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The Life of Korean Buddhist Monks through the Eulogies of the Buddhist Monks's portraits

  • The Review of Korean History
  • 2008, (90), pp.145-186
  • Publisher : The Historical Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

신대현 1

1사찰문화연구원

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The oldest known chanmun accompanying a jinyeong portrait are those written by Park In-beom(朴仁範) on the portraits of Beomil guksa(梵日國師) and Muaeji guksa. Although exact dates are unknown, Park In-beom played an active part in late Unified Silla, from the 9th century to the 10th century. Replacing chanmun with a poem was a pattern often seen in the Joseon Dynasty as well. This poem was written for a eulogy, but the verse is good and has excellent literary quality. There are various writers of chanmun as mentioned above, and there is the self-written eulogy in which the person in the portrait writes about himself. This is a kind of self-reflection in which the subject writes about the life he has led. Someone said that this self-written eulogy is the confirmation of perception toward a disciple but I don't like this expression because it seems to take chanmun too pedagogically. In fact, the meaning of the expression confirmation of perception toward a disciple itself can not be readily grasped. But seen from the explanation that it is like the credentials of a mature disciple, a self-written eulogy is understood as the intent of the writer to have his disciples realize his thoughts through the eulogy. But as introduced in this book, too, the self-written eulogy seldom functions this way. On the contrary, in most cases the self-written eulogy is the subject's critical self-reflection, a monologue filled with compassion and pleasant irony about his crooked life. But thanks to the deep philosophy of the subject, these bitter words do not seem bitter and make readers see them not as an irony but a thorny paradox. The level of chanmun can be measured by how well these elements were mixed, which is where their charm and value lies. Although chanmun should be discussed together with jinyeong, as it is very important material, jinyeong has been studied on its own up till now and a serious approach to chanmun has seldom been made. When chanmun is read and observed, the value of jinyeong naturally increases. In this sense, it is thought close examination of the content of chanmun is an indispensable methodology.

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