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영어

The images of monks shown up in Sohwa include foolish monks, lascivious monks and intelligent monks. Foolish monks are made a fool of and become targets of laughter, as they are easily cheated because of their pure and simple heart. Lascivious monks don’t control their worldly desire and search for beautiful women. Because of that they are blown up in their faces. Intelligent monks are interested in poems and calligraphy which are not the areas that monks should deal with to show their talents. Because of that they are blown up in their faces. The recognition on these monks differs depending on the flaws that they have. The flaw of a foolish monk is based on his naivety. He doesn’t make damage to other people. So there aren’t or are rarely negative recognition on or aggression toward him. But they show great aggression toward lascivious monks. So it seemed that they might have thought they had great flaws as monks. The stories that describe the images of intelligent monks strongly reflect Confucian ideas that criticized Buddhist monks showing great aggression toward the monks.The reason Sohwa that makes a fool of monks shows strong negative recognition and aggression different from other Sohwas is due to the policy of Chosun dynasty that oppresses Buddhism and encourages Confucianism. The Sohwas were made from the viewpoint of people not from that of monks. As a result being supported by the situation of the time it strongly reflects the negative aspects of monks