구마라습이 전한 인도의 중관학은 중국의 전통적 형이상학인 현학(玄學)과 만나서 ``동아시아적 중관학``인 삼론학이 창출되었다. 세월이 흐르면서 삼론학의 가르침은 불교교학의 뒷전으로 밀려나기 시작했다. 하북에서는 아비달마, 강남에서는 『성실론』이 불교교학의 중심에 있었다. 승랑은 구마라습 사후 잊혀지고 왜곡되던 삼론의 가르침을 강남의 불교계에서 부흥한 인물이며 승랑을 기점으로 그 이전의 삼론학을 고삼론, 이후의 삼론학을 신삼론이라고 부른다. 승랑과 승조. 승랑은 신삼론의 시조이고 승조는 고삼론의 대표적 저술가인데, 그 성향은 상반되었다. 승조는 후진의 황실과도 가까이 지냈고, 적극적으로 저술 활동을 했으며, 그 전기도 『고승전』에 실려 있는 반면, 승랑은 양무제의 초청을 거절하고 섭산에 은둔하면서 수행과 교화에 전념하였고, 『화엄의소』를 지었다는 기록은 있지만 단 하나의 저술도 남아 있지 않으며, 독립된 전기도 전하지 않는다. 승조가 구체적인 역사 속 인물이라면 승랑은 전설의 인물이었다. 승조의 논문 모음집인 『조론』 가운데, 「물불천론」에서는 ``동(動)과 정(靜)의 상즉``, 「부진공론」에서는 ``유와 무의 상즉``, 「반야무지론」에서는 ``지(知)와 무지(無知)의 상즉``, 「열반무명론」에서는 ``세간과 열반의 상즉``을 논변한다. 승조의 사상은 한 마디로 ``상즉의 비판론``이었다. 상즉이란 "A이면서 not-A이다."라는 명제로 표현되기에 중관학의 4구판단 가운데 제3구에 해당한다. 인도 중관학의 경우 제1구와 제2구를 비판할 때 제4구를 사용하였는데, 승조는 제3구를 사용하였다는 점에서 독특하였다. 승조의 사상 가운데 많은 내용이 승랑에 의해서 발전적으로 계승되었다. 승랑의 사상은 ``이원적(二元的) 범주론``, ``상즉의 실상론``, ``방편적 교화론``, ``무득(無得)의 오도론(悟道論)``의 네 가지로 정리되는데 그 가운데 ``상즉의 실상론``이 승조의 사상에 근거한다. 현학에서는 명교(名敎)를 ``유``, 자연을 ``무``로 보았는데, 승조는 ``유``와 ``무``를 모두 명교로 격하시키고, ``비유비무``를 진제(眞諦)라고 불렀다. 명교는 이제(二諦) 가운데 속제에 해당한다. 그러나 승랑은 명교와 진제 모두를 ``속제``인 교법으로 격하시키면서 속(俗)도 아니고 진(眞)도 아닌 ``비진비속``을 이법(理法)으로 제시하였다. 아울러 중가(中假), 체용(體用) 등의 이원적 범주들을 새롭게 도입하고 변증법적으로 직조함으로써 무득(無得)의 정신에 투철하였다.
Seung-rang(circa 450~530C.E.) was the Patriarch of New San-Lun(三論) sect and Seng-Zhao(384~414) was a representative figure among Old San-Lun monks. Seng-Zhao was a disciple of the great translator Kumarajiva(344~413). His treatises on Universal flux, Sunyata, Prajna and Nirvana are compiled as a book Zhao-Lun(肇論). He made a commentary on Vimalakirti-nirdeSa-sutra and wrote introductions on some Buddhist scriptures. We can read his biography in Gao-Seng-Chuan(高僧傳). It is not so difficult for us to know his life and understand his thoughts. He was familiar with Yao-Xing(姚興) an Emperor of Hou-Qin(後秦). Seng-Zhao was a concrete historical character and a monk of engagement. On the contrary Seung-rang`s life is obscure and his philosophy has not been identified clearly. He is a man of legend. If we want to reconstruct the life story and philosophy of Seung-rang, we should gather all the sentences that describe Seung-Rang in the historical materials. There are so many names that indicate the masters of San-Lun. To investigate objectively on the life and thoughts of Seung-Rang, first of all we should confirm those names that indicate only Seung-Rang. Some scholars insisted that Do-rang(道朗) is the real name of Seung-Rang. But Do-rang(道朗) is guessed to be a misreading of Dae-Rang(大 朗) written in grass hand style. In the year 512, Wu-Di(武帝) of Liang(梁) Dynasty invited Seung-Rang to his palace, but Seung-Rang refused the invitation because he preferred a life as a recluse. When Seng-Zhao was young, he earned money by copying scriptures. He was interested especially in Lao-Zi(老子). But he was not satisfied with the teaching of Lao-Zi. One day, Seng-Zhao read the Vimalakirti-nirdeSa-sutra and said "At last I know where I should be!" In Seng-Zhao`s treatises we can find the influences of Xuan-Xue(玄學) which is a metaphysics based on the teachings of Lao-Zi, Zhuang-Zi and Yi-Jing(易經). There is a legend that tells the reason of Seng-Zhao`s death. Seng-Zhao made Yao-Xing(姚興) angry and was executed. Before the time of death Seng-Zhao wrote a poem as follows. "Originally, there is no owner in the ``Four elements of the body`` and all the ``Five Skandhas`` are empty. The white blade of a sword is now ready to cut my neck. But it seems like an event of cutting a spring wind." We can reconstruct Seung-Rang`s chronology through critical analysis of historical materials regarding him. It is as follows. 450C.E. circa: born in Yo-Dong(遼東) of Go-Gu-Ryeo(高句麗). 470C.E. circa: received the full precepts to be a monk in Yo-Dong. After 476C.E. circa: left for China. 476~479C.E. circa: perhaps visited Dun-Huang(燉煌), Chang-An(長安) and Ping-Cheng(平城) and learned San-Lun philosophy. 