본고에서는 근현대에 생성, 변화된 승려의 이미지를 불교사의 전개과정과 맞물려 살펴보았다. 즉 근대 이후 불교 전통이 어떻게 변형되고 탈색되었는지를 승려 이미지를 매개로 고찰한 것이다. 한국불교의 근대는 문명개화와 근대종교로서의 존립을 위한 호교론적 지향에서 시작되었고 식민지 체제하에서 정치적 종속과 대처식육 등의 세속화 과정을 겪으면서 전통 부정과 자율성 상실을 경험하였다. 불교 근대화와 대중화는 시대적 과제였지만, 대개의 승려는 계율과 전통을 방기한 채 세속화의 길로 내몰렸고 불교의 근본적 개혁도 식민지 체제불교의 속성을 극복하지 못하고 좌절되었다.
근대기에 형성된 승려상은 사회적 인식과 종교적 기능의 두 측면에서 살펴볼 수 있다. 사회적 인식 면에서는 조선후기의 역사상과 당시 통용되던 승려 이미지가 투영되어 승려를 천인과 동등하게 보는 시각이 일반화되었다. 하지만 이를 입증하는 사료는 전무하며 조선후기 승려는 일종의 특수계층으로서 다양한 신분으로 승려층이 구성되었다. 종교적 기능 면에서는 사회진화론과 문명개화론에 입각하여 결혼을 한 직업인으로서 새로운 승려상이 대두하였다. 식민지 시기에는 대처 승려가 급증하여 다수를 점하였고, 반면 전통을 지키려는 이들은 비주류, 소수자로 몰렸다.
해방 후 불교는 식민지 유산을 청산하고 민족종교로서 새로운 길을 열어야 했으나 미군정, 이승만 정권 하의 종교편향정책과 극심한 좌우대립, 한국전쟁 등을 겪으며 자주적 종단 건설과 친일불교의 잔재 척결을 이루지 못하였다. 1950년대 전반에서 1960년대 초까지 단행된 불교정화는 식민지 유산의 청산이라는 명분과 수행 및 계율 전통의 회복이라는 기치를 내세웠지만 교단의 자정능력 부재와 정치권력의 개입이라는 구조적 문제점을 동시에 가지고 있었다. 또한 자격을 갖추지 못한 승려 수의 급증으로 전반적인 자질 저하를 가져왔고 정화과정에서의 분규와 폭력은 불교와 승려의 사회적 이미지에 큰 타격을 입혔다.
근현대 불교사의 전개과정에서 승려 이미지는 많은 굴절을 겪었고 전통불교의 담지자인 일부 승려는 근대의 소수자가 되기도 했다. 불교는 정치적 종속의 틀을 극복하지 못한 채 세속화의 길로 매진하였고, 이후 교단 주도세력이 정화를 통해 축출되면서 전통의 또 다른 단절을 초래하였다. 이처럼 근현대 승려 이미지의 변화는 불교의 시대적 부침과 궤를 같이하였고 전통과 근대 사이에서 스스로의 정체성을 모색하는 일은 쉽지 않았다. 이는 불교만의 문제는 아니었고 유교를 포함한 한국적 전통이 근대에 들어 어떻게 퇴색되고 사회적 위상을 잃게 되었는지를 잘 보여준다. 이처럼 승려와 불교의 문제는 근대와 전통의 이중주 속에서 근대가 압승을 거둔 한국 근현대사의 흐름 속에서 독해할 수 있다.
Examined in this article is the general image of the Joseon Buddhist priest created and evolved during the modern and contemporary periods of Korea. Examination is made in the context of the Korean Buddhist history in general. This is actually an attempt to determine how the Buddhist traditions have changed and been altered since the beginning of the modern days, with a focus upon the image of the general upholders of those traditions, the Buddhist priests.
To the Korean Buddhist community, modernity came with the aspiration to protect the teachings of Buddhism, which should continue the task of enlightenment as well as transformation into a modern religion. Yet under the colonial ruling, the Buddhist community compromised its own integrity and allowed itself to be secularized, by subjecting itself to political subordination and breach of principles (by allowing priests to marry and also eat meat). In such process the traditions were neglected and its own autonomy was destroyed. Modernization and popularization were tasks demanded by the age, but the priests did not care to preserve the principles and traditions, and instead succumbed to secularization. Fundamental reforms of the Buddhist community was also blocked by its own shortcomings which came from its then status as a state-supportive religion in an occupied world.
The image of a Joseon Buddhist priest created in the modern period should be analyzed from two aspects: the society’s perception of it and the priests’ religious functions. In terms of the former, people perceived Buddhist priests as lowly beings, partially due to the fact that they chose to view them that way, while also partially due to the fact that the Joseon people as well viewed them in a similar light. Then again, during the latter half period of the Joseon dynasty Buddhist priests belonged to a rather special class, and the priests as a group carried all kinds of backgrounds. In the meantime, in terms of the latter, a new image of a Buddhist priest surfaced as a ‘married professional’ thanks to the social evolution theory and the argument supporting civilized enlightenment. During the Japanese occupation period, the number of married priests rapidly increased and came to occupy a majority of the priest population, while the ones who sticked to the old way became a minority.
After the liberation, Korean Buddhism should have tried to put the legacy of the colonial days behind it, and find a way to reinvent itself as a national religion. But due to the biased religious policy of the U.S. military government, the severe conflicts that continued between the left and right-wing political factions, and ultimately the breakout of the Korean war, it failed to establish an independent school and could not eradicate the remnants of a negative legacy that came from the colonial days. The so-called ‘purification of the Buddhist community’ which continued since the mid-1950s through the early 1960s aimed to eliminate that legacy and recover the traditions and principles, but such movement also found it difficult to do so because the community lacked the capability to cleanse itself or to block political powers’ intervention. The considerable increase in number of priests who were not qualified to become a priest resulted in the general downfall of the quality of the community itself, and conflicts and violences which accompanied the purification process severely tarnished the social image of Buddhism and their priests.
As we can see, throughout the modern and contemporary history of Korean Buddhism, the image of the Buddhist priests changed considerably, and some of them who chose to adhere to traditions found themselves cornered as a force of minority. Korean Buddhism failed to break free from political interference, allowed itself to continue being secularized, and risked burning remaining ties to the past under the name of so-called purification. It was not an easy task for them to find a new identity, in the wake of traditions and modernity overlapping with each other. Then again, this was not an issue that haunted Buddhism only. The difficulties that the Buddhist school faced actually represent the problems that were shared by all Korean traditionalists, including the Confucian thinkers, and let us know how they lost their way. Modern and Contemporary Buddhism of Korea, and its history, should be analyzed in consideration of the fact that modernity ended up being triumphant over the traditional way of thinking.
