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영어

Many modern Buddhist scholars have investigated Wonhyo's life. Their investigation has been very successful in obtaining philological achievements, though the existing materials with regard to his life are very limited in quantity. Through comparison among both similar and differing records, they have clarified historical truth and falsity. However, their success remains within philological study, and shows fundamental limits in their understanding of Wonhyo's life. First of all, they failed to exhibit a rational approach to the key point, which is the co-relation between the strong pathos in his life, manifested in his eccentricities and denial of precepts, and his scholarly achievements. Most existent studies were approached from a teleological perspective, and idealized Wonhyo's life. According to these studies, Wonhyo was a sage or bodhisattva who founded Korean Buddhism and exerted a strong influence on the entire East Asian Buddhist tradition. Thereupon, all the episodes related to his life were seen as necessary for the creation of his sagehood. All the historical records were rearranged based on the scheme of mechanical causation, in order to show that he followed the same steps that the hero of the “Ten Cow Painting" took through to become a perfect sage. Wonhyo was depicted by these scholars as an other-worldly figure, standing remote everyone else. The image of Wonhyo idealized as such might arouse some yearning in people's minds. However, this image is not only different from the reality of his life, but also opposes the spirit of his life. This article intends to depict Wonhyo as natural human being of his society. A rational approach based on the historical records has been taken; the eccentricities and denial of precepts in his life has been perceived as evidence of his internal conflict.