고타마 싯다르타의 출가 연구 = A Study on the Renunciation of Gotama Siddhārtha

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study seeks to move beyond understanding the renunciation (p ravrajyā) of Gotama Siddhārtha merely as a biographical episode or a hagiographical narrative. Instead, it aims to elucidate it as a multilaye red phenomenon in which complex historical, social, political, ideologic al, personal, and psychological factors intersect. Traditional Buddhist narratives portray Siddhārtha’s renunciation as a sacred act of leaving worldly life, emphasizing its symbolic significance and soteriological meaning. However, most extant renunciation narratives are literary re constructions compiled after the formation of the Buddhist canon, sha ped by doctrinal and didactic intentions, thus carrying inherent limitati ons. Acknowledging these textual constraints, this study reexamines t he reality of Siddhārtha’s renunciation—including its motivations and purposes—through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates philolo gical analysis, socio-historical inquiry, and existential-psychological in terpretation.
The first dimension of the study investigates how the concept of re nunciation emerged and developed within the broader religious culture of ancient India. Renunciation and asceticism were not exclusive to B uddhism; rather, they evolved over many centuries within the Vedic t raditions of celibacy (brahmacarya), austerity (tapas), and the internali zation of ritual, as well as through the appearance of peripheral asceti c groups such as the Keśin and Vratya. The establishment of the āśr ama system and the rise of non-orthodox śramaṇa movements—inclu ding Jainism and Ājīvika—provided a crucial foundation for the forma tion of the early Buddhist model of renunciation. By demonstrating ho w Vedic and non-Vedic ascetic traditions became interwoven to const itute the conceptual and practical model of renunciation, this study sh ows that early Buddhist renunciatory practices were part of a much
wider religious environment in ancient India.
The second dimension examines the political and social environment of the Śākya republic, the context in which Siddhārtha was raised. T he Śākyas were a small clan-based polity situated between the power ful kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha. Although they maintained a re publican tradition and sought autonomy, they were in reality subject t o the influence of the Kosalan monarchy. As a kṣatriya prince, Siddh ārtha was expected to shoulder duties related to warfare, defense, and governance, and the unstable geopolitical situation of the Śākya regio n exposed him continuously to political tension and responsibility. Sim ultaneously, widespread urbanization, the growth of commerce and cra ftsmanship, the expansion of a monetary economy, and the weakening authority of Brahmanical ritualism were transforming the value syste m of North Indian society and fostering religious skepticism. These structural changes served as external stimuli prompting Siddhārtha to c ritically examine the legitimacy and ethical foundations of the existing social order.
The third dimension analyzes the narrative structure and symbolic meaning of renunciation traditions associated with Siddhārtha. Compar ative examination of the Pāli Nikāyas, the Mahāvastu, the Buddhacari ta, the Lalitavistara, and other sources reveals that renunciation narra tives gradually became mythologized and symbolically elaborated, ther eby serving to reinforce Buddhist communal identity and doctrinal ori entation. The prophecy of Asita, for instance, frames Siddhārtha’s ren unciation not as a mere personal choice but as a “predestined event,” integrating renunciation and enlightenment into a single, inevitable co ntinuum. Likewise, the Four Sights narrative, in which old age, sickn ess, death, and a wandering ascetic evoke existential awakening, func tions less as a record of historical experience than as a symbolic devi ce expressing the human condition and the necessity of liberation.
The fourth dimension, the study analyzes the “internal motivations” for Siddhārtha’s renunciation by drawing on developmental psychology alongside fragmentary evidence from early Buddhist texts. According to the tradition, he lost his mother Māyādevī merely seven days after his birth, an event likely to have had profound implications for attach ment formation and emotional sensitivity. His early experience of first jhāna beneath the rose-apple tree provided an intuitive apprehension o f inner calm and serenity, forming a philosophical basis that later ena
bled him to abandon extreme asceticism and establish the Middle Wa
y. Moreover, as a kṣatriya exposed to the realities of violence and de ath, Siddhārtha would have experienced heightened saṁvega—the existential shock and urgency arising from confronting suffering—as well as pasāda, the affective trust and clarity that affirms the possibility o f liberation. These psychological dynamics frame his renunciation not as a mere physical departure but as the culmination of deep internal t ransformation.