479C.E.: came to Jian-Kang(健康) area in the southern part of China and taught Zhou-Yong(周옹) and made him write a treatise San-Zong-Lun(三宗論). 479~482C.E. circa: met Gao-Di(高帝) the first Emperor of Qi(齊) Dynasty, had a lecture on Avatansaka Sutra and wrote 8 volumes of commentary on Avatansaka Sutra. immediately after 482C.E. circa: had a lecture in a Dharma meeting, held by the King Jing-Ling(竟陵) at Wu-Shan-Si(五山寺) in She-Shan(攝山). after 482C.E. circa: went to Shan-Yin(山陰) of Hui-Ji(會稽) with Zhou-Yong who had been appointed to the governor of Shan-Yin before a few years ago. 494~498C.E.: After Zhou-Yong`s death, Seung-Rang returned to She-Shan(攝山) and stayed in Zhi-Guan-Si(止觀寺). 512C.E.: Wu-Di(武帝) the first Emperor of Liang(梁) Dynasty sent 10 monks to Seung-Rang. After the lecture to the 10 monks, Seung-Rang moved to Qi-Xia-Si (棲霞寺) and stayed there. 530C.E. circa: died and buried in She-Shan(攝山). Seng-Zhao`s philosophy is well documented in his representative 4 treatises. In the essay "Things do not shift(物不遷論)" he demonstrates the coincidence between movement and rest. In the paper "Emptiness, a negation of absoluteness (不眞空論)" he argues the overlapping between being and non-being in every dharma. The essay "Prajna is not a knowledge(般若無知論)" is devoted to prove the paradoxical truth that the knowledge of Prajna is not a knowledge. His arguments in the treatise "Nirvana has no name(涅槃無名論)" are based on the 19th and 20th poem of Nirvana-parikna Prakaranam of Madhyamaka Karika. There, Nagarjuna declares the sameness between Nirvana and Secular World, so we can summarize Seng-Zhao`s philosophy as ``Criticism based on coincidence arguments`` or ``Coincidental Criticism``. Seng-Zhao`s philosophy was transmitted to Seung-Rang. Seung-Rang taught it to lay Buddhist Zhou-Yong. Zhou-Yong wrote a treatise San-Zong-Lun, where we can find a theory of Jia-Ming-Gong(假 名空) that means the coincidence between Conventional Name(Jia-Ming) and Emptiness(Gong). Nagarjuna`s Madhamaka philosophy has developed differently in India, Tibet and East Asia. In India, many commentaries were composed on Madhyamaka literatures. Tibetan Madhyamaka can be called as a kind of Scholastic Genealogy. In Chinese Madhyamaka San-Lun, a pair of critical terms You(有) and Wu(無), which came from the traditional philosophy Xuan-Xue(玄學), were used to explain the real meaning of Satya-dvaya(二諦) and Sunyata(空性). Not only Seng-Zhao but also Seung-Rang frequently used the concepts of You(有) and Wu(無) to express San-Lun philosophies, but their thoughts showed dialectical development. In Xuan-Xue philosophy, the concept You is a term to express the sphere of ``Name and Teaching(名敎)`` and Wu is of ``Natural Suchness(自然)``. The former is compared to Conventionality and the latter is a kind of Reality. However in Seng-Zhao`s treatises, both of You and Wu are degraded to the realm of ``Name and Teaching(名敎)`` and the negation of both, in other word Fei-You-Fei-Wu(非有非無) is presented as the Real, and Buddhist term Paramartha Satya(眞諦) is used to express the Real. In contrast, Seung-Rang degraded even Paramartha Satya to the realm of ``Teaching(敎)``. Seung-Rang used new terms to express the Real. They are Principle(理), Middle(中) or Substance(體) and so on. Seung-Rang learned and accepted Seng-Zhao`s philosophy of ``Coincidental Criticism`` but surpassed his limits. Seung-Rang devised many deliberate San-Lun theories as follows. "Satya- dvaya is not a Principle of Nature but only a Teaching of Buddha(二諦是敎論)." "The foundation of Satya-dvaya is Middle Path(中道爲體)." "The concepts of ``Middle(中) and Convention(假)`` and ``Substance(體) and Function(用)`` are used to classify the types of Preaching(中假體用論)." "Buddhahood is not any other than Middle Path(中道佛性論)." "Satya-dvaya teaching is always in the realm of Principle(理內二諦說)." "Don`t debate to educate Buddhism(無諍敎化)." "Teach Buddhism skillfully and hypothetically according to the status of the listener(對緣 假說)."
