한국의 불교영화 『 만다라 』 와 『 달마가 동쪽으로 간 까닭은 ? 』 에 대한 소고 = A Thought on Korean Buddhism Movies 『 Mandara 』 and 『 The Reason Why Dharma Went to the East ? 』

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to compare the two most famous Korean Buddhism religious motion pictures: 「Mandara」, directed by one of leading Koran motion picture director Im Kwon Taek, and 「The Reason Why Dharma Went to the East?」, produced and directed by a young artist Bae Yong Kyun. 「Mandara」is based upon the novel of Kim Sung Dong. 「The Reason Why Dharma Went to the East?」, however, attempts to express the philosophy of Buddhism without basis on a novel, but through the motion picture by itself. These two motion pictures convey the deep philosophy or Buddhism by picturing the denial of the self-centered mind, and the search for one`s identity and meaning of life through zen and meditation. Two Buddhist monks, Jisan and Bubwoon, are presented in 「Mandara」Although trying very hard, Jisan cannot find the meaning of life through the Buddhist`s practice. Also, he could not find the answer to essential questions such as Why should we live such a life?, where did we come from?, and where are wo going? Therefore, he gave up being a disciplined Buddhist`s disciples, and lived a barren life. Meanwhile, Bubwoon tried his best to follow Buddha`s teaching, though it seemed hard for him also to reach the nirvana of Buddha`s teaching. The story structure and characters in the 「Mandara」are similar to HErman Hesse`s novel 「Narcissus and Goldmund」. These allow the audience to follow the drama elements contained in the movie through an interesting story plot. Such elements include conflict, rhythmical pace, and visual aesthetic effects. Not surprisingly, it was evaluated as an excellent motion picture, as evidenced in the subsequent awarded of 7 prizes from 20th Dae Jong Awardsm the so called Academic Awards of Korea. 「The Reason Why Dharma went to the East?」 tries to express the deep philosophy of Buddhism through the 10 pictures of cow. meaning that one must try find oneself through zen and meditation. It defines the 10 stages of human life with cows in the from of eastern caligraphic pictures. In the movie three characters are included: an old monk, a young monk and a child monk. The theme is that, in order to get over the nihilism of life, one must find one`s true self. Through the practice of zen, human being can overcome vice and the death conflict. And this is the only way to find one`s meaning of life. The movie defines the 10 stages of human life through cows, in the form of eastern calligraphic pictures, which creates a visual mood. In terms of the technical aspects of motion picture making, however, the movie occasionally loses its rhythmic tempo and jumping from past to present to future throughout the entire film. Despite appreciating the movie overall, viewers can become impatient with this aspect, finding it hard to understand the plot of movie. However, it is no exaggeration to say that the director expresses the deep philosophy of Buddhism with its original style of visual aesthetic mode.