普照知訥의 淨土觀에 대한 一考察 -『觀修定慧結社文』을 중심으로

In a lifetime, Jinul oriented to 'a Zen Practice Community' through one of his writings 'Jeong Hye Gyeol Samun(定慧結社文)' Of course, he regarded Sukkavati as an acceptable way for Zen practices. It is also noted that he did not completely reject Sukkavati. Especially, he permitted mankinds beyond the stretch of Ch'an Fa(禪法) to give a series of invocations or prayers to Amida Buddha. However, he did not insist any way of Zen to recollect Buddha. From the viewpoint of Jinul, Sukkavati is accepted only as one of expediencies for promulgating Buddhism In this regard, it can be concluded that the Sukkavati he accepted refers to 'Idealistic Sukkavati(有心淨土觀).' In addition, he strongly urged that such idealistic Sukkavati should be understood in the direction to reinforce conventional Zen thinking system Thus, Jinul's thinking system shown in 'Jeong Hye Gyeol Samun' corresponds to his Zen thinking in the first half period, which is somewhat different from that in the last half period. It can be proven right, because he did not comment about Sukkavati any more after releasing his 'Jeong Hye Gyeol Samun.' Given that his Zen became deeper and further as time went by, the acception of Sukkavati does not represent the whole characteristic of Jinul's Zen thinking, although he stood in the position of Idealistic Sukkavati, which was characterized by his first half period. It is well known that he rather inclined to Zen by means of topic conversation, i.e. Kan Hua Ch'an(看話禪).