질병, 치료, 종교∶한국 고대 불교의학

Abstract

In Buddhism, anguish is regarded as illness. In this regard, Buddhism compares itself with medicine which can treat with the pain(苦) resulting from human anxiety. It is believed that this aspect of Buddhism necessarily led to a spiritual remedy which helped to remove mental suffering and physical pain or anguish. Buddhist priest groups had developed its own hygienic system growing into, what is called, the priest physician(僧醫) or physician priest(醫僧) group which provided medical service to the public with an act of a Buddhist saint or an act of charity. In this paper, I focused on to reveal some aspects of Buddhist medicine in ancient Korea. First, the Buddhist medicine was credited to the fact that Buddhism was adapted and emerged as a significant power in politics although it had once been a foreign religion. In fact, the Buddhist priests had treated with diseases of the ruling class, including the royal family. Consequently, the three Kingdoms of Korea (Koguryo, Packche and Silla) adopted Buddhism as a national religion. One of the methods to treat with kings' diseases was the grand Buddhist ceremony (Baekgoja), where 100 high priests gathered for a sermon. Meanwhile, in Silla, an ascetic wrote a medical book <Sillabyubsabang> which showed a great deal of medical prescriptions, different from the Chinese medicine. Among them was an interesting prescription, so called as a secret magical method (Bimilyosulbang). According to it, the priests fabricated a hive of hornets in order to enrich sex life of the governing class. Such a method was dissimilar to the Chinese method to use the hive. It is well known as an unique medical formula advanced by Silla. The book <Sillabyubsabang> still exists. In this regard, the ancient Buddhist medicine even addressed the enjoyment of those in power. It considered such pleasure as an important issue. As shown, the medicine was used as a means of serving consistently the ruling class in order for Buddhism to form and sustain its position as a predominant religion. Second, the Buddhist priests looked deeply into preventive measures and a curative means. Like the army, priests lived together as a group, so preventive methods and medical treatment should be prepared. In the three Kingdoms of Korea, as Buddhist groups had been created and priests had got to live together, the preventive measures and treatments of diseases was developed. Such fact can be found in the Buddhist commandment and law. A variety of rules - the Buddhist priests and faiths should follow them - had emphasized how to take a bath, brush teeth and clean hands. Considering the fact that these still remain important methods to prevent disease in the modern society, they, probably, were widely exercised by the public. Third, given that the Buddhist medicine had been accompanied with incantatory treatment, the Buddhist medicine was somewhat different from the Chinese medicine. The Sutras showed all kinds of incantations which were divided into specialized treatments, such as dentistry, ophthalmology, pediatry and an infectious disease care, and the cause that Buddhist medicine could be demotic one as well. Since a small number of the governing class only consumed medical materials, it was too difficult for commoners to use medicine for treatment.