기허 영규와 의승 사찰

Abstract

Buddhist master Yeong-gyu was the first righteous monks(Uiseung) general of the Joseon Dynasty. He recruited the righteous monks at Gapsa in May 1592. His righteous monks won the First Battle of Geumsan on July 10, 1592, and drove out the Japanese army in the Battle of Cheongju on August 1. However, he died in the second Battle of Geumsan on August 18th. He was a monk who raised a righteous monks to save the country and achieved great feats, but he died just 40 days after appearing in history. In later years, several monuments were erected in his memory, and memorial services and ancestral rites were held in various places. In the process, many records about him were produced, most of which are oral traditions and legends that resemble heroic tales that are difficult to believe. In a reality where there are no records of his birth, ordination, or conduct, people created miraculous and heroic tales. This oral tradition was recorded in inscriptions, and those who saw the inscriptions exaggerated and embellished them to create new stories. No words can express the noble value of his sacrifice. One of them is that his and 800 other buddhist monks martyrdom played a role in reviving the value of buddhism in Joseon society, which persecuted buddhism. From the buddhist community's perspective at the time, it was a crisis as the monks who would lead the temple disappeared all at once. However, the fact that the monks who had been driven out as heretics were able to protect the country became an important factor in raising the status of buddhism in this era. In this way, the buddhist temples where Yeong-gyu and his righteous monks were stationed were able to maintain their history without disappearing even during the period of buddhist persecution.