earticle

영어

Studies on Zen Buddhism to date have emphasized the voluntary practice of the disciple so did not pay as much attention on the role of the master. In this article, I tried to bring up and evaluate the educational and philosophical meaning of a teacher through the perspective of Jacotot’s “universal teaching” which is highlighted in Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Master. The experiment in which Jacotot was able to teach French perfectly to the students without “explaining” the grammar is similar to a Zen Master leading their disciple into enlightenment without giving answer with explanation. “The Universal Teaching” is based on the premise that anybody who has the will to learn can learn new things. Teachers do not explain but rather arouse within students the will to know and force an inextricable loop that eventually liberates the students. Like so, the Masters of Zen at first destroy the false belief that the students have of themselves that they know of something, and consequently spark the desire to know within them. Through “bind-up”, the practitioner is not allowed for a moment to let go of the will to know and all their focus is to be directed towards the hwadu. In such process, the master’s intent to enlighten their students plays an absolutely vital role. What Rancière claimed of the universal teaching as being a method of equality, of liberation is evident also in the teachings of the master in Zen. What a liberated person can do is to liberate. To liberate a disciple, one must first be liberated, enlightened. “Explanation” ironically will perpetuate the separation between master and disciple, the division between knowledge and ignorance. Because an universal teaching that precludes “explanation” is based on the universality that “everything is in everything”, it is linked to values that are autonomous, individual yet communal. Rancière’s claim that humans are neither imperfect nor immature fundamentally resonates with the spirit of Zen Buddhism. Today because we witness too much an absence of the master, their teachings, and appreciation of them, the significance of a master with a “clear view” lies more in the fact that they are the liberators, not in the fact that they have been liberated. This, I believe, is the most important message that Zen Buddhism is able to receive from The Ignorant Master of Rancière.

한국어

어떤 ‘설명’도 하지 않고 프랑스어를 완벽하게 배우도록 한 자코토의 실험이 누구나 알려는 의지를 갖는다면 새로운 것을 배울 수 있다는 지능의 동일성에 근거하여 학생들에게 알려는 의지를 불러일으키고 빠져나갈 수 없는 고리를 강제하여 스스로 앎을 얻도록한 것처럼, 간화수행의 스승은 제자의 질문에 답해주지 않고 화두결택으로 알려는 의지를 격발시킨 뒤 의심을 화두에 ‘붙들어 매기’하여 스스로 깨닫도록 한다. 두 경우 모두 스승의 앎보다 스승의 깨우치려는 의지가 절대적인 역할을 한다. 인간은 불완전하거나 미성숙한 존재가 아니라 공통의 지성과 의지를 가지고 있다고 본랑시에르의 주장은 원래 구원되어 있다는 선불교의 정신과 일치한다. 해방된 자가 할 수있는 일은 해방하는 일이듯, 제자를 깨우치기 위해 선사는 스스로 해방된 자, 깨달은 자가 되어야 한다. 그것은 ‘모든 것은 모든 것 속에 있다’는 공통성에 근거하여 자율적이면 서도 공동체적인 가치와 연결된다. 스승의 부재와 그 가르침에 대한 평가가 제대로 이루어지지 않는 오늘날, 랑시에르의 『무지한 스승』으로부터 명안종사는 그의 깨달음보다 그가 해방시키는 자라는 사실이 더 중요함을 통찰할 수 있다.