『옥루몽』에 나타난 보살의 역할과 역할 변화에 담긴 의미 연구: 前代 敍事 傳統의 계승과 변주의 관점에서

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the bodhisattva’s roles and the meaning of the role changes in Okrumong, from the perspective of succession and variation of the previous narrative tradition. To specifically discuss the difference between the roles of Avalokitesvara and Manjusri in Okrumong, Chapter 2 examined what the role of bodhisattva was like in the narratives of the previous period. Judging that Samgukyusa has sufficient representativeness as a tradition of the previous narrative, this study analyzed the role of the bodhisattva in the story of the bodhisattva in Samgukyusa by type. Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Maitreya, Ksitigarbha, Samantabhadra appear in Samgukyusa, and they are given a different role in the narrative by their intrinsic character. It appears that the bodhisattvas in Samgukyusa formed the role categories according to their type and did not usually cross their duties. Chapter 3 analyzed Avalokitesvara's and Manjusri’s roles in Okrumong based on the role categories of Bodhisattva in the previous period. Okrumong’s two bodhisattvas did not play a limited role according to their names. They took on duties that had been categorized as different bodhisattvas’ roles in the previous narrative tradition, and also crossed religious role boundaries. They took on the duties categorized as different bodhisattvas’ roles in the previous narrative tradition and crossed religious role boundaries. As a result, two bodhisattvas in Okrumong seemed to destroy the boundaries of various roles ostensibly. However, in reality, the two bodhisattvas were transforming and expanding their external boundaries based on their original attributes and the previous narrative tradition. In Okrumong, a non-Buddhist novel created in the late Chosun Dynasty, the reason for choosing the bodhisattva as a core helper, and further attempting to expand its role was to increase readers’ interest and secure popularity safely in a situation where the contemporary people had enough interest in Buddhism. In this process, the role of Bodhisattva in Okrumong changed in a seemingly senseless and simple way, meaning that the character of Bodhisattva in epic literature changed from sacred to a tool for fiction that arouses interest. However, the fact that Okrumong’s two bodhisattvas were not indiscriminately transcended the boundaries of their roles, but were recreated based on an understanding of the bodhisattvas’ original properties and the previous narrative tradition, is presumed to have differentiated Okrumong from other novels.