『금강경』의 ‘취지’에 대해서는 空사상이라는 단일한 설이 있지만, 그것의 ‘구조’에 대해서는 다양한 설이 있다. 본고는 그 다양한 설명에 덧붙여, “오늘날 보통사람도 상식적으로 쉽게 이해할 수 있는 설명이 있을까?” 하는 의문에서 출발하고 있다. 먼저, 본경을 이끄는 중요한 문답[제2분-제5분]을 살펴보았다. 그리하여, 수보리존자는 수레에 비유하여 ‘보살의 서원’, ‘보살의 수행’, ‘보살의 완성’을 질문하였고, 부처님께서는 그러한 질문에 대응하여 3가지 대답을 하였다는 것을 밝혔다. 다음, 본경의 나머지 부분에서 이러한 3가지 대답[초답ㆍ중답ㆍ종답]의 변화형들을 발견하였다. 그리하여, 초답으로는 ‘상구보리’ 등을 말하고, 중답으로는 ‘보시바라밀’ 등을 말하며, 종답으로는 ‘법신의 징표’ 등을 말하고 있는 것을 확인하였다. 결국, 후렴구로 보이는 7개분을 기준으로 본경을 ‘7마디[節]’로 나눌 수 있고, 이것과 3가지 대답들을 비교한 결과 중요한 내용이 3번 반복되는 ‘3주기[週]’가 있음을 알았다. 논자는 ‘임시로’ 이러한 구조를 ‘3주ㆍ7절의 문답구조’라고 불러본다.

I have been interested in The Diamond Sūtra which is the core sūtra in Mahāyāna Buddhism. After recognizing that the thoughts of the sūtra is clear to everybody but that the structure of the sūtra is not clear, I wanted to research the structure of The Diamond Sūtra on my way. At first, I have lighted up the facts that Subhūte compared the bodhisattva’s practicing to a wagon and that Subhūte asked 3 questions to the Buddha. Based on these facts, it could be possible to think that Subhūte asked the Buddha ‘vowing’, ‘practicing’, and ‘accomplishing’ in metaphorical expression. To know that this thought is right, I examined whether the following replies matched the three questions. As a result, I could confirm that the thought is quite right. Having faith, I classified the contents into 3 replies. The first replies can be divided into ‘attaining en- lightenment’, ‘instructing creatures’, and ‘decorating buddha field’. And middle replies have ‘the perfection of giving’, ‘the perfection of patience’, ‘producing an unsupported thought’, and ‘practicing wholesome dhar- ma’. And, the last replies have ‘the sign of the dhar- ma body’, ‘quantity of the body’, ‘expression of the body’, and ‘the middle way of the body’. With these datum, I tried to reveal the structure of The Diamond Sūtra. First of all, according to the sentences that “Accepting and reading The Diamond Sūtra is much happier than……”, the sūtra could be divided into 7 Sections. Next, I compared the three replies of the Buddha with 7 Sections. As a result, it was revealed that the structure of The Diamond Sūtra is ‘the conversational structure of 3 periods and 7 sections’. The structure has five features. Firstly, the sūtra has ‘3 periods’ that principal contents are repeated three times. Secondly, the sūtra has ‘7 sections’ which include refrain in last parts. Thirdly, three major frames are performed in Section1, Section3-5, and Section7. Fourthly, Section2 & 6 summarize the preceding contents and connect the front and the rear. Fifthly, Section3 has only the last reply, Section4 has only middle reply, and Section5 has only first reply.

I have been interested in The Diamond Sūtra which is the core sūtra in Mahāyāna Buddhism. After recognizing that the thoughts of the sūtra is clear to everybody but that the structure of the sūtra is not clear, I wanted to research the structure of The Diamond Sūtra on my way. At first, I have lighted up the facts that Subhūte compared the bodhisattva’s practicing to a wagon and that Subhūte asked 3 questions to the Buddha. Based on these facts, it could be possible to think that Subhūte asked the Buddha ‘vowing’, ‘practicing’, and ‘accomplishing’ in metaphorical expression. To know that this thought is right, I examined whether the following replies matched the three questions. As a result, I could confirm that the thought is quite right. Having faith, I classified the contents into 3 replies. The first replies can be divided into ‘attaining en- lightenment’, ‘instructing creatures’, and ‘decorating buddha field’. And middle replies have ‘the perfection of giving’, ‘the perfection of patience’, ‘producing an unsupported thought’, and ‘practicing wholesome dhar- ma’. And, the last replies have ‘the sign of the dhar- ma body’, ‘quantity of the body’, ‘expression of the body’, and ‘the middle way of the body’. With these datum, I tried to reveal the structure of The Diamond Sūtra. First of all, according to the sentences that “Accepting and reading The Diamond Sūtra is much happier than……”, the sūtra could be divided into 7 Sections. Next, I compared the three replies of the Buddha with 7 Sections. As a result, it was revealed that the structure of The Diamond Sūtra is ‘the conversational structure of 3 periods and 7 sections’. The structure has five features. Firstly, the sūtra has ‘3 periods’ that principal contents are repeated three times. Secondly, the sūtra has ‘7 sections’ which include refrain in last parts. Thirdly, three major frames are performed in Section1, Section3-5, and Section7. Fourthly, Section2 & 6 summarize the preceding contents and connect the front and the rear. Fifthly, Section3 has only the last reply, Section4 has only middle reply, and Section5 has only first reply.

the Diamond Sūtra, the structure of the Diamond Sūtra, the conversational struc- ture, 3 periods & 7 sections.