18세기 黙庵 最訥의 화엄교학과 불교사 인식

Abstract

Mugam Choenul 黙庵 最訥 (1717-1790) was a leader of the Korean Hwaeom studies in the eighteenth century as well as direct descendant of the Buhyu 浮休 lineage whose main temple was Songgwangsa 松廣寺. Choenul left such writings as the Hwaeom pummok 華嚴品目 and the Jegyeong hoeyo 諸經會要. A full-scale research on his thought, however, has not been carried out. This article aims at comprehensively exploring Chonul’s life as well as his understanding of Buddhist history and philosophy. In particular, the article examines the following: the debate with Yeondam Yuil 蓮潭有一 of the Pyeonyang 鞭羊 lineage on Buddhist theories of the mind-nature, the interactions with Confucian literati, the correspondence with a Japanese monk, the different editions of the Hwaeom pummok and the Jegyeong hoeyo and their concrete contents, and the understanding of “samcheo jeonsim” (three places of mind-transmission 三處傳心) and the Buddhist history. Although the article is rather introductory, it can demonstrate that his understanding of Hwaeom and Buddhist doctrines reached a significant level by analyzing his Hwaeom pummok and Jegyeong hoeyo. This article contributes to the extensive investigation of the eighteenth-century doctrinal exegetes who left personal notes (sagi 私記) on the Buddhist texts of the monastic curriculum. It also paves the way for exploring the features and direction of the Buddhist thought of the late Joseon from a new perspective on the basis of the analysis of doctrinal (including Hwaeom) and Seon exegeses.