宋代 居士佛敎의 발전과 儒·佛의 대응

Abstract

The perception of the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism in the Song Dynasty as one of the rise of Confucianism and the decline of Buddhism is a projection of the views of later scholars. The Song elite, the Shidaifu(士大夫), was closely associated with Buddhism in the private sphere, as evidenced by the competitive establishment of grave temples(墳寺), but in public life, they maintained an attitude based on Confucian principles. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the interaction between Confucianism and Buddhism, focusing on Shidaifu and the Chan priest(禪師) in a seemingly contradictory situation. The Song dynasty, founded after overcoming the turmoil of the Five Dynasties period, sought to end the Age of Warriors and establish a system of governance based on a literate bureaucracy, and to this end, the civil service examination was continuously expanded. In this process, the Shidaifu sought to reject Buddhism as incompatible with their Confucian values. However, Chan Buddhism, flourishing in China's Jiangnan region since the Five Dynasties period, could draw on its superior academic credentials to propagate teachings that could satisfy the intellectual needs of the Shidaifu. They abandoned the traditional Buddhist dominance of Confucianism and argued that Confucianism and Buddhism were essentially the same in a way that was acceptable to the scholars. In this way, they were able to convert a large number of the great families to Buddhism. As a provincial official in southern China, Song Dai Shidaifu naturally interacted with scholar monks who inherited a high level of intellectual tradition, and through them, Chan Buddhist temples became extremely prosperous economically. This decline in temple economic growth and Wenzi Chan's rise to prominence, reinforced by his interactions with Shidaifu, led to the need for a purification effort in Buddhism, and Chan Buddhist priest Dahui Zonggao's Kanhua Chan was part of that effort. Dahui imparted ultimate enlightenment to Shidaifu by presenting a method of study in pursuit of don-o, or short-lived enlightenment, as a subject of conversation, which, in addition to its role in mitigating social criticisms of the excesses of the temple economy at the time, provided a powerful stimulus to the sexologists who sought to construct a new analytical metaphysics. Zhu Xi criticized Dahui's Kanhua and sudden enlightenment, emphasizing "investigation of things" as an alternative to overcome it by intensively analyzing the study methods of Dahui and the Shidaifu lay devotee who succeeded him. Meanwhile, in the new relationship that developed between Confucianism and Buddhism in the Song dynasty, the Chan priest's contact with Shidaifu consequently not only gave birth to a metaphysical Confucianism based on new academic attitudes and philosophies, but also to a new inclusive Buddhism that recognized the situation of Confucian dominance and emphasized its fundamental homogeneity with Confucianism to embrace the Confucian Shidaifu.