조선 중기 의승군 전통에 대한 재고: 호국불교의 조선적 발현

Abstract

This paper addresses the research history of state-protection Buddhism and examines the activities of monks' militia in terms of the tension between Confucian loyalty and Buddhist precepts. The paper also investigates the transmission of monks' militia tradition in Joseon and its governmental institutionalization. Monks' militia in Joseon can serve as a case that shows how close Buddhism and the state can become. Although the Japanese Imjin Invasions of 1592-1598 threatened the very existence of the Joseon state, monks' participation in warfare definitely violated one of the cardinal precepts of Buddhism, i.e., not-killing. It also inevitably led to the secularization of the Buddhist community of the time: many monks abandoned traditional Buddhist practices and many of those who had served as monk soldiers returned to the secular life after the wars. On the flip side, the loyalty that monks' militia strenuously demonstrated through their war activities was clearly appreciated by the Confucian society of Joseon and brought the change in the Confucian view of Buddhism. As the state realized the value of monks' militia in national defense, it perpetuated the imposition of military and other state services on the Buddhist community, as shown in the case of Namhan Mountain Fortress (Namhansan seong 南漢山城), which enabled the transmission of the monks' militia tradition throughout the rest of Joseon. The state used the labor power of monks within the system of the state tax, recognizing the social status and activities of monks and thereby providing a minimal basis for the existence of Buddhism. However, this action deflected the unique supra-mundane orientation of Buddhism. State-protection and dharma-protection had been carried out in Korean history in the form of the equality of the two as if they had been the two wheels of a cart. However, monks' militia and state services (seungyeok) in Joseon were anomalous cases in which state-protection was overly emphasized. In the end, Joseon expression of state-protection Buddhism left negative effects, causing excessive financial burden for the Joseon Buddhist community and its subjugation to the state.