頭陀行의 活用方案 硏究

Abstract

Considering an ideal viewpoint that learning itself has a significance in terms of its utilization for, and application to, our practical life, the dhuta ascetic practice can be appropriately said to be an type of learning. Basically, the dhuta practice refers to the act of casting off afflictive attachment to food, clothing, and shelter. Thus, the dhuta specifies an austere way of life which comprises twelve or thirteen categories of practices. The dhuta practice in the traditional sangha communities was preserved in the form of the ‘four seeds of holiness’ according as the sangha groups grew larger. The ‘four seeds of holiness’ served as a guideline on the standard of rag clothing, begging for food, sitting under trees, and medicine, while emphasizing self-awareness and decorum on the basis of the basic rules and ideas rather than real activities. In the ‘four seeds of holiness’ the clause on medicine implies that the perspective of practice changed to the emphasis of conceptual aspects. From these Middle-Way-based precedents to which the rules were applied flexibly depending on varying circumstances without falling into selfish and obstinate views, and in the light of what the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra says, we can seek for a dhuta practice suitable for our circumstances and environment. Specifically, we can practice the dhuta on food by forsaking the craving for delicious food and the craving for lots of food. We can practice the dhuta on clothing by restraining the craving for lots of clothing, the craving for soft felt clothing, and the craving for the best clothing. We can practice the dhuta on shelter and articles by removing the craving for mingling with lots of people, the craving for living in a good house, the craving for leaning and lying down, and the craving for using a good bed. Taking these into account, we can establish a real and viable the dhata practice, and then put it into practice in our real life.