『황무지』의 「불의 설교」의 불교적 고찰

A Buddhist Approach to “The Fire Sermon” in The Waste Land

It is well known that the title of “The Fire Sermon” in The Waste Land is adapted from the same title of Buddha's Sermon given to his disciples who formerly worshipped the fire god Agni under the guidance of the three brahman brothers named Kashapa. The detail of the sermon is that all the things in the world are burning with fire of Desire(Greed), Anger and/or Shame. The Greed is represented by the sexual desire. The third section of the poem, titled as “The Fire Sermon” mainly shows what is the reality of the waste land. It is corrupted so thoroughly that there seems to be no redemption of the inhabitants without some drastic measures. This section shows that the waste land is burning with sexual desire, and this phenomenon is not restricted to the present but continued from time immemorial to the present and will continue to the future. Eliot proposes a way of salvation of individuals―the inhabitants of the waste land― who live nameless in the industrialized society. Eliot diagnoses they are burning with the fire of sexual desire and he prescribes that their salvation can be made possible by burning all the desire by the fire of purification.