대한제국기 불교의 국가관리와 寺社管理署

The Establishment of Temple Management Agency(TMA, 寺社管理署) and its meaning in the Period of the Great Han Empire

The new change was required in the Korean Buddhism circle which had been oppressed throughout the Lee Dynasty as the Western powers aggression along with the Catholic mission and Japanese Buddhism infiltration had begun. The politicians named Eastern School(東學) against Western School(西學) ones as well as Catholicism were rampant and priest rein of entering the capital was permitted, which promoted the friendly atmosphere toward Buddhism. Especially, Japanese Buddhism one step ahead in the education and propagation to Korea led the statesmen to recognize the Korean Japanese Buddhism. However, in 1902, the Wonheungsa(元興寺) as primary temple that could govern the national temples was constructed with the approval from the King Kojong outside of the East Gate , and on 11, April 1902 the government established Temple Management Agency(TMA, 寺社管理署) responsible for the management of the forests, temples and fortresses. This showed that the nation approved neglected Buddhism in the past to be the official religion. Meanwhile, TMA was the under the control of the security guard named Kyunguiwon(警衛院) whose role was to guard the emperor subordinated by Royal Family Administration Agency named Kungraebu(宮內府) controlling the various kinds of royal family s affairs. The head of the TMA was Kwon Chongsuck(權鍾奭) who was the hatchet man of Lee Keuntack(李根澤), the head of the security guard so that disputes from their jobs between two different agencies were naturally anticipated at the beginning. In addition, another problem was the political structure between Lee Youngik(李容翊) entrusted absolutely by the emperor and his counterpart Lee Keuntack & Kwon Chongsuck. TMA presented the comprehensive framework over the nationwide temples such as the ordinance of national temples, which designated the Wonheungsa as the primary temple and other 16 temples as provincial representative which could control its temples given in order to unify the respective education and politics. But the agency was abolished in 1904 on the ground that it caused financial management problems and conflicts of the authorities to be considered unnecessary. Subsequently the business of the agency was transferred to the local internal affairs. The establishment of TMA and its operation was considered the countermeasure against the Japanese Buddhism infiltration and the significant framework to secure the new developmental potential of Korea Buddhism. But in no more than two years it was abolished, which indicated that there was limitation to exert the enough time for the long-term Buddhism development and its efforts. It is concluded that the opportunity for the Buddhism revival against the 500-year-old oppression was sorrowfully vanished in so short a period.