대한불교조계종 개혁종단의 이념 정체성과 승가교육의 정향(定向)

Abstract

Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism launched the reform order in 1994. The reformation of the order was catalyzed by the three candidacies of Eui-hyun Seo, Executive Director of Administration of the Order and the Sangmudae incident. The former was the incident that took place as an attempt to stop the monarchy of the executive director, and it became the ideological foundation of democratization of the order. The latter was the corruption of the order in connection with the ruling group, and it became the ideological foundation of the independence of the order. In a secular world, democratization and independence are the absolute ideologies. By contrast, among the monks and nuns, de-secularized ideologies such as the Buddha-dharma and purity, Path of Cultivation become the absolute ideologies. In the meantime, the main agents of the reform order were the monks and nuns who actively participated in the social movement. To them, democratization and independence were absolute ideologies that must be realized in the order. As a result, the realization of the democratization in the order administration and the independence of Buddhism became practical ideologies whereas the realization of the order with true principle and purity had to remain at the declarative level of ideologies. The reform order established their educational goal for the community of monks and nuns as follows: obtaining the enlightenment and the practice of bodhisattva path. The core of monk education lies in the two main duties of monks and nuns: asceticism [obtaining the enlightenment] and Dharma-transmission [the practice of bodhisattva path]. To obtain the enlightenment, the monk education should help align the monk’s values with a renunciant monk while assisting them to holistically learn precepts, concentration, transcendental wisdom, and the three supreme principles without leaning toward one area. To practice bodhisattva path, the monk education should balance the Buddhist scripture and the non-Buddhist scripture while allowing Buddhism to communicate with the society.