금당 이재복의 선사상

Abstract

This article reveals Seon thought of Geumdang Lee Jae-bok (1918~1991), known as a representative educator and poet in the Daejeon-Chungnam area. Under the influence of Seokjeon Park Han-young in Japanese colonial era, Lee Jae-bok made great efforts in the fields of Buddhist studies, Buddhist scripture translation, and literature with the heart of patriotic love to find the way to modernize Buddhism. Lee Jae-bok, who played a major role in the founding of the Taego order of Korean Buddhism after liberation, left a great mark on educators, poets, and the popularization of Buddhism in the Daejeon-Chungnam area. In the reality that Lee Jae-bok’s status as a modern high monk is not firm, research on Lee Jae-bok’s Seon thought is an unexplored field. In order to reveal Lee Jae-bok’s Seon thought, the writer analyzed his life, 『The Great Master Yongbong, Lee Jae-bok’s collection』, and the poetry of Geumdang, and then identified the contents and characteristics of Seon thought revealed in Lee Jae-bok’s life and thoughts through this work. It can be said that Lee Jae-bok, who lived in a period of division and chaos after Japanese colonial era and liberation, was a Bodhisattva who transcend the sangha and the vulgar and a Seon master who was not bound by the appearance of a Seon master while encompassing Seon school and doctrinal school. Therefore, attempts to identify Lee Jae-bok’s Seon thought can be said to be the process of restoring the lives of the ancient monks who are otherized in the fetter of modern Korean Buddhism and disappearing from our memories.