Korean Confucianism - 1. Confucianism: Great Teachers and Teachings

Understanding Korea Series No.3
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Note on the Citation and Transliteration Style	1. Confucianism: Great Teachers and Teachings	2. Korean Confucianism: A Short History

1. Great Confucians

Confucianism originated in China during a golden age of Chinese thought, several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. It is a common, living tradition in East Asia including Korea as well as among international East Asian communities around the world. Acknowledged as one of the so-called Three Teachings (samgyo/sanjiao) of China, together with Daoism and Buddhism, it has shaped many elements of culture over centuries in China as well as in Korea.

Is Confucianism a religion, a philosophy, a system of family values, a social ethics, or something else? Various scholars have applied different approaches to the study of Confucianism. It is a unique tradition that puts primary emphasis on learning, self-cultivation, practical wisdom, and human relations. But we also need to study it as a religious tradition; in fact, Confucianism embodies an ancient religious foundation and its spiritual ideals. From a comparative perspective, Confucianism has been considered as a “diffused religion”: an unorganized set of beliefs and values diffused throughout family, morality, social ethics, and public rites. As a kind of “lay spirituality” or humanistic religion (Ching 1993), it offers a set of values and spiritual teachings which are open to other forms of religion. Some scholars have looked at it in terms of its contribution to East Asia’s economic development as well.

This tradition developed from the teaching of Confucius (551-479 BCE), a reformer and educator from the state of Lu in modern Shandong province in northeastern China. So the word “Confucianism” is associated with the name Confucius, which is the Latinized form of his Chinese title Kong Fuzi (Master Kong), best pronounced as “Confucius” by the sixteenth-century Jesuits and other European missionaries in China. It centered around a moral, educational and spiritual project that sought to promote the “cultivated self,” “great community,” and universal peace through a unique set of scriptures and teachings.

Confucius did not view himself as the founder of a new philosophy or religion, but rather preferred to be called a “transmitter of ancient wisdom.” He was also a spiritual thinker whose teaching inspired a great following about two centuries later when it was elaborated by Mencius (Mengzi, Master Meng; 372-289 BCE) and others. Mencius, second only to Confucius, offered a vision of idealism in terms of original human goodness. The teachings of Confucius and Mencius represented state orthodoxy from early Han China in 202 BCE to the end of China’s imperial period in 1911, as well as in Korea until 1910, the end of the Yi Chosŏn Dynasty.

The tradition eventually culminated in Neo-Confucianism, the revival of Confucianism in Song China (960-1279) during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which resulted in a creative interpretation of the earlier and existing teachings. The famous thinker Zhu Xi (1130-1200) provided a comprehensive system of Neo-Confucian learning, metaphysics, ethics, and spirituality. Three centuries later in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Wang Yangming (1472-1529) was the chief exponent of Neo-Confucianism who emphasized the unity of knowledge and action and the way to practice it morally in daily life. Zhu’s and Wang’s schools of Neo-Confