범천권청의 전승과 그 의미

Abstract

This study is about the episode of Brahmā’s entreaty to the Buddhato teach. I tried to make clear the meaning of the episode of Brahmā’sentreaty to the Buddha to teach, through look for the form of theBrahmā’s entreaty in the Buddhist literature. It is not easy to know about when and how did this episode ofBrahmā’s entreaty to the Buddha to teach come in the Buddhist literature. But it could find that the motif of Brahmā as the best God who hasencouraged people has been existed in the ancient Indian epic. We cansee the form of the Brahmā’s advisory in the epic of ancient India. Thepurpose of the episode was to show that Brahmā, the representative ofestablished religion, was a follower of the Buddha. It was a religiouspropaganda. And I think the meaning of the ‘Entreaty’ is the method thatrepresents the respect of the Dharma, the Buddha had discovered. It isthe key point that the story of Brahmā’s entreaty put the sermon ofBuddha to the level of the best.