일탈과 귀환의 인유론적(因由論的) 고찰 - 법화경 ‘장자궁자의 비유’와 ‘심우도’를 중심으로

Abstract

Pictures of finding an ox which likens the Buddha nature of Human being to an ox are the metaphoric illustrations with an ox and a little boy for the practice levels of Sŏn(禪). They expressed the courses from finding his wandering own true nature to reaching enlightenment as drawings of Ten levels. On the other hand, the metaphor of a rich man’s piteous son of ‘Shinhae-pum (the chapter of belief and understanding’ in the Lotus sutra is the story that a son leaving from his rich father and undergoing all kinds of hardships in other country finally came back to his father and inherited all his fortunes. It is the tale to let us know that all the pathetic sentient beings losing the Buddha natures go around the three worlds (Samsara) as a way of conceit. In here, we can understand that a rich man is Buddha and his piteous son is a seeker searching everywhere for his Buddhata or a foolish sentient being. However, in some cases, it may be possible to interpret the son as the symbol of a person with the idea of finding something as wandering in the world or the afflicted spiritual adolescence of being torn, though trying this and that, or a human being wandering for finding the origination of his ego. The metaphor of a rich man’s piteous son as the course from the piteous son’s runaway to return has many similar parts with the course of a little boy’s finding an ox in Pictures of finding an ox. It seems that the story of Pictures of finding an ox tells us that we can finally gain enlightenment and become Saint, if realizing gradually one level and one level of mind’s true essence and the courses of the piteous son’s returning home in the metaphor of a rich man’s piteous son are the levels of ego awareness as living and growing in his life. In this paper, I regarded the Buddhist teachings expressed in the very different sectarian backgrounds, ‘Pictures of finding an ox’ and the Lotus sutra, as the course of finding ego from a Counseling Psychological point of view. As doing a comparison analysis between two sources, I looked into what the common the aim of two ideas had was.