근·현대 불교계의 한국 선종사 인식과 논의

Abstract

The Seon School of Korean Buddhism was originally named the Jogye Order (Jogyejong), but during the reign of Joseon’s King Sejong, all Buddhist orders were divided into two groups: the Seon School (Seonjong) and Doctrinal School (Gyojong). After 1565, even these two schools disappeared, and for a time, Korea had no distinct Buddhist orders. Even in those harsh conditions, most monastics in the Joseon era thought the Joseon Buddhist community considered Taego Bou as its founder, a monk whose Dharma lineage had been passed on by generations of monastics. This perception emerged as a social issue in modern Korea. When a monk named Wonjong pursued a questionable alliance with Japanese Buddhism, the Imje Order (Imjejong) came out against it, contending that the Korean Seon School tradition followed Taego Bou, and his Dharma tradition had inherited the Seon (Chan/Zen) lineage of Imje (Linji/Rinzai). The Imje Order’s opposition was later met with scores of discussions when the argument emerged that Doui was the founder of Korean Seon. However, arguments eventually came to a close when the new constitution established by the Seon-Doctrinal Schools of Joseon Buddhism proclaimed Taego Bou as their founder in 1929; and in 1935 the religious constitution of the Seon School of Joseon Buddhism again proclaimed Taego Bou as its founder. Although having Taego Bou as its founder gave the Order a sense of history and a symbolic victory, it had a drawback in that it limited the beginning of the Seon School to the late Goryeo era. Then the argument emerged that the Seon School was begun by State Preceptor Doui in late Silla, and that the Jogye Order was established in the mid-Goryeo era and was further developed by State Preceptor Bojo. This spurred renewed discussion about the history of the Seon School in Korea. In November 1940 when the Jogye Order of Joseon Buddhism was established, the Seon School restored its original name “Jogyejong,” and expanded its beginning to the mid-Goryeo era. However, by establishing Taego Bou as its founder, the Order did not embrace the whole history of the Seon School which actually began in the Silla era. The discussion arose again about Doui as its founder, and the inheritance of Seon Dharma by State Preceptor Bojo, but all of these fell short of quelling the dispute. Around 1954 when Korean Buddhism’s “Purification Movement” was about to begin, the religious constitution of the Jogye Order reframed the history of Korea’s Seon School278 한마음연구 제8집by claiming State Preceptor Doui as its founding patriarch (jongjo), State Preceptor Bojo as the patriarch who re-illuminated its principal tenets (jungcheonjo), and Taego Bou as the revival patriarch (Jungheungjo). The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism—established in 1962—also inherited this Dharma tradition, and the question of Korea’s Seon School history was finally settled by claiming its origin and lineage dated back to the Silla era.