19세기 중반에 시작된 서구 근대불교학에서 붓다는 유럽학자들의 문헌학적 스콜라쉽에 의해 분석되었다. 서구인들에게 붓다는 불분명한 존재였으나 불교 필사본 연구가 본격화되면서 다양하게 해석되었다. 서구 붓다담론을 주도한 학자로는 윌리엄 존스, 세나르, 케른, 올덴베르그 등을 꼽을 수 있는데 그들 모두 문헌학자였다. 존스가 붓다를 비슈누와 혼동하고 붓다 흑인기원설을 주장한 산스크리트 언어학자라면, 세나르와 케른은 산스크리트 불전을 해독하여 붓다의 일대기를 태양신화로 분석한 초기 불교학자이다. 이러한 방법론들을 비판한 올덴베르그는 팔리어 원전을 통해 붓다에게 역사성을 찾아주고 인간으로 평가받게 하였다. 하지만 이 학자들 모두 자신들이 선택한 원전 안에서 붓다를 서구의 학적 전통에 맞게 재구성한 것이다. 성경해석학에 기반을 둔 문헌학에 의해 붓다를 발견한 서구는 붓다를 빅토리안의 신사로 부르며 유럽의 프로테스탄트운동을 합리화하는 상징으로 이용하기도 한다. 근대 불교학은 이성적이고 치밀한 원전해석을 통해 지적인 붓다연구를 수행했지만 그 안에는 인도를 지배했던 영국의 식민지배 이데올로기와 기독교 선교주의가 내재되어 있다고 할 수 있다.

In this article, I attempt to view to Buddha and Buddhist Studies in the West. One of the central focus of any thinking about Buddhism is certainly the Buddha himself, and Who was the Buddha? Among the Sanskrit and Pali biographical materials about the Buddha and many of the ideas central to the Victorian conception of Buddhism related to this problem, we will see in this article how this discussion of the Buddha is being unveiled. I have attempted to show how the study of Buddha developed in four major chapter. : First, I examined that portrayed the Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, they proclaimed him to be a divinity as belonging to a sect of Hinduism. Alternatively, tracing out dubious etymological connections, they compared the Buddha to god Mercury and the Scandinavian Woden. Secondly, the relationship between this Senart and Kern in the Buddha myth is a product of the popularity of solar mythology and represents as a great allegory recounting the saga of a sun god. This type of analysis has its background in early modern ideas about the Bible and history, and most especially the connection of language with this history. Thirdly, through analyzing Oldenberg's work, they sought to demythologize and come to an understanding of the "real Buddha.". Up to the present his method has found many followers who carried out this always with references to his Pali texts, with a philological knowledge. Lastly, One importance of the Buddha for the Victorian polemicist, points out, was the use to create out there the ideal Victorian gentleman. He was praised as an intelligent, loving, and predominantly moral man, "an ideal Victorian gentleman", was clothed in the mantle of one of Carlyle's Heroes. But Western scholars were seen Buddha as a reformer of the evils of the Hindu system, viewed as a radical revolutionary who sought an egalitarian society. Through analysing the method relating to the Buddha, I assumed a structure of approach to the Buddha in mid and late Victorian times. I’ve also found that Buddha proved in the Western Scholarship to an emergent critical view of the Bible, to an India under British hegemony.

In this article, I attempt to view to Buddha and Buddhist Studies in the West. One of the central focus of any thinking about Buddhism is certainly the Buddha himself, and Who was the Buddha? Among the Sanskrit and Pali biographical materials about the Buddha and many of the ideas central to the Victorian conception of Buddhism related to this problem, we will see in this article how this discussion of the Buddha is being unveiled. I have attempted to show how the study of Buddha developed in four major chapter. : First, I examined that portrayed the Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, they proclaimed him to be a divinity as belonging to a sect of Hinduism. Alternatively, tracing out dubious etymological connections, they compared the Buddha to god Mercury and the Scandinavian Woden. Secondly, the relationship between this Senart and Kern in the Buddha myth is a product of the popularity of solar mythology and represents as a great allegory recounting the saga of a sun god. This type of analysis has its background in early modern ideas about the Bible and history, and most especially the connection of language with this history. Thirdly, through analyzing Oldenberg's work, they sought to demythologize and come to an understanding of the "real Buddha.". Up to the present his method has found many followers who carried out this always with references to his Pali texts, with a philological knowledge. Lastly, One importance of the Buddha for the Victorian polemicist, points out, was the use to create out there the ideal Victorian gentleman. He was praised as an intelligent, loving, and predominantly moral man, "an ideal Victorian gentleman", was clothed in the mantle of one of Carlyle's Heroes. But Western scholars were seen Buddha as a reformer of the evils of the Hindu system, viewed as a radical revolutionary who sought an egalitarian society. Through analysing the method relating to the Buddha, I assumed a structure of approach to the Buddha in mid and late Victorian times. I’ve also found that Buddha proved in the Western Scholarship to an emergent critical view of the Bible, to an India under British hegemony.

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Buddhist studies, Buddha, orientalism, philology, Oldenberg, Senart, Victorian gentleman.