KJCKorea
Journal Central

<Sohyeonseongrok> is widely known as a work that configured the Confucian ideology clearly. Nevertheless, characters in the work confront with one another over the Buddhist nun’s entrance to the house and whether to hold a Buddhist rite. Considering the tendencies of those involved in the confrontation, the confrontation is between men and women as well as between the old and the young. The question is in that the confrontation is not end up with the victory of either side. In the work, moreover, a temple is sometimes set as the spatial background. Male characters encounter evil spirits at the temple and defeat the spirits by exhibiting their power. In this sense, a Buddhism temple is designated as a space where evil spirits reside. What is the reason for adding such Buddhism‐related contents to <Sohyeonseongrok>? The explanation popping into our mind first is that they are to depreciate Buddhism. However, Lady Yang, the eldest in the house, stands by Buddhism in the Confucianism‐Buddhism confrontation among the family members. Those who suffer direct damages from the evil spirits are also people who stay in the temple. Thus, it is not easy to conclude that such contents are included in the work in order to attack Buddhism. Another possible explanation is that Taoist and Buddhist elements are utilized as a means to construct a transcendental world. This may not be an adequate explanation either because contents related to Buddhism occupy only a small part of the novel. The late 17th century when the work was written was when the Confucian ideology was strongly dogmatic. Furthermore, people’s interest in Buddhism grew high in those days. This work is not irrelevant to such historical situations. Thus, Buddhism‐related contents in this work are believed to show some ways of response to excessive criticism against Buddhism. Particularly in the setting of a Buddhist space as an intermediate world between the real space of Confucianism and the surreal space of Taoism, this intention seems to be reflected clearly. These results of our discussion may be meaningful in that they give the understanding of the novel readers’ religious tendencies and lead us to review the meanings of Buddhist‐related contents in other works.

anti-budhist views, goblin, Avalokitesvara, fantasy, taoism