A Study on the succession and the background of the Gyeongje Beompae in the Korean Buddhist chant tradition -Through Ven Dongju’s oral content-

In this research, I focused on the life and succession of the Gyeongje Beompae through the oral dictation of Ven Dongju, Seoul's Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 43, while at the same time focusing on new related facts and previously misunderstood information. Ven Dongju was born in Onyang, South Chungcheong Province in 1945, and became a monk in 1961, He learned Beompae from instructor Ven Byeogeung, and completed all Yeongsan courses while attending Ven Songam at Bongwonsa Temple in Seoul, in 1967. At this time, a sound recording of Ven Songam's Beompae was included as key content in 『The Posthumous Works of Grand Master Ven Songam in the Korean Buddhist Chant Series 』. Because his father was a monk, he had been familiar with chanting and Beompae while growing up, and had a profound grasp of memorizing Beompae melodies and performing its rituals. Thus his instructor, Songam, had high expectations for him. In 1970, Ven Dongju left to practice Zen meditation and returned to Sajaam temple, Sangdo-dong, Seoul in 1977. Afterwards, he opened a course at the Institute for Ritual and Chanting and taught Beompae to various disciples. In 1993, he founded Hongwon Temple and has trained many disciples there to this day. He dictated what he heard or experienced while attending Beompae master Ven Songam’s classes, in addition to tose of Ven Kim Taeheup, who was a famous scholar and lecturer on Buddhism. Ven Dongju told me about the first Beompae lecture at Okcheon Beomeum Institute in 1969, especially the Beompae transmission circumstances of the western and eastern regions in Seoul at this time. He mentioned the activities of Ven Jeon Uun, who taught Beompae in Hamheung, Gaeseong, and all around Korea before and after liberation from Japanese occupation, He also talked of monk Eungtan from Jingwansa temple who lectured in Hwajangsa Temple in Gaeseong. These facts tell us that Gyeongje Beompae was not only influenced by Gaeseong Beompae, but also, in turn, influenced it. Above all, the fact that monks were active in the fields of Korean traditional music and Buddhist ritual music and had exchanges with traditional Korean musicians was an opportunity to confirm the important basis that Korean traditional music and Beompae are tied by one root.