<열반경(涅槃經)>의 불성 개념에 대한 영성적 이해 _열반사(涅槃師)의 일천제성불(一闡提成佛)에 대한 논의를 중심으로_

Abstract

Christian spirituality depends on God's grace, and desires the unity with God through the spiritual relationship with the Holy Spirit. The purpose of Christian spirituality is pursuing the unity with God, not by human's effort but by God's grace. Therefore, Christian spirituality has the clear difference with Buddhism, which is pursuing their self-salvation. Speech affirming the aboriginal existence of Buddha-nature is a method that will encourage practice and thus contribute to the great end of liberating all sentient beings. No matter what condition one is in, one always has within oneself the possibility of turning around one's condition by cultivating Buddhahood. Thus the tathāgata-garbha is a metaphor for the ability of all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood. The tathāgata-garbha teaching is introduced as a metaphor for soteriological purposes. In Chinese Buddhism, before the translation of northern Nirvāṇa Sutra, Dao-sheng(道生) brought up an idea that the icchantika has Buddha-nature, and they also can become Buddha, which promote the spread and study of Nirvāṇa Sutra in China. He also argued that Buddha-nature is a priori possession or future possession, which is the important idea in his theory of Buddha-nature.