普雨의 불교사상과 佛 · 儒 融合調和論

Abstract

In the middle of the Chosŏn dynasty, exactly during the period of King Myoung-jong, the two major leaders of the Buddhist Restoration Campaign were Rev. Her-eung Bo-woo and the Queen Dowager Regent Moon-jung. The one was an eminent Buddhist leader of the Chosŏn Buddhist society, and the other was a devout woman Buddhist from the royal family. He moved forward with the Buddhist Restoration Campaign wholly by himself with the positive support of the powerful Queen Dowager Regent Moon-jung. In his own Buddhist Thought, meditation and doctrines are not separated from each other because his own view of doctrines that both all things in the universe are nothing but the mind and that the dharma-dhātu has no hindrance in the doctrines of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra is not different from his own view of meditation that our mind is innately serene and pure. It means that they are originally one dimension because they blend with each other without any impediment. Through his own Buddhist Thought System, Rev. Bo-woo established both the Meditation Sect and the Doctrines Sect and he did his best to develop both independently. With this broad-minded viewpoint, he exerted all possible efforts to realize the Buddhist Rehabilitation. From the standpoint of harmony with each other, Rev. Bo-woo expounded non-duality thought on both Buddhism and Confucianism as overall relation between essence and function. Such a relationship of non-duality on both Buddhism and Confucianism could be confirmed as an original aspect in his own unity theory of oneness and righteousness over again. In his unity theory, oneness stands for natural laws and righteousness means man's real nature. Through this logical thinking, he formed a unique unity theory of oneness and righteousness. Consequently, his non-duality thought on both Buddhism and Confucianism as well as the unity theory of oneness and righteousness could provide each religion such as Taoism as well as Buddhism and Confucianism with the logic of harmony and blending. In addition, his non-duality thought as well as the unity theory could be the logic of co-existence and co-prosperity between Buddhism and Confucianism. According to the unity theory of oneness and righteousness, Buddhism and Confucianism may flourish all together simultaneously. Therefore, it was quite natural that Rev. Bo-woo had incessantly pursued the communication and harmony between Buddhism and Confucianism as well as co-existence and co-prosperity at that time. After considering all these factors, it may safely say that Rev. Bo-woo’s Buddhist Rehabilitation Campaign may be interpreted as his earnest wish for an ideal society which every religion could coexist and could be co-prosperous through harmony and blending.