korean traditional religious characteristics into type of 'Faith to Three Treasures' (Buddha, Buddhist Commandments, Buddhist monk). They believed that embroidering 天 王 figures upon the regular square bases in the four corners were able to protect Buddhist monk by the help of Four Devas. We might say this as a kind of Faith to Buddhist monk.