진각혜심의 간화선사상과 선시와의 상관성

Abstract

When we attempt to understand Seon poetry, the point is not ‘an understanding of the poetry itself’ but of ‘enlightenment.’ The quality of a Seon poem is not determined by its ? as a poem but the poet’s Seon enlightenment experience implied in it. In other words, when we analyze a Seon poem, the focal point should be to reveal its esoteric implication of the poet’s enlightenment. There thus are difficulties in having proper sensitivities to and reaching at an appropriate understanding of a Seon poem, difficulties somewhat different from those we experience with other poems in general. What, then, are required of a critic of Seon poetry for proper analysis and understanding of Seon poetry? To say the conclusion first, s/he needs to have proper “aptitude for Seon” and comprehensive “insight into Seon doctrines.” In Buddhist tradition, enlightenment experiences have been expressed in gāthās, beginning with that of the Buddha. While giving sermons, the Buddha stopped from time to time and reiterated his points in gāthās. Without understanding gāthās, therefore, it is impossible to say that you have understood Buddhist teachings. It thus is a matter of great concern that there recently are some attempts to approach to the Buddha’s gāthās and Seon poetry from the perspective of secular literary criticism. Without discerning the essence of Seon poetry, i.e., the world of enlightenment, it never is possible to have appropriate access to Seon poetry, however brilliant sensitivity to and insight into literature you may have. This article attempts to analyze The Poetry of the Naked Hermit (Muuija sijib), a collection of Jingag Hyesim’s Seon poems from a perspective different from the ones of recent studies of Seon poetry. It applies understandings of Hyesim’s doctrines of “sudden enlightenment” and Ganhwa Seon(Kungan Chan) to his poetry and classifies his poems into three categories according to their Seon topics:poems of sudden enlightenment; those regarding Hwadu meditation; and those of ‘subtle enlightenment.’ The relevance of Hyesim’s Seon doctrines to his poetry could thus be revealed. This is a new and creative approach in that Seon poetry is analyzed only in terms of Seon doctrines, without imposing literary theories in general. It is expected that this article suggest an example of Seon poetry study on the basis of solid understanding of Seon doctrines, and contribute somehow to establishment of a proper framework methodology of Seon poetics.