상월조사 행장 발굴과 연보 정정

Abstract

Sangwol josa (Sangwol Wongak Daejosa, 1922～1974) is the founder of Guinsa-Temple at Danyang, Chungbuk and the patriarch of reestablished Cheontae order in modern Korea. He was born during the Japanese Colonial Period around the mountains of Samcheok, Gangwondo. Based on the strong religious beliefs prevailed in the Samcheok region, he had organized a religious community within So-Baek Mountain in 1950. From the time on, he has taken care of the poor and alienated people who has been suffered from the Korean War and conflicts between leftists and the rightists. In 1966, Sangwol josa declared Guinsa-Temple body as Korean Buddhist Cheontae order and inherited Cheontae order that had developed during the Goryeo dynasty. At that time, he had endeavored greatly to establish the Cheontae order as the main religious order and also showed many other outstanding educative power that served as a basis for expanding religious influence. Despite these factors, research on the restored Cheontae order and Sangwol josa has barely been made. This serves as the background for this research and it can be summarized into three issues. First, the achievements of Sangwol josa, who had restored Cheontae order, has not been revealed. The procedure of founding Guinsa-Temple and restoration of Cheontae order has not been yet examined either historically or ideologically. Due to the lack of research, the error in birth year has still not been corrected. Currently, Cheontae order is following the theory that Sangwol josa was born in 1911. This is one of the reasons why it was difficult to produce any base material for studying the restoration of Cheontae order. Second, there is an identity problem of the restoration of Cheontae order. The oppression of Buddhist Monks through military regime in 1980 is a typical example. After this incident, effort was made to resolve the identity problem, such as, publishing a sūtras and modifying the education system. However, the achievements of Sangwol josa has not been revealed, which has served as problem in religious order studies. Third, chronological history of Sangwol josa is realistically needed. If the erroneous birth year of Sangwol josa would be set in 1911, it would function as an obstacle for the development of Buddhist Cheontae order. Insisting on the error degrades the state of the religious order. Furthermore, these errors will be recorded in educational material for missionary work focused on monks and believers. Media reports and information from the internet will just serve as a circulation of falsehood. Even more, academic researches will be based on false informations. As the present paper will show, the year of Sangwol josa’s coming to the world should be 1922, not 1911, as is often cited. We must modify the birth year to the year that can be actually backed up with true evidence. From this study, the birth year of Sangwol josa should be modified from 1911 to 1922 and in accordance with it the chronological record should be settled. Hence, the modification of the birth year in preexisting publications has enabled research for ideology of Sangwol josa, as well as, Cheontae order. Historical inheritance, along with ideological orthodoxy was secured by the connection of the Goryeo Cheontae order, as well as Chinese Cheontae order. Furthermore, it created a good chance for studying the religious culture of Samcheok, where Sangwol josa was born. Especially, the publishment of “White Lotus will blossom everywhere (Sangwol josa’s founding of Guinsa-Temple)” (Dong-soon Choi, 2009) was an innovative event in Cheontae order history.