포스트 코로나 시대 불교환경의 현황과 대응

Abstract

This paper is a comprehensive review of the response and change of buddhist environment in the post-Corona period after the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease in 2019(COVID-19). Since the pandemic, many people have died and many parts of the world have experienced a direct impact on life and health with the tragedy of stopping both economy and people's life. Various containment measures have slowed down the economic growth, increased unemployment, poverty and hunger. While this phenomenon is damaging to such a large number of people and sustainable development which relates to human prosperity, it showed positive impacts on overall global sustainability. Annual CO2 emissions in 2020 are expected to be 4-7 percent lower than last year. The air and water became clean and nature's restoration was observed in many places. These different results confirm that the current method of achieving human development and prosperity poses a great threat to the Earth's health, therefore, indicate the need of efforts to ensure global co-existence and co-prosperity even after the COVID-19 pandemic. In that sense, this paper addresses the merits of Korean buddhism in post COVID-19 era. The virtue of Korean buddhist environment lies in the fact that the environment itself is considered to be a complex heritage, encompassing the religious inherited heritage such as the eco-friendly teaching and lifestyle of buddhism, as well as the role of preserving the excellent and natural cultural heritage such as temple forests. Now, Korean Buddhism should move onto the era of clean restoration movement that brings back the eco-friendly tradition of buddhism's eco-friendly teaching and lifestyle. Moreover, Korean buddhism should actively contribute to overall environmental preservation and sustainability in the 21st century by comprehending the environment that embodies human-nature's symbiosis and causality, and utilizing the identity of Korean buddhism based on its characteristics.