근현대 승려 이미지의 생성과 굴절

Abstract

Examined in this article is the general image of the Joseon Buddhist priest created and evolved during the modern and contemporary periods of Korea. Examination is made in the context of the Korean Buddhist history in general. This is actually an attempt to determine how the Buddhist traditions have changed and been altered since the beginning of the modern days, with a focus upon the image of the general upholders of those traditions, the Buddhist priests. To the Korean Buddhist community, modernity came with the aspiration to protect the teachings of Buddhism, which should continue the task of enlightenment as well as transformation into a modern religion. Yet under the colonial ruling, the Buddhist community compromised its own integrity and allowed itself to be secularized, by subjecting itself to political subordination and breach of principles (by allowing priests to marry and also eat meat). In such process the traditions were neglected and its own autonomy was destroyed. Modernization and popularization were tasks demanded by the age, but the priests did not care to preserve the principles and traditions, and instead succumbed to secularization. Fundamental reforms of the Buddhist community was also blocked by its own shortcomings which came from its then status as a state-supportive religion in an occupied world. The image of a Joseon Buddhist priest created in the modern period should be analyzed from two aspects: the society’s perception of it and the priests’ religious functions. In terms of the former, people perceived Buddhist priests as lowly beings, partially due to the fact that they chose to view them that way, while also partially due to the fact that the Joseon people as well viewed them in a similar light. Then again, during the latter half period of the Joseon dynasty Buddhist priests belonged to a rather special class, and the priests as a group carried all kinds of backgrounds. In the meantime, in terms of the latter, a new image of a Buddhist priest surfaced as a ‘married professional’ thanks to the social evolution theory and the argument supporting civilized enlightenment. During the Japanese occupation period, the number of married priests rapidly increased and came to occupy a majority of the priest population, while the ones who sticked to the old way became a minority. After the liberation, Korean Buddhism should have tried to put the legacy of the colonial days behind it, and find a way to reinvent itself as a national religion. But due to the biased religious policy of the U.S. military government, the severe conflicts that continued between the left and right-wing political factions, and ultimately the breakout of the Korean war, it failed to establish an independent school and could not eradicate the remnants of a negative legacy that came from the colonial days. The so-called ‘purification of the Buddhist community’ which continued since the mid-1950s through the early 1960s aimed to eliminate that legacy and recover the traditions and principles, but such movement also found it difficult to do so because the community lacked the capability to cleanse itself or to block political powers’ intervention. The considerable increase in number of priests who were not qualified to become a priest resulted in the general downfall of the quality of the community itself, and conflicts and violences which accompanied the purification process severely tarnished the social image of Buddhism and their priests. As we can see, throughout the modern and contemporary history of Korean Buddhism, the image of the Buddhist priests changed considerably, and some of them who chose to adhere to traditions found themselves cornered as a force of minority. Korean Buddhism failed to break free from political interference, allowed itself to continue being secularized, and risked burning remaining ties to the past under the name of so-called purification. It was not an easy task for them to find a new identity, in the wake of traditions and modernity overlapping with each other. Then again, this was not an issue that haunted Buddhism only. The difficulties that the Buddhist school faced actually represent the problems that were shared by all Korean traditionalists, including the Confucian thinkers, and let us know how they lost their way. Modern and Contemporary Buddhism of Korea, and its history, should be analyzed in consideration of the fact that modernity ended up being triumphant over the traditional way of thinking.