정몽주의 불교에 대한 인식과 태도 재검토

Abstract

Jeong Mongju has been thought to be a moderate anti-Buddhist. His attitude toward Buddhism has been regarded to be the middle between the pro-Buddhist who advocated the role of Buddhism to the society and the anti-Buddhist who tried to exclude Buddhism from the society. In fact he was a faithful anti-Buddhist in that he kept the critical attitude toward Buddhism as a faithful Neo-confucianist, while he was similar to the pro-Buddhist it that he seldom denied Buddhism itself nor pay any direct attack to the Buddhists. Because of his ambiguous attitude, he was often criticized to be a eclecticist who criticized the Buddhism but was passive in oppressing it, or a opportunist who hesitated practicing his thought considering the ruler’s interest. But his attitude was never eclectic or opportunistic, nor he was a moderate anti-Buddhist. His attitude came from the confidence in the Neo-confucianism. He believed the superiority and the rationality of the Neo-confucianism and hardly concerned the Buddhism. In this respect he was much different from the other Neo-confucianists of the time. The Neo-confucianist of the time, anti-Buddhists or pro-Buddhists, cared much about the Buddhism and tried to overcome the Buddhist problems. His nonintervention anti-Buddhism was very special thought in the time and much attention should be paid to it. Under the thought the Buddhism as well as the Neo-confucianism might have developed much different during the Joseon dynasty.