탄허선사의 유교 경전에 대한 불교적 해석 ‒ 『논어』를 중심으로 ‒

Abstract

Tanheo Taekseong (呑虛宅成 1913-1983) became a Buddhist monk after he mastered Confucianism, and later after becoming a Seon Master, created a blended approach of Buddhism incorporating certain elements from his Confucius training. In particular, he integrated the spirit of the joy of learning (好學) and developed a life-long education project. Tanheo emphasized that the teachings of Confucius were similar to the Buddhist teaching appropriately to the spiritual capacities of the audience (對機說法). Toegye (退溪) believed that Confucianism offered no path to sudden enlightenment (頓法), but Tanheo denied this claim. Tanheo insisted that the spirit of self-denial, self-subdual and returning to propriety (克己復禮) and doctrine of an all-pervading unity (一以貫之) was a form of sudden enlightenment that could be achieved through the practice of Confucianism. Tanheo argued that the spirit of self-denial (克己) of Confucianism was equal to the concepts of no-self (無我) in Buddhism and selflessness (無己) in Taoism. The essence of Tanheo’s thought is that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are different in terms of expression, but nature (性) as their fundamental truth is essentially the same. To explain this, Tanheo noted that Confucius and his Disciple Jilu in the Confucian Analects discussed the problems of life and death. He expressed his belief that life and death are not two, and in principle one and the same. His creative and Buddhist interpretation of the Confucian scriptures is expected to provide a great boost to collaborative research between Confucius and Buddhist scholars.