漢巖 重遠과 呑虛 宅成의 佛緣. - 呑虛의 出家 背景 -

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to: first, examine the background of Tan-heo's decision to enter the Buddhist priesthood, and second, to discuss the development of his Buddhist scholarship with his mentor Han-am. After the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident in 1931, much tension was prevalent in East Asia. In Korea, the Japanese authority tried to control or destroy the Korean nationalist movement in general and the Buddhist reform movement in particular. To do so, a series of rules and regulations on the Buddhist movement were issued. To counter this, Korean Buddhists decided to hold a nationwide meeting of all monks from two major Seon sects. Another meeting was also held for all the higher-ranking monks in Korea. Both meetings explored finding new ways to keep their movement going throughout the country. At that time, two eminent monks named Han-am and Ji-am resided in Odae-san Temples [五臺山門]. They resolved the temple’s budgetary problems by liquidating all debts and liabilities and improved temple management. As the Buddhist reform movement was in full swing, they revitalized Korean Buddhism to a considerable extent. In 1929, a Korean nationalistic religion called Bocheongyo [普天敎] began to suffer increasingly strong Japanese oppression. The Sigukdaedongdan [時局大同團] is known to have carried out pro-Japanese activities with the blessing of the Japanese authority, and at the same time, followers of Bocheonggyo were busy with their own reform movement to promote their own religious teachings. However, both were subsequently disbanded simultaneously by the Japanese authorities after being branded anti-Japanese organizations. Meanwhile, Bocheongyo members developed their own serious internal problems and eventually split into several sects due to differences of opinion on the teachings of Bocheongyo. Ultimately, their organization was disbanded by the Japanese. While all this was going on, Cha Gyeongsueok [車京石], the founder of Bochenongyo, and Kim Honggyu [金洪奎], Tan-heo’s father and a main disciple of Cha Gyeongseok, had a falling out, primarily because Cha Gyeongseok was conservative and Kim Honggyu was more moderate in interpreting the teachings of Bocheongyeo. Kim subsequently left Bocheonggyeo and went his own way. In 1933, followers of Bocheongyeo began to be persecuted by the Japanese, and in 1936 it was disbanded altogether. This was due to increased Japanese oppression and partly to the unexpected sudden death of Cha Gyeongseok in 1936. As a result, Tan-heo was undoubtedly influenced by his father and the teachings of Bocheongyeo because there was a sizable group of Bocheongyo followers living around Mt. Odae at that time. Under these circumstances, Tan-heo was motivated to enter the Buddhist priesthood. In 1932, through his correspondence with his teacher Han-am, Tan-heo began to seriously study Chinese classics written by such philosophers as Laozi and Zuangzi. In 1934, Tan-heo was led by his mentor to become a Buddhist monk, primarily due to the profound scholarship and lofty personality Han-am had demonstrated to him.