지식의 재구성과 김시습의 법화경 읽기

Abstract

One person's life is not constructed by one belief system alone. Experiencing diverse worlds, one goes through numerous changes in thoughts and ideas. However, we often forget this and try to explain away someone's life through single perspective. This spawns unintended misunderstanding or overinterpretation. Kim Si-seup has been known as the symbol of unwavering integrity. Hence, scholars had difficulty in giving a satisfying answer to explain his participation in King Sejo's project of translating Buddhist sutras into Korean. In order to find the intellectual, or ideological basis for his participation in King Sejo's project, we must pay attention to the spiritual transformation that this young man of late twenties went through while he was translating the Lotus Sutra into Korean. "Sejo" as an individual may have been the reflection of an ugly reality, but the political system called "Joseon" that he supported was not something that Kim could ever ignore or deny. On top of it, it was an undeniable fact that Sejo was standing before him overwhelmingly as the real power. A series of extremely polite writings addressed to Sejo that remain to date is reflective of such conditions. The Lotus Sutra deployed imaginative language and all kinds of tales and legends to demonstrate the eternity of truth. Diverse methods were employed to bring the enlightenment that every object in reality embodies the truth of the universe. Kim found in it a way of constructing his life and knowledge that is beyond and entirely different from the conflicts that he experience in reality. By shifting his thoughts, he is moving towards a different level of logic that goes beyond the dichotomy of negation and opposition, or compromise and rejection. He created a new way thinking that flowed through the "in-between spaces" that exist between objects and objects, or between people and people to criticize and destroy the rigidity of the world. Kim's twenties was not only a time of physical wandering, but a time of spiritual conflict seeking and breaking new ground of thoughts. Going against the social conventions or customs is something that cannot be undertaken without the experience of profound confidence. If Kim forsook Confucianism, threw himself into the world of Buddhism and wandered in it for so long, there must be a strong momentum of enlightenment embedded in it. It is my belief that the Lotus Sutra provided an important turning point to Kim Si-seup in that aspect.