조선중후기 불교계의 법화신앙과 의례

Abstract

Buddhism beliefs based on the Lotus Sutra continued its prestige even in the Joseon Dynasty. In the Joseon Dynasty, monasteries were limited and the economy of the temple was greatly contracted, but in he memorial rituals of the royal family and the ruling class, religious practices such as the Lotus Sutra and reading songs were indispensable. Sung Confucianism(性理學), which had been advocated as a national ideology, was a mortal ideology, so Buddhism could not surpass Buddhism in the afterlife, which comforts the dead and prays for the merit of the living. By defining Buddhism as a heresy, he tried to destroy its thoughts and beliefs, but only revealed the weakness of Sung Confucianism. The religious function of the belief in Beophwa(法華) was further strengthened during the period before and after the Imjin War. Fundamentally, the value of the Sangha practice and education system led by the disciples, including the adjournment of Cheongheo, was newly established. However, Buddhist rituals to comfort the various sufferings of the ruling class and the underprivileged during the Imjin War(壬辰倭亂) and Jurchens(丙子胡亂) were the driving force behind the practical maintenance of the belief in the Lotus Sutra. The study of Lotus Sutra in the late Joseon Dynasty was valuable enough to form the lineage of Buddhist studies in the late Joseon Dynasty, and had an important influence on Zen practice. Not only was the Lotus Sutra, but it was a reminiscence of Yeongsan-Hoesang(靈山會上) and a paradise in various ceremonies, including the remembrance of the dead and the inauguration of temples in the Buddhist world of the day.