심포지엄 한국미의 심층 구조 : 한국 예술의 심층구조로서 정과 한의 아우름 -화쟁사상을 중심으로 = The Ahurum of Jung and Han as the Deep Structure of Korean Arts

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Koreans say “it`s cool” while eating hot soup. This is somewhat puzzling to westerners. It is quite difficult for people who view hot and cool as binary opposition to comprehend. However, for Korean hot and cool is one. The most delicious taste is “hot coolness for Korean. Because Koreans think and act through the thought of ahurum, or Hwajaeng that view hot and cool as one and harmonize all oppositions. There are two ways to stop a flood. One is to construct a dam. Western society has chosen this method by separating man and nature by binary opposition and giving man superiority. Just like constructing a dam, man has challenged nature, developing and exploiting it under the name of civilization, and so by the 17th century man ruled the world. However, Western paradigm based on binary opposition has led to a global environmental crisis and is responsible for the better part of modern disasters. If constructing a dam was the modern paradigm of the western world, letting the water flow out freely is the paradigm of hwajaeng that teaches not-one-and-not-two. In the Shilla dynasty that embraced hwajaeng philosophy, Chi Won Choi, a governor of the ancient Korean state made waterways and planted trees to prevent flooding. Even today Korean call Sanglim which is the only broadleaf formation designated as a natural treasure. The trees in this forest were planted by Choi Chi Won to prevent flooding in this area 1,100 years ago in the Emperor Jinsung era (887~896). Dams cause water to defile and harm water life but trees absorb rain and purify water. A seed alone has no meaning, but finds its meaning by comparing its difference with fruit. Seed and fruit are not one because they are separate entities. As an apple seed bears apples and orange seed bears oranges, the genes of a seed decide the characteristics of the fruit and the fruit in turn leaves its genes in the seed, so they are not two [not two either]. The seed cant exist without the fruit so it is empty, and the fruit cannot be born without the seed so it is also empty. However, when the seed dies it give birth to a stem and forms branches, flowers and eventually fruit. The fruit alone cannot live but when it drops to the floor it gives out seeds. If the seed tries to preserve its own existence it will rot, but if it considers itself empty and falls to the ground it will become bud and sprout to become a fruit. Emptiness is the premise of birth, death and change. We do not live alone in this world, but give existence to others by regarding ourselves as empty. The seed is empty but it gives birth to fruit. Without this, that will exist and without that, this will exist. On the other hand seed bears fruit and fruit brings seed, so this brings that and that brings this. There is no seed when there is fruit so seed does not belong to fruit. There is no fruit when there is seed so fruit does not belong to seed. Through double negation, because emptiness is emptiness it brings forth existence. As explained above, hwajaeng is a thought process that reveals self-existence through difference not superiority and gives birth to others by sacrificing oneself not through conflict and contradiction. If western binary opposition philosophy constructs dams and harms life and water, hwajaeng`s not-one-and-not-two philosophy razes the dam and lets the water flow its course to keep man alive and man keeps the water alive. Hwajaeng philosophy is very similiar to Derrida`s philosophy in that it deconstructs binary opposition, superiority and identity, but hwajaeng sets forth an alternative of difference and co-existence where Derrida could not. We can come to the conclusion that hwajaeng does not conflict or separate subject and other. It merges the two but does not make it one. It does not lay weight on one side, but it does not stand in the middle, either. Subject and other give light to each other, which in turn reveals itself. Truth is true because it is different fr