한국불교에 비추어 본 테라와다불교(Theravāda Buddhism)의 현황과 과제

Abstract

Theravāda Buddhism used to be regarded as inferior to Mahāyāna Buddhism. However, having the deep understanding of the history of Buddhism, we are gradually changing our attitude toward Theravāda Buddhism. Now it has recently spread that Theravāda is closely connected with Buddha's orignal teaching. At last, the formal organizations which claim to stand for Theravāda come into the picture in Korea. In this situation, I became aware of the need to investigate on the identity of Theravāda Buddhism. And I also began to pay attention to the help which we can receive from the examples of Theravāda Buddhism for solving the problems of Korean Buddhism. So, I described in detail the essential characteristics and aspects of Theravāda Buddhism in the beginning of this paper. And then, examining the problems which have existed in Korean Buddhism, I dealt with the settlement programs which we can benchmark from the Theravāda Buddhism. I thought that today's Korean society is different from the traditional society and there should be some preparations which Theravāda Buddhism needs in order to settle down in Korea as well. I focused on these subjects in the latter half of this paper. I set a high value on the fact that Theravāda Buddhism was spontaneously introduced by Koreans who have deep religious beliefs. In fact, many Koreans seem to be favorably disposed for Theravāda Buddhism. I think that if Theravāda Buddhism were settled well in Korea, it would impact positively on Korean Buddhism including all the Buddhistic organizations in Korea. Therefore, I arrived at a conclusion that Theravāda and Korean Buddhism need to maintain the amicable relationship.