空海의 如來藏思想에 관한 小考 -卽身成佛義를 중심으로-

Abstract

This study is to look into what kind of effect the tathāgata-garbha thought had on the Kukai’s thought of Shingon Buddhism, on the premise that when Kukai, a founder of the Japanese Shingon Buddhism, went to China to study the tathāgata-garbha thought which was the Buddhist thought of the Chinese Buddhism at the time was used as a basis for the formation of his esoteric teachings. Kukai is an early figure of the Heian period who played an important role in the history of Japanese Buddhism. He himself brought Chinese esoteric Buddhism into Japan at the time of the formation of Japanese Buddhism. Kukai shed light on the excellence of Esoteric Buddhism by presenting the system of ten stages of security of mind(十住心體系) in Bimilmandarasipjusimron(秘密曼茶羅十住心論), and presented ‘the thought of attaining Buddhahood with one’s own body(卽身成佛)’ which claims that one can attain the Buddhahood in the practice of three secrets(三密修行). Based on this theoryt of attaining Buddhahood is Shingon Buddhism, and the background of Shingon Buddhism is based on the tathāgata-garbha thought centered on the Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana(大乘起信論) and Seokmagayeonlon(釋摩訶衍論). Kukai asserts in his Jeuksinseongbuleui(卽身成佛義) that Jeuksinseongbuleui is possible through the principles of six greatness(六大), four mandala(四曼), three secrets(三密). In this way, Kukai ideally systemized the principle of attaining Buddhahood with one’s own body(卽身成佛)’. It is also possible to examine the relationship between Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana(大乘起信論) and its commentary Seokmagayeonlon, and this clearly shows that the system of his philosophy was effected by the tathāgata-garbha thought. The thought of attaining Buddhahood with one’s own body was incomplete in Chinese esoteric Buddhism in those times, but Kukai’s theory of Enlightenment and practice system clearly show it as a distinct characteristic of Shingon Buddhism. Thus, the completion of Kukai’s Shingon Buddhist teachings was influenced not only by the traditional esoteric Buddhist thought but also by the tathāgata-garbha thought. In other words, Kukai systematized the ideas of the time and completed his teachings of esotericism. And he was able to advocate the idea of attaining Buddhahood with one’s own body(卽身成佛) in Shingon Buddhismt as there was the thought of attaining Buddhahood with one’s own body which is based on the tathāgata-garbha thought.