법성종의 입장에서 바라본 정토사상

Abstract

In India, Buddhists have thought that this world is full of pain. So they cultivate their minds in this world and hope that they will be reincarnated in a painless pure land(净土). Moreover, they believe that others could be reincarnated through their prayer. The idea of creating the world free from pain was reflected in the contents of Buddhism through the process of revising the Mahāyāna Text. This idea is not related to Buddha. The prevailing Buddhist literature made it possible to create a virtual space, Tușita(忉率天), which is the Buddha's training place in his previous life. This is not a real but an imaginary place. The literary imagination became a resonable theory as time goes by. This thought was diffused throughout China, Korea, Japan, and so on. And it has become an important part of religious practices for the people in this region. The thought of pure land has been developed through two major philosophical orthodoxies, the School of Pure Land(淨土宗) and the School of Fa-Xing(法性宗). This study examines how the thought of pure land(净土) was introduced into Korea and analyzes the thought by applying the orthodoxy of the School of the Fa-Xing(法性宗). I find that the pure land(净土), where the Korean people wish to be reincarnated, is not a place free from pain, but the most desirable place for self-improvement. The religious desire of the Korean people, who wish to discipline themselves in a favorable condition, created an imaginary place, the pure land(净土). It also reveals the idea of Buddhism, which regards self-improvement as important.