The fifth dimension, finally, based on the foregoing discussion, this study has examined the purpose of Siddhārtha’s renunciation. His ren unciation was not merely an act of leaving worldly life; rather, it can be interpreted as an existential resolve to transcend, at its roots, the i nescapable cycle of aging, illness, and death that confronts all human beings. Having discerned the finitude of existence that ultimately con verges upon death, he sought to realize the “deathless” (amata) by in vestigating its causes from the perspective of dependent origination, t hereby aiming to no longer remain subject to the stream of arising a nd passing away. Furthermore, after his awakening, he systematized t he arising and cessation of suffering in the framework of the Four N oble Truths and established a doctrinal and practical system intended to bring the problem of death to an end at its source by presenting t he Noble Eightfold Path and various contemplative disciplines through which that cessation could be actualized.
Taken together, this study maintains that Siddhārtha’s renunciation resulted from the complex interplay between environmental conditions
—such as the disintegration of the Vedic order, the rise of śramaṇa movements, socio-economic transformations, and the political vulnerab ility of the Śākya state—and Siddhārtha’s own psychological and emo tional development, and therefore cannot be reduced to a single cause or discrete event. It further argues that the purpose of renunciation was not merely the abandonment of worldly life or the resolution of pe rsonal dissatisfaction, but an existential orientation aimed at bringing to an end, at its roots, the limits of human existence embodied in birt h, aging, illness, and death—above all, the finitude that converges upo n death. Moreover, by showing how these historical and psychological elements were later reconfigured by Buddhist communities into mythi c and symbolic narratives that construed renunciation as an irreversib le stage toward awakening and a decisive moment of spiritual transfo rmation, this study demonstrates that an integrative approach combini ng philological, socio-historical, and existential-psychological analysis enables us to reinterpret the Buddha’s life as an existential journey g rounded in historical realities, rather than confining it to hagiographic al narration.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론 ··················································································································· 1
• 1. 연구 목적 및 선행 연구 ········································································· 1
• 1) 연구 목적 ···························································································· 1
• 2) 선행 연구 검토 ·················································································· 2
• 2. 연구 방법 및 구성 체계 ········································································· 5
• 1) 연구 방법 ···························································································· 5
• 2) 구성 체계 ···························································································· 6
• Ⅱ. 고대 인도 출가의 기원과 유형 ··································································· 9
• 1. 출가의 개념과 기원 ················································································· 9
• 1) 출가의 개념 ······················································································ 10
• 2) 출가의 기원 ······················································································ 20
• 2. 출가 수행 집단의 유형 ········································································· 24
• Ⅲ. 싯다르타 출가의 배경 ················································································· 31
• 1. 사캬족과 카필라바스투 ········································································· 31
• 1) 사캬족의 기원 ·················································································· 31
• 2) 카필라바스투의 위치 ······································································ 39
• 2. 카필라바스투의 정치와 사회 ······························································· 45
• 1) 카필라바스투의 정치 ······································································ 45
• 2) 카필라바스투의 사회 ······································································ 52
• Ⅳ. 싯다르타 출가의 동기와 목적 ··································································· 60
• 1. 정치적 위기 ····························································································· 60
• 2. 사회 개혁 ································································································· 64
• 3. 종교 개혁 ································································································· 69
• 4. 예정된 출가 ····························································································· 74
• 5. 실존적 위기 ····························································································· 79
• 1) 마야 왕비의 죽음 ············································································ 79
• 2) 유년시절의 체험 ·············································································· 86
• 3) 사문유관 전승 ·················································································· 94
• (1) 사문유관 전승의 전개와 변형 ··············································· 95
• (2) 사문유관의 상징과 정서적 동인 ········································ 104
• 6. 출가의 목적 ··························································································· 108
• Ⅴ. 결론 ··············································································································· 114
• 참고문헌 ············································································································· 124
• ABSTRACT ······································································································ 134