고려후기 게송을 통해 본 禪 과 일상

Abstract

In order to look into the everyday culture of the Goryeo period, this paper examines the relationship between Zen and ordinary life based on the gesong of the monks of Zen Buddhism in the latter half of Goryeo. The goal is to shed light on an aspect of the late-Goryeo culture by considering the actual circumstances of Zen Buddhism which represents the entire Buddhism. With respect to this, this paper regards the gesong, which contains the Buddhist principles, as the ordinary life of Zen temples in the late Goryeo. Gesong is a verse genre of Buddhisim based on the Sutras, and was literarily developed by the Zen monks in particular who patronized it in a creative form. Zen priests recognized their ordinary space, i.e. nature as the genuine truth, and revealed their fundamental topic of the truth by bringing up ordinary objects like a fan, wooden cane, etc. They paralleled the joint labor and each one’s accomplishment of duty, which are part of the life at a Zen temple, with Zen practice. It was emphasized that the truth lies in the ordinary daily life such as washing a rice bowl after eating a morning porridge, carrying firewood, or drawing water, and that it does not exist without life. As such, the truth and practice in Zen Buddhism in the late Goryeo were integrated into life, and the life of an enlightened Buddhist who reached the ultimate state of the truth was also restored to that of a common mortal. This results from the positive acceptance of daily life which in turn is a characteristic of Zen Buddhism that highly appreciates realism of ‘here and now’. Consequently, it turns meaningless ordinary life into the meaningful one by helping to rediscover daily life.