송광사 소장 『간독(簡牘)』을 통해 본 임제종운동의 성격 조명: 석전(石顚) 박한영(朴漢永)의 사찰령 인식을 중심으로

Abstract

The Linji Order Movement (臨濟宗運動) of 1910 was a movement to protect Korean Buddhism that arose in opposition to Wŏn Order's (圓宗) Lee Hoe-gwang's (李晦光) attempt to unite with the Sōtō School (曹洞宗) of Japanese Buddhism. Wŏn Order sought to gain official recognition as a Buddhist Order from the Government-General of Joseon through this union. Lee Hoe-gwang received a power of attorney from the abbots of local temples to go to Japan as a representative of Korean Buddhism. This indicates that the Korean Buddhist community permitted the union with the Sōtō School in order to become an official Buddhist Order. Furthermore, this fact reveals that the Korean Buddhist community at that time viewed Japanese Buddhism favorably. However, when the details of the union with the Sōtō School, consisting of seven articles, were made public, criticism emerged that Korean Buddhism was becoming subordinate to Japanese Buddhism. At that time, to prevent the union between Wŏn Order and the Sōtō School, several monks including Seokjeon Park Han-yeong (朴漢永) from Songgwang-sa (松廣寺) and Seonam-sa (仙巖寺) established the Linji Order, initiating a movement to uphold the traditions of Korean Buddhism. As a result, the Linji Order Movement is evaluated today as nationalist Buddhism and anti-Japanese Buddhism. The new historical records examined in this paper, Gandok, is a book transcribing official documents sent to Songgwang-sa by the General Offices of the Wŏn Order and Linji Order in the 1910s. That book contains three articles written by Seokjeon Park Han-yeong, one of the founders of the Linji Order. His articles reveal that he viewed the Temple Ordinance (寺刹令) promulgated by the Government-General of Joseon favorably. As well known, Temple Ordinance is law intended to control Korean Buddhism, and it stripped away the autonomy of the Korean Buddhist community. However, in the early 1910s, including Park Han-yeong, most Korean Buddhist monks viewed the Temple Ordinance favorably. Because they believed that the Temple Ordinance could prevent Korean Buddhist temples from falling under the control of Japanese Buddhist Schools. Considering that Korean Buddhist monks in the early 1910s perceived Japanese Buddhist Schools or Temple Ordinance favorably, it is necessary to understand the Linji Order Movement not from an anti-Japanese perspective, but rather from the viewpoint of safeguarding Korean Buddhist traditions.