조선시대 僧官制와 僧人 人事 관련 文書

Abstract

The objective of this thesis lies at identifying the nature and status of the Buddhist priest bureaucracy in Chosun times and the existing personnel documents of that circle. Even in Chosun times, which has been called 'the abolishing-Buddhism era' in general, they granted specific ranks and official posts to Buddhist priests. In early Chosun, the Buddhist priests who passed the national examination arranged for them were given the rank 'Daeseon'. And after that, priests from sect of Seonjong could achieve ranks such as Joongdeok, Seonsa, Saeseonsa and Dodaeseonsa, and priests from Gyojong could achieve Joongdeok, Daedeok, Daesa and Dodaesa, through specific process including another exam. Priests of or higher than the rank of Jwoongdeok were appointed to posts for Buddhist priests such as head priest of a temple, which corresponded to the 6th grade in government and army officials selection test. Since King Myeongjong, the Buddhist priest sector was officially abolished in national examination, but the war of Imjinwaeran gave the opportunity to establish temporary posts for Buddhist priest and the Office of Protocol granted appointment letter and official seal to the appointee. The personnel documents issued after the War, Imjinwaeran, can be classified into royal order(Gyoji) and official document(Cheob). The personnel document after the War still used the same priests ranks as the ones from early Chosun, but they were just respectful names for priests, not any official ranks determining the form of document. The existing royal orders for Buddhist priests are Hewjeong's one and Gakseong's one, both of which were created according to the form of Gosinsik, which was for the 4th and the upper grades. Both of the figures on those royal orders were served as Dochongseob, which was not a priest post of, or higher than, 4th grade. The rank of Dangsanggwan was additionally granted to Hewjeong and the royal order for Gakseong is, in our guess, a royal order of Sapae Gyoji, bestowing a priest name and the costume and bowl. Among the official documents for Buddhist priests, the one for Seonsu was, from the form and terms, a Deunggyae Cheob, which was supposed to given to the priests passed the concerned sector of national examination. It was created in the form of Chiejae Cheob(the document concerning selecting people through examination). Deunggyae was originally a term meaning passing the Buddhist priest sector in national examination, but in late Chosun, it was used as Buddhistic name and also the official priest rank acknowledged by the government. The Buddhist temples and priests, which had been established as a humble class in Chosun times, was recognized in other way in the administration system. Though they were downgraded compared with that of Goryeo or early Chosun, to such as treated as one miscellaneous sector of national exam, they were still a public organization and official post and played their roles as such.