An analysis of Yongseong Jinjong’s attempt to modernize Buddhism and its limitations

Abstract

용성에 대한 기존 연구는 민족불교론에서 접근한 성과가 대부분이지만, 그의 생애 후반기는 오히려 불교 근대화를 추진하였던 면모가 두드러지게 드러난다. 이러한 경향은 선을 여성에게 개방한 것과 불전 번역에서 잘 드러난다. 용성은 대각교에서 부인선원을 개설하고 여성에게 선을 개방하였다. 다만 용성이 전통적인 선을 지향하였던 만큼 근대 여성이 각성하는 지도원리로서 선이 작용한 것이 아니라는 한계를 갖고 있다. 한편, 용성의 불전 번역은 근대 계몽기 지식인들이 번역과 출판 사업을 문명화의 과제로 공유하던 문제인식이나 기독교에 대한 대응에서 자극을 받아 이루어졌다. 특히 용성의 번역은 1920년대 전반기에서 국한문체 위주의 번역에서 1920년대 후반 이후에는 순한글로 문체가 변화하였다. 용성은 불교 잡지를 통해 이러한 글쓰기의 변화를 이해하고 수용한 것으로 추측된다. 다만 그의 번역은 조선시대 이래 성행된 전통적인 불전을 대상으로 한 것이고, 근대학문적인 방법론이나 근대적인 재해석을 거친 것이 아니라는 한계가 있다. 용성이 불교의 근대화를 모색하면서 보인 한계는 이른바 ‘대처’ 문제에 대한 현실인식에서 드러난다. 승려의 결혼이 확산된 현상은 일본에서 근대 국민국가의 수립과 관련된 정책에서 비롯된 것이며, 재가주의 불교를 중심으로 한 불교의 근대화를 모색하는 과정과 관련된다. 나아가 식민지조선에서 지식인승려들의 결혼은 불교의 사회적 실천과 관련된 문제인식과 관련된다. 이러한 문제와 현실인식을 배제하고 승려의 결혼이라는 현상을 단순히 계율의 문제로 환원하거나 일본불교의 영향이라고 단순화시켜 이해하는 것은 당대 역사상과 거리가 있다.Considering Yongseong is a traditional Zen Master, it is notable that he presented various directions for Buddhist reform and made an effort to materialize those ideas. In particular, Yongseong’s achievement is representative of the practices in pursuit of the modernization of Buddhism, such as opening up of Zen to women and the translation of various Buddhist scripture, which have remained relatively unnoticed. Yongseong opened the Zen Center for Women in Daegakgyo[大覺敎] which he founded. In the Zen Center, women not only practiced Zen but also held leadership positions. Given the exclusion of women from Zen centers as customary practice, Yongseong’s decision to get women engaged with practicing Zen in the center can be viewed as a sign of modernization of Buddhism. However, there are limitations in that Zen did not function as a guiding principle for women to be awakened, as well as to act as an individual subject. Yongseong is a representative figure who translated the Buddhist sacred text during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The way in which he translated Buddhist text changed from a mixed style of writing Korean with Chinese characters, in it in the early 1920s, to that of only Han-geul in the late 1920s. This stylistic change reflected the establishment of the Korean language, especially the formation of unity of speech and writing in the 1910s, which has been pursued since the late Chosûn Dynasty. However, Yongseong s translation of Buddhist scriptures showed some limitations. For example, most of the Buddhist texts translated by Yongseong were valued in the Buddhism of the Chosûn Dynasty, and they did not go beyond the structure of pre-modern Buddhist thought. Furthermore, his translation has some shortcomings in that it was neither informed by the methodology of the modern disciplinary approach nor by a renewal of given interpretations of the text. The limitations of Yongseong’s pursuit of the modernization of Buddhism can be exemplified in his opposition to marriage for monks. Yongseong criticized marriage for monks from the perspective of seeing the issue as a matter of discipline. However, the prevalence of monk marriage can not be regarded as a traditional discipline issue nor as a unilateral influence of Japanese Buddhism. The practice of marriage for monks became prevalent in modern Japan as a result of the government s policy of reclassifying being a monk to a vocation, rather than being one of status, which was promoted as part of modernization of Japanese Buddhism. In addition to this, emphasis needs to be put on the fact that the formation of modern Buddhism in East Asia was dominated by the Buddhist circles who led the ascetic life of Buddhism in their own homes.