한국 근대 불교교육 담론과 불교전문학교의 설립

Abstract

This article explores the goals and realization process of Buddhist education through the Buddhist reform discourse and establishment of Buddhist schools in modern korea. Modern schools established by the Buddhist community continued to develop by changing their names to Myŏngjin hakgyo(Myŏngjin School, 明進學校) in 1906, Bulgyo sabeom hakgyo(Buddhist Teachers School, 佛敎師範學校), Bulgyo kodŭng kangsuk(Buddhist Academy of Higher Education, 佛敎高等講塾), and Bulgyo chungang hangnim(Buddhist Central Seminary, 佛敎中央學林) in the 1910s, Bulgyo chŏnsu hakgyo(Buddhist Specialists School, 佛敎專修學校) and Chungang Bulgyo chŏnmun hakgyo(Central Buddhist Specialized School, 中央佛敎專門學校) in the 1920s and 30s, and Hyehwa chŏnmun hakgyo(Hyehwa Specialized School, 惠化專門學校) in the 1940s. All of these Buddhist schools declared the level of “Specialized School(專門學校)” and aimed to cultivate human resources. These educational goals and school management can also be seen in the paradigm shift of Buddhist education reform theory. Kwon Sang-ro and Han Yong-un, representative reformers in the 1910s, both emphasized the importance of ‘cultivating talent’. The target of talent training claimed in the reform theory was limited to ‘monks’, and in fact, Buddhist schools in the 1910s aimed to cultivate monks. On the other hand, as can be seen from Lee Young-jae’s reform theory, since the 1920s, the targets of talent training include both monks and ordinary people. Until the 1910s, only monks were allowed to enter Buddhist schools, but after the Bulgyo chŏnsu hakgyo in the 1920s, all those who graduated from Secondary School(高等普通學校) were admitted. This means that the Buddhist education paradigm based on the monk society has shifted to expanding the scope of talent training through the expansion of Buddhist projects and the spread of Buddhist culture. Buddhist schools were regulated by colonial education policies and had to overcome them. The Buddhist schools were classified as ‘miscellaneous school(各種學校)’ by the colonial government until the 1910s. As a result, graduates were unable to go to higher schools and had difficulty in building a social career. Therefore, the Buddhist denomination established a foundation and tried to expand its assets to promote the Buddhist school to a “Specialized School,” and as a result, the Chungang Bulgyo chŏnmun hakgyo was approved by the colonial government in 1930. It can be said that the Buddhist Specialized School has broke away from the traditional monk’s education system, recognized Buddhism as “a subject of scholarship”, and established a Buddhist education system as a branch of modern scholarship.