한암스님의 불출동구(不出洞⼝)와 현실관

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the life of Han-am, a Buddhist monk, not only considering his life in seclusion at the Sangwon Temple in the Odae Mountain but also analyzing his view of reality that has communicated with secular society, based on historical records. For twenty-six years, Han-am had kept his promise not to leave the mountain, but his disciples, including Tan-heo, praised him as confining himself within the temple’s gate of the Sangwon Temple. The meaning of ‘Within the temple’s gate’ was ‘up to the Gwandae-street’. However, Han-am actually left out of the temple’s gate twice. His walk of life as a Buddhist monk, including hid keeping Buddhist percept (淸淨持戒), Sujolsang (守拙相, Keeping one’s human nature), life in frugality, and open relationship with the public (大衆家⾵), which were closely related to Han-am’s seclusion, was taken into consideration. Especially, Cho Youngmyung recalled Han-am’s Sujolsang unrelated to organizations of Buddha and secular society, which reveals a considerable gap between his earlier image and his real life. Han-am was elected as a great Buddhist monk in 1929 and solved the debt problem of the Woljeongsa Temple (월정사). Furthermore, his view of secular society is shown through his moves as a great Buddhist monk, which included dealing with Buddhist services, harmonizing Buddhist organizations, and praying for the prosperity of Korea and its people. The inauguration of ‘The Organization for the Maintenance of the Buddha’s Skull Stupa in the Odae Mountain (五臺山釋尊頂骨塔廟讚仰會)’ served as an opportunity for his engagement, and after that, Han-am’s thought got stronger. Han-am’s literary activities came from his purpose to help ease the debt problem of the Woljeong Temple, and his view of reality, including Saving-Mankind and secular success, was extended and strengthened through his literary works. Han-am’s Seon (禪) thoughts, which were read in his collection of letters, focused on Seon meditation during work and life and tried to build the Buddha’s Land in the actual world. Han-am pursued consilience, using the gate of the temple as a border to seek the teaching of the Buddha and establish the traditional Buddhism while considering problems in the secular world, and this can be interpreted to show his endeavor as a kind of the reflection of the ‘Isamuae (理事無碍)’ idea (the Non-obstruction of Universal Principle and Particular Phenomena).