『서계연록』과 박세당의 불교인식

Abstract

It is mainly being discussed to correlate Park Sedang's world of thought with his recognition of Buddhism. The object of this discussion is A Collection of Seogye's Works. called Seogyejip(西溪集). In this study, material related to Buddhism in his Seogyeyeonrok(西溪燕錄) will be included in the discussion on his Buddhism. Seogyeyeonrok is the record of his travel in Peking in 1668. Park made careful observation on Qing's Buddhist temples and priests in his travels. He was greatly concerned about the structures and outward appearances of Qing's Buddhist temples, disciplines, and commandments. Moreover, he expressed his perception of time based on Sunya- Vipayan(空觀). It seemed that his perception was continued to the level of epistemology. However, the range of his perception was confined within the theory of truth, He never deviated from his ideas based on a Confucian scholar. His perception is also confirmed by the fact that he expressed his criticism of Gongburon(工夫論 : the theory of cultivating morality) for Chu Master School(朱子學) as a modification of meditation in Zen Buddhism(禪佛敎). He showed much interest in Buddhist priests of high virtue. But these understandings and concerns of Buddhism don't mean that he deviated from Confucian grounding.