본 연구의 목적은 청허휴정(1520~1604)의 심공급제(心空及第) 기반의 깨침과 선명상시 특징을 살펴보는 데 있다. 숭인 장로의 ‘심공급제’의 가 르침을 받아 출가 한 휴정은 임제종의 종풍을 이어받아 마음이 모든 것 의 근본임을 깨닫고 지관(止觀)을 통하여 본래 모습을 찾고자 하였다. 특 히 그는 세상과 절연하여 청산과 백운 속에서 무상함과 깨달음을 구하고 교화하는 의연한 수행 자세를 보여주었다. 깨달음의 세계나 선심은 언어 의 압축과 고도의 상징적 언어로 표현된다. 이러한 관점에서 휴정은 구도 와 깨달음, 보임(保任)과 교화의 과정에 있어 맑고 탈속한 마음의 경계를 가장 절제된 시적 양식의 하나인 오언절구와 칠언절구를 통해 잘 표현하 였다. 이는 곧 휴정의 선명상시의 특징이자 그의 선적 직관과 시적 상상 력이 조화를 이루어 빚어낸 깨침의 미학이다. 선시가 철저한 구도와 깨달 음의 표현이라 할 때, 철저하게 깨닫는다는 것은 나와 너, 그리고 그 모 든 존재와의 관계성을 깨닫는 것이라 할 수 있다. 따라서 휴정의 ‘심공급 제;의 선명상시를 읽고 이해하며 감상하는 것은 탐・진・치 삼독으로 번 다하게 살아가는 현대인들에게 ‘내려놓기’의 지혜와 ‘텅 빈 충만’의 기쁨 을 전해주는 치유적 의미로 작용할 수 있다.

In this study, I will focus on “Byzantium” and explore how the poem mirrors the essence of Zen Meditation. Not only is the poem patterned after the progressive procedure of Zen meditation, but they also reflect the fundamental concerns of Zen meditation, such as the problem of duality, the concept of time, and an aspiration for freedom from the limitation of this life. These features of Zen meditation are expressed through the use of specific symbols, the implications of setting, and various poetic techniques. The purpose of this study is to provide another way to read the poem by analyzing it in the context of Zen meditation. The structures of the poem are loosely patterned after a typical process of meditation through which the meditator reaches Unity of Being. The process of Zen meditation is nicely depicted in the ten pictures titled “The Boy and the Ox,” each of which shows the gradual development of the meditator’s search for his won nature or Buddhahood. For the convenience of my discussion, I will simplify the ten stages of Zen meditation to four−confusion, immersion, union and return−which, I believe, cover all the important procedures in the meditation. The first stanza of “Byzantium” exhibits some typical features related to its meditative scheme, in which we can feel the sense of confusion on the part of the meditator or poetic persona. In other words, the meditator sets out his meditative journey to search for an answer for his sense of confusion or clear it. The second to the fourth stanzas are equivalent to the second stage (immersion) and the third stage (union or seeing the vision) of meditation. The last stanza parallels the final stage of Zen meditation (return). In “Byzantium,” we see the reflection of Zen meditation. The structural patterns of the meditative poems generally correspond to the four stages of Zen meditation: confusion, immersion, union or seeing the vision of the unity, and return. Yeats’ use of poetic techniques such as line scheme, use of number symbolism, and the arrangement of stanzas are closely associated with the meditative scheme of the poems. In addition, the major concern of the poems is reminiscent of that of Zen meditation in that they confront the problem of duality, which sets up the occasion for meditation. The agony of duality results from the concept of time. Thus, the meditator tries to reconcile the dichotomous elements, resulting in the state of freedom from time. More than anything else, the purpose of Yeats’ meditative poem lies in the poet’s aspiration for self-awakening, as in Zen meditation. The poem is Yeats’ record of his life-long efforts to meet his “fourth self” or Great Self.

Yeats published a total of four books of In the Seven Woods over 19 year period starting from 1903 through 1922. A comparison of these four books demonstrates how constantly and diligently he repositioned the order of poems, not to mention correcting lines and changing the titles of some poems. It was 1908 when the order of poems was finally fixed. Yeats's habitual rearrangement of his poems suggests that the poet was still struggling to reshape his intention. The fixation of order of poems in the 1908 volume of In the Seven Woods then implies that Yeats finally found himself satisfied with the message he tried to orchestrate through the volume. If so, what is an organizational principle shaping the final version of In the Seven Woods? And what message is Yeats going to send through the book of poems? The purpose of this paper is to answer these to questions. Here my argument is that what Yeats finally chose for the skeleton of the 1908 and 1922 volume was a meditative structure. That is, the final order of poems has been evolved over the years in such a way as to reflect a meditative structure. In other words, In the Seven Woods, as a meditative sequence, consists of three stages of a composition of place, analysis and colloquy, which resemble the process in a meditative poem. Hence, his poetic message for the volume is also concerned with the purpose of meditation--specifically the Yeatsian concept of meditation--that is, transcending human limitations by dissolving antinomies. There are two axes in In the Seven Woods: one--vertical--axis is made by an individual poem; the other--horizontal--axis is built by an arrangement of poems which provides another poetic statement. Here we have an individual poem which, when viewed separately, mainly deals with his emotional turmoil and deep psychic unrest due to his troubled love experiences with Maud Gonne. Here we also have a whole group of poems which are carefully framed to elevate his personal bitterness and anxiety to the collective problems of human beings due to their inability to deal with antinomian principles. Through In the Seven Woods, the main character, or Yeats, sets out a meditative journey, a progressive movement toward a state beyond time or an aconceptual state where the meditator finds an answer for his quest for oneness. In the end, however, Yeats shows his strong skepticism about the possibility of achieving oneness.