『삼국유사』 <욱면비염불서승> 텍스트의 상보적 서술 양상에 대한 전체론적 해석

Abstract

The approaches herein initiate interpretations from the hypothesis about complementary relations between hyang-jeon(folklore narrative) and seung-jeon(Buddhistic narrative) in the subchapter “Ugmyeonbi- yeombulseoseung” of Samgugyusa. These interpretations improve and extend the meaning of the female slave Ugmyeon’s praying practice and attainment of Buddhahood. Developments of interpretations based on the complementarity hypothesis within the holistic view are more rational and robust than the dichotomous hypothesis of reductionism. This argument is justified by critical examination of reductive interpretations and a meta-review of narrative text inquiries. From refutations of the concealed premises of precedent discussions, it became clear that reductional premises are not appropriate for “Ugmyeonbiyeombulseoseung” taken as a whole text that presumably has intention and design with regard to descriptions and elaborated relations among the indispensable parts of the subchapter: two narratives, a eulogy, and a discussion. Specifically, hyang-jeon emphasizes the will of Ugmyeon’s Buddhistic practice for attaining Buddhahood in the “here and now.” and seung-jeon offers concrete information about Ugmyeon’s previous life and later events, such as commemorative action, memento production, temple construction and reconstruction, and so on. They are explicitly correlated with each other in the interpretations in the third chapter. Consequently, these approaches attain effective interpretation-courses from the holistic view with cogency and richness, so that they do not degrade and contort the meaning of ‘Ugmyeon’ and her narratives.