唐傳奇에 등장하는 道士의 역할과 의미 고찰

A Study on the Meaning and Role of Daoshi in Tang Chuanqi (傳奇)

당대 전기소설에 자주 등장하는 도사는 여러 형이상학적 배경에서 보통 사람들이 감당하기 힘든 물리적 위기와 내면적 갈등을 단번에 해결하는 만능열쇠 같은 인물이라 할수있다. 그간 당전기 신뢰성에 대한 연구가 귀신과 요괴 그리고 신선에 집중되었던 바, 본고에서는 배영의 전기를 비롯한 9편의 신괴류 소설을 대상으로 도사 중심의 4단계 서사구조를 구성한 후, 순차적인 틀 안에서 독자들에게 奇事異蹟의 재미와 不老長生 같은 희망을 주었던 도사의 역할과 의미를 고찰하고자 하였다

Tang Chuanqi(唐傳奇) was a form of short story in the classical language which developed in the Tang dynasty. In particular mysterious contents of Tang Chuanqi have a long, complex relationship with the ghosts, monsters, spirits, daoshi(道士), shenxians(神仙) have haunted the Chinese psyche for thousands of years. Tang Chuanqi novels of that type were formed literally from superstitious atmospheric force of nature theory including Confucianism, Buddihsm, Taoism, and writers mixed two or more patterns from these religions for attract the interest of people. Besides Confucianism, Taoism was also an important Chinese religion. The impact of Taoism was wider and more various than other religions. The evidences of Taoist elements which support the idea are found in Tang Chuanqi. Taoism is much more concerned with the spiritual than Confucianism. it is more about how to gain order and harmony in ones life. Most people hope to attain what they desire or receive comfort and stability by practicing their faith. Taoism pursue the idea of shenxian, the perfect human. A daoshi is a priest in Taoism, he is always at the center of important events in Chuanqi novels. He is a good problem solver and exorcise some demon which is supposed to be exercising an evil influence on a main character in these fantastic stories. He always came through for the protagonist at crucial moments with the aim of becoming shenxian, or immortal beings. Shenxian refers to a person or similar entity having a long or immortal lifespan. The purpose of this paper is about dividing four types of the daoshi’s narrative structure shown up in Tang Chuanqi novels with daoshi, and about finding out the meaning of their identical similarities.