불교사 연구, 지금까지 무엇을 간과했었나? -시대구분론과 국가불교론을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The history of Buddhism has been studied based on specific periods or regions due to its extensive scope. The problem is that the boundaries among the studies about the historical figures, thoughts and that of Buddhism are vague. Also many researchers rely on the previous studies without proper inspection and criticism. This study focuses on “periodization” and “Buddhism as national religion” which had been used for most studies on Buddhist history. As there has been no more progress on the periodization since 1980’s, more discussion about the method should be followed by now. Here, in this study, the researcher tries to point out missing or wrong thoughts that have been overlooked in previous studies and seek for what is important for the progress of Buddhist historical study. Especially, the research about surrounding areas is necessary for the Buddhism in East Asia. Since the previous studies have mostly focused on central areas such as Luoyang and Xian so far, there are lots of missing parts that had affected on the history of Buddhism. Regarding the complexity of this religion’s history, researchers should approach it from various angles as exchanges in civic, economic and other fields. It is time to seek for new methodologies to improve on the study of Buddhist history.