고려 후기 『法華經』 靈驗譚 유포와 그 의의: 『海東法華傳弘錄』을 중심으로

Abstract

Cheonchaek(天頙) edited the Haedong Beophwa-jeonhongnok(The Eastern Sea’s Record of the Stories Inspired from the Lotus Sūtra) and recorded the miracle stories related to the Lotus Sūtra at the time when the war with Mongolia was near the end. This is compared with the fact that the Hongzan fahua zhuan(弘贊法華傳), which was edited in China, was distributed in the early Goryeo Dynasty. The main characters of Goryeo miracle stories are wholly the then officials or ex­officials, monks, local officials, wealthy landowners, and the most powerful man's wife, and ordinary people are not included. This is relevant to the fact that Cheonchaek handed the Haedong-jeonhongnok out to the officials like Jang-yong Lee(李藏用). That is to say, the major class of readers was the officials and monks. Accordingly, in the activities for faith, there are no practices chanting the names of Avalokitêśvara-bodhisattva or Amitâbha Buddha. Those are the miracle stories resulted mainly from the copying, recitation and explanation of the Lotus Sūtra. And those who participated in the White Lotus Society were given a great deal of weight among the readers. It is because Cheonchaek pushfully urged the officials to be engaged in the Society. And he may have anticipated the wide distribution of the miracle stories through them. It was because of the then urgent social necessity that Cheonchaek edited the miracle stories inspiring the faith based on Lotus Sutra. It was intended to give consolation to and instill religious passion into the people who were suffering from the three calamities (三災) of war, famine and infectious diseases through telling them the miracle stories which their neighbors experienced. We can recognize this from the fact that Cheonchaek thought that the war was due to their karma and said that the Buddha and bodhisattvas would surely help them if they performed some activities for faith seeking for piety and miracles.