개경과 한양의 사찰 - 도성사찰의 역할과 의미

Abstract

Compared in this article are the Buddhist Monasteries in the Gae’gyeong area during the Goryeo period and those in the Han’yang area during the Joseon period. Attempted here is to deter mine how and why Buddhist monasteries were founded in these two regions, how they changed and what their respective statuses were, by engaging in a series of comparative examinations, meant to ascertain the historical meaning of Buddhist monasteries’ construction in Han’yang, the Capital of the newborn Joseon dynasty, in its early days.BR The Buddhist monasteries in Gae’gyeong began to be built when Gae’gyeong was first established as the Goryeo dynasty’s capital in the year 919. They served as religious central spots, and were deemed as public places on par with the level of the Main Palace and important governmental offices. They contributed to the magnificent scenery that was the Royal Capital Gae’gyeong, and also became the backbone of the Goryeo culture and thought. Most of all, they were crucial places in the people’s very lives, as reflected in those places were the Goryeo people’s belief (and expectation) that Buddhism was (and would be) important in country governance as well as the royal family’s honor.BR Then, after the year 1394, when the decision was made to designate Han’yang as the new capital for the newborn dynasty Joseon (founded in 1392), any trace of founding or even planning to found a Buddhist monastery inside the Han’yang capital city-alongside palace, fortress, and the Royal Ancestral Shrine-is nowhere to be seen. It was an expected omission, as Han’yang was to be the capital of the new dynasty which was founded in the midst of anti-Buddhist arguments rampantly prevailing.BR But when founder king Taejo Yi Seong-gye founded the Heungcheon-sa(興天寺) temple as the Guardian monastery for the Royal Mausoleum Jeong’reung(貞陵) in 1396, it marked the first ever occasion in which a Buddhist monastery was constructed inside the confines of the Han’yang capital city. Heungcheonsa was of course not part of the original capital city plan, and only came to existence in accordance with the Royal mausoleum institution from the late Goryeo period, and was merely established as an affiliated facility for the Jeong’reung mausoleum. However, this construction became somewhat of a turning point for Buddhist monasteries, as the following kings who reigned in the Joseon dynasty’s early half continued to patronage Buddhist monasteries in the Capital city as well. In retrospect, it was more of an interim practice, and an old convention from the past temporarily resurrected.