삼봉 정도전의 시선에서 본 유・불 갈등의 철학적 문제들

Abstract

This article examines the issues of Confucianism-Buddhist conflict seen from the perspective of a Confucian scholar from a philosophical aspect, focusing on the contents of Bulsijabbyeon (佛氏雜辨) of Sambong Jeong Do-jeon (鄭道傳, 1342-1398). Here, four major topics are addressed: the ideological conflict between dualism and monism, the conflict between causal retribution and yin-yang and the five elements, the psychological conflict regarding the relationship between the mind and nature, and the conflict over ethical positions and ways to respond to reality. From a comprehensive perspective, Sambong's view of Buddhism cannot be free from the limitations that inevitably lead to the conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism. This is because Sambong discussed various philosophical topics by contrasting them with each other from the apologetic standpoint of Elevating Confucianism and Suppressing Buddhism (崇儒抑佛). Moreover, since Sambong focused on criticizing the distorted phenomena and contradictory behavior of the Buddhist world at the time, rather than criticizing the fundamental ideas of Buddhism, counterarguments from a Buddhist perspective were fully expected. The core of this article is that if the significance of the Buddhist objection can be relatively acknowledged, the confrontational phase of the conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism can be naturally resolved.