NARRATIVE ASPECTS OF THE PAST-BIRTH (전생) IN BUDDHIST STORIES OF KOREA AND SRI LANKA
This is an introductive study on Buddhist stories of both Korea and Sri Lanka. It aims a comparative analysis of a Korean Buddhist story selected from a medieval historic text with a Sri Lankan story from an important Sinhala literary canon. For this purpose, a preliminary survey to the both source books is going to be made focusing on characteristics of texts and the manner of composing stories. Expected outcomes through this study are summarized in three below: (1) an introduction to the source books for the researchers of both Korea and Sri Lanka; (2) an introductive analysis and comparison of Buddhist stories of both Korea and Sri Lanka for succeeding further researches; (3) a comparative appreciation of the role of the supernaturality in the earlier Buddhist narrative literature of both countries. This work was supported by Seed Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of Republic of Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2015-INC-2230011).