知訥 禪思想의 思想史的 검토

Abstract

Through the abundant studies up to now, it has been known that Jinul's(知訥, 1158-1210) Chuan thought was consisted of 3 Gates(三門) ; the Gate of Parallel Keeping of Quiescence and Wakefulness(惺寂等持門), the Gate of Complete-sudden Faith and Understanding(圓頓信解門) and the Gate of Direct Cutting through the Kanhua Practice(看話徑截門). But some important problems about the 3 Gates has not been fully explained ; what was the philosophical or religious situation of the time that make Jinul propose the Gates and how each of the Gates related with the major philosophical problems of East Asian Buddhism up to the time. This paper intends to clarify the historical meaning of Jinul's Chuan thought in the history of East Asian Chuan tradition by explaining these problems. In his mid-twenties Jinul proposed the Gate of Parallel Keeping of Quiescence and Wakefulness to reform the Chuan trends of the time which neglect the ascetic practices and follow the laissez-faire attitude. This Gate based on the thought of the earliest Chuan writing Platform Sutra (『壇經』) also accepted Heze Shenhui's (荷澤神會, 668-706) thought which, though despised as illegitimate thought among the Chuan monks of the time, stressed the ascetic practices and the rehabilitation of the original mind. And in his late twenties Jinul proposed the Gate of Complete-sudden Faith and Understanding in order to concretely explain the essence of the original mind and the practices to achieve it. This Gate based on the thought of the Commentary on New Huayan Sutra (『新華嚴經論』) by Li Tung-xuan (李通玄, 635-730) also stressed the synthesization of Chuan and Huayan philosophy. Different from most of the Chuan monks indifferent to the Buddhist theoretical studies Jinul deliberated on the essential concepts of the Huayan and presented new understanding of them which enable the synthesization of Chuan and Huayan. The synthesization of the two traditions has been the biggest problem in East Asian Buddhism and Jinul's idea might be the most persuasive solution to it suggested up to the time. At the age of 40 Jinul proposed the last Gate of Direct Cutting through the Kanhua Practice to expel the void adhesion to the enlightenment and to deny the division between the subject and the object. This Gate, based on Dahui Zonggao's (大慧 宗杲, 1089-1163) Kanhua Chuan, not only stressed the limits of language and concepts but also suggested the practical methods to overcome them. By this Gate Jinul was able to prevent his disciples from substantiating the trueness and the practices to achieve it which might have arisen during the practice of the earlier two Gates. Like this, Jinul's 3 Gates were made by the amalgamation of the most important East Asian Buddhist thoughts - early Chuan, Huayan and Kanhua Chuan - on the traditional Chuan thought. Jinul's Chuan thought can be evaluated as a new reconstruction of the medieval East Asian Buddhism.