破僧事의 阿闍世에 대한 僧團認識 고찰

Abstract

In the samgha breaking event, Ajātaśatru was a central accomplice of Devadatta. But, even though he conspired with Devadatta at first, he changed his attitude after he had become the king through the coup. He embraced Buddhism and made many supports to Buddhist sect. That is, Ajātaśatru at first conspired with Devadatta to kill Buddha in the samgha breaking event, but later became a great supporter of Buddhism. This dual aspect of Ajātaśatru has prevented samgha from recognizing and evaluating him correctly. Because of this, many Buddhist documents have less evaluated the sin of Ajātaśatru or sometimes attributed the wrongdoing of Ajātaśatru to Devadatta. That is, 'the previous evil' has been distorted by 'the subsequent good.' But, for the more accurate understanding on the samgha breaking event, it will be better to discern the good and evil of Ajātaśatru. Devadatta was the central character in the samgha breaking event and the samgha-bheda, and an unexcusable evildoer in the Buddhist view. Nevertheless, it is not right to put others' crimes on him. It makes the judgement on that problem vague, and also is not good for the development of Buddhism. The favorable recognition of samgha to Ajātaśatru may secure the religious rationality to some degree. But it inevitably causes an obstacle in the factual approach on the problem. Therefore, in the philosophical approach for the samgha breaking event and the samgha-bheda, the more clear arrangement for it is necessary.