朝鮮前期 寺刹版 刊行佛書 考察

Abstract

This article examined the backgrounds of publication of Buddhist texts by Buddhist temples during the early Joseon period and analyzed cases of Buddhist temples that produced Buddhist texts of specific fields in large quantities in order to understand the trend of publishing Buddhist texts at those temples. In fifteenth-century Joseon, Buddhist texts were published mainly by the royal court and rarely by Buddhist temples except for certain cases. In the sixteenth century, however, Buddhist temples emerged as main publishers of Buddhist texts. In this period, the royal court discontinued the tradition of publishing Buddhist texts and Buddhism was eventually abandoned in state governance and policies due to constant opposition from Confucian scholars. Against this backdrop, Buddhist temples published Buddhist scriptures that were necessary for performing rites for ordinary people or deceased souls, manuals of rituals, and texts for education of Buddhist monks. Publication of Buddhist texts at Buddhist temples gradually increased from the 1520s and continued through the short renaissance of Joseon Buddhism during the reign of King Myeongjong (明宗, r. 1545–1567) and the subsequent period under the rule of King Seonjo (宣祖, r. 1567–1608). The examination of the Buddhist texts published by Buddhist temples in the early Joseon period revealed that most temples published several categories of texts as mentioned above—e.g., scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, ritual manuals, materials for teaching and learning of monks. Interestingly, certain temples including Guijinsa Temple and Seongsusa Temple in Hwanghae-do produced many texts related to Avatamsaka (華嚴; Kr. Hwaeom, Ch. Huayan) school of Buddhism while publication of texts other than those on Seon Buddhism was rare at the time. Bohyeonsa Temple in Pyeongan-do and Sinheungsa Temple in Gyeongsang-do intensively produced texts of Seon (禪) Buddhism. This study analyzed the aspects of publishing Buddhist texts at those temples and the reasons behind such trend.