'백용성 대종사 총서' 발간 경위와 성격

Abstract

This paper presents an arrangement of processes involved in the publication of A Collection of the Great Master Baek Yong-Seong, which was published through the investigation, collection, identification, and systematic arrangement of the materials left by him, who was a high Buddhist priest during the modern time. This study further set out to examine its nature and future tasks. The Series was published based on the activities and practical foundation of Daegakhoi under the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, which was formed to inherit and practice Baek's ideas. Its publication was on the basis of The Complete Collection of Grand Master Yong-Seong(18 volumes), whose publication was led by Buddhist Priest Domun in 1991, and the research project of Institute of Maha Bodhi Thought in 1998. In February, 2012, the project of publishing and computerizing A Collection of the Great Master Baek Yong-Seong began as Han Bo-gwang conducted a full-scale re-investigation into The Complete Collection of Grand Master Yong-Seong and translated it. The project was carried out as a joint project with Institute of Maha Bodhi Thought and Institute of Electronic Buddhist Texts & Culture Content. In 2013, the researchers involved in Baek's works started to translate them with the publication committee of the Series reviewing and proofreading the manuscripts, which were sorted out through reviewing and embellishment for two years. The publication work was based on total 23,238.6 pages of manuscripts including 20,533.6 pages of literature in 31 kinds and 2,705 pages of newly identified materials. It was in late October, 2016 that A Collection of the Great Master Baek Yong-Seong was published in total 20 volumes of 14,120 pages, which include eight volumes of 4,898 pages in Group I and 12 volumes of 9,222 pages in Group II. The investigator further delved into the nature and value of the Series, and the findings were as follows: First, the Series was published through a joint project among communities that tried to enhance Baek's achievements and practice his ideas. It was the fruit of devoted and organized collaborations among Institute of Maha Bodhi Thought, Institute of Electronic Buddhist Texts & Culture Content under International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture at Dongguk University, and Dongguk University Press over four years under the supervision of Daegakhoi. Second, it proposed the coordinates where the current Korean Buddhism should be oriented toward and contained the ideas to discover the values of Baek Yong-seong, who promoted the reform and popularization of Buddhism and developed the Daegakgyo movement during the modern days, inherit them in the contemporary times, and transmit them to the future generations. They thus asked some experts to translate his works into Korean so that the readers could easily understand them and made it sure that the Series would go through the stages of reviewing and embellishment for its unity. Third, they put together newly identified materials to overcome the old material limitation and identified and included 339 new materials of 163 types across nine categories including contributions in the Series. It was in this area that Kim Gwang-sik, an authority on the research of Baek Yong-seong, exerted his research capabilities. Fourth, the publication of the Series was accompanied by the computerization project to multiply and spread its values. The computerization project provided concerned information including the index, total table of contents, Haeje, chronology of his life, and reference, covering all the researches about him. Finally, the Series built a new foundation for the research of Buddhist studies. Not only did it broaden the horizon of understanding his ideas through the research and translation of original texts about him, but it also established a basis to expand his research to more diverse areas including the asceticism of high priests, related figures, and event information in the modern Buddhism and Korean Buddhism. In the future, the newly identified materials included in the Series will contribute to the exploration of new routes in the research of Baek and modern Buddhism. They also plan to build an archive of the results of the Series, provide the service on the Internet, and maximize the utilization of the Series, thus making a contribution to the spread of research on the related humanities as well as high Buddhist priests and modern Buddhism. The discussions in the present study will hopefully contribute to the understanding of the publication process and nature of A Collection of the Great Master Baek Yong-Seong, the related researches, and the various uses of the Series. In the future, its computerization project will help the values of Baek Yong-seong contribute to the creation of national culture beyond the Buddhist community.