고려시대 왕사·국사 책봉 의례와 군신·사자 관계의 구현

Abstract

The Goryeo people considered the Goryeo dynasty as a state protected by all the Buddhist entities(諸佛). And in reflection of such belief, the Goryeo Kings maintained a practice of appointing both Royal and Dynastic Buddhist Masters and forming a relationship with them, in which the Goryeo King would humbly serve them as Masters and respectively ask them for their counsel. The relationship could be labeled as a Buddhist “Saja(師資)” relationship. <BR> When institutions and systems for state governance was established, official procedures for appointments were established as well. Whoever was to receive an appointment(Chaek, 冊) would greet the emissary from the king(Chaeksa, 冊使) and have a meeting(Hwebin-eui, 會賓儀), and then submit an appreciative appeal to the King, and later visit the palace to meet the King oneself. In case of the Royal and Dynastic Masters, it was an appointment of lofty figures who would become teachers to the King and an honored elder for the entire country, so the appointees would forward a Pyomun appeal without referring to themselves as a ‘vassal(臣),’ and when they met the King in the palace, they would together with the King perform the ritual of Saja-rye(師資禮). All these modifications were to properly treat the candidates for the Masters, but at the same time it was an act of recognizing them as yet another recipients of a dynastic ritual organized by the King and government. As a result, while all these Masters enjoyed a privileged status as a counselor and special consultant to the King, they too were absorbed into the standard ritual system of the state.<BR> The Royal Masters and Dynastic Masters were symbolic figures that show us the prominent status Buddhism maintained during the Goryeo period, but the appointment processes also show us that their authorities only functioned within the governing authority of the state and King, and was not beyond the realm of secular power. These rituals and protocols were yet another method to show that the power structure and hierarchy began with the King at the top. And they serve as an important clue for us to determine the real nature of the relationship that politics and religion have cultivated in this period.