石顚과 漢岩을 통해 본 불교와 시대정신

Abstract

Under the Japanese Buddhism that fully allowed monks to take wives and eat meats in the early Meiji Restoration, Korean Buddhism faced a great crisis in keeping the pure tradition of home-leaving saṃgha during the Japanese colonial period. In those days, many Buddhist scholars led the reckless movement to learn the Japanese Buddhism, criticizing the powerless Korean Buddhism and comparing it with Japanese Buddhism actively supported by mighty Japanese government. The typical person was Han Yong-wun. He made effort to make Korean Buddhism ‘advanced’ as like Japanese one, sending the Japanese Governor a letter of suggestion about the monk’s wife-taking. But, it was a wrong judgment that destroyed the tradition of Korean Buddhism. Seogjeon(石顚), a monk in the age of Japanese colony, was one of the most excellent Buddhist scholars who was expert in Zen(dhyāna), Doctrinal(vinaya) and Disciplinary(śīla) Buddhism. When the wife-taking became an issue, he tried to block the influence of Japanese Buddhism through the disciplinary education. The result was his book <Gyehag Yagjeon(戒學約詮)>. Furthermore, Seogjeon himself kept on the pure disciplinary way of life, showing an upright standard for monks. With this, Seogjeon’s status went high in the Buddhist world and he was elected as Gyojeong(敎正) the highest master of Korean Buddhism in 1929 and 1946. Hanam(漢岩) was a little younger than Seogjeon. Hanam became the supreme Zen master in those days. He was very strict in the doctrine and the discipline which had been frequently neglected by other Zen masters. Due to this, he came to develop the soft and rather feminine style of Zen while his master Gyeongheo(鏡虛) showed the masculine style of Zen. Especially, Hanam’s Zen style was combined with the strict discipline to establish a peculiar range named ‘Seongye Ilchi(禪戒一致, unity of Zen-Discipline).’ This fresh Zen style of Seongye Ilchi is noteworthy for a very appropriate and desirable practice method in the present Korean society which is going into the advanced one. Hanam was so expert in Doctrinal and Disciplinary Buddhism as well as Zen that he became a good model of Korean Buddhism. Therefore, he became Gyojeong and Jongjeong(宗正) of Korean Buddhism four times in 1929, 1935, 1941, and 1948. Seogjeon and Hanam were the leaders of Korean Buddhism during the Japanese colonial period and right after the Korean independence, laying the foundations of present Korean Buddhism. Their teachings will be a good guideline for the Korean Buddhism that is preparing the future development.