한국불교의 포교방향과 처방

Abstract

Jogye Order, the largest sect of Korean Buddhism, did not have any institutionalized organization for propagation but try to secure believers only through the traditional Buddhist ceremony service. As Buddhist liberal arts colleges were established at major temples in the 1980s, a new type of propagation to secure believers emerged. Although different temples offered different doctrines and standards about becoming Buddhist believers, they made substantial achievement. The Buddhist monastic order consists of four different communities; monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Although there was no education system for propagation to attract followers, there were education institutions such as Gangwon (a temple studying Buddhism theory ) and Senwon (a temple practicing Zen). But they failed to transform themselves as a regular curriculum course of the Ministry of Education and Science in the modernization process, which represent both the limitations that Korean Buddhism is facing in the era of multi religions and the most vulnerable point in its propagation. The basic attributes that religions must have are truth, universal validity and sociality. Buddhism has more powerful features of truth and universal validity than any other religions. First, truth is the goal that a religion pursues to achieve and represent its uniqueness. The goal of Buddhism is to become a Buddha, which is the ultimate aim of Buddhism. Second, a religion must have universal validity. In other words, what is important is not which type of structure a religion has or what kind of people believes in it but how its followers are living ‘right’ lives in a right frame of mind. It must have universal validity by offering guidance toward true lives in any part of the world and also throughout periods and history. Lastly, a religion must have sociality, which represents its practicality and reality. That is to say, it must have vitality and persuasive power based on faith. It is closely related to its propagation methodology or specific method. After examining the Jogye Order, the largest sect of Korean Buddhism, the study offered recommendations and prescriptions about its propagation method. To effectively achieve this goal, it must establish a systemized doctrine in an internal way and develop a system to deliver the systemized doctrine in an external way. It means that Korean Buddhism must present a propagation direction toward delivering specific opinions about its doctrines, education, system and scriptures in a persuasive way. And it must develop the standard educational materials about the basic Buddhist teaching within the Buddhist sect itself to ensure that even though it is taught by different instructors, the same teachings must be offered. It must issue certificates to only those who complete the basic course to become instructors to allow them to teach how to become Buddhists to its would-be followers. Without this system, Buddhist followers will learn different doctrines depending on which temple they go or which monks they meet. They end up with having varying opinions about the doctrines, although they believe in the same Buddhism. Especially for coexistence with various religions, it is necessary to establish a basic and common system. In Buddhism, there is no introductory education program for would-be followers. For this reason, there is no clear boundary between Buddhist followers and non-followers. In others words, there is no guideline about how they have to practice Buddhism. Given this, the introductory education program for would-be followers must be established and implemented. To this end, it is prerequisite to set up the criteria about education system and content as well as instructors’ requirements. After 2,500 years of coexistence of different Buddhism sects, we now must find out an ideal image that Buddhist followers adopt as a new guideline for their lives. The ideal image of Mahayana Buddhism is the figure of the Bodhisattva who seeks Enlightenment for the sake of all beings, whereas that of Zen Buddhism is Zen master JoJu who strived to restore the original nature of humans through lives and Zen meditations. At this critical juncture, we must face the following realities in order to return to the life of Buddha. First, one must practice the Buddha among the three Jewels-the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. To practice the Buddha is to reach the enlightenment as Buddha. The purpose of Buddhism is to devote a person’s life to reach the enlightenment as Buddha through. The mysterious rule is that the world is saved by one person who devotes all his whole life to practicing the path of enlightenment. Second, one must practice the Dharma in a right way. It is to know and practice the law of causality through experiences of ‘no-thinking’ and ‘non-self’. One must know the doctrine of Buddha. Buddhism must be disseminated only with the teachings of Buddha. Third, one must practice the Sangha in a right way. It is to adopt Buddha’s way of living. One must take Buddha’s way of living as the guide for his or her life. If one chooses his or her life in a Buddhist way, Buddhism is not a tool but become the goal. While practicing the three universal truths, one must abide by the five moral rules, which are the fundamental tenets, and firmly believe in the principle of cause and effect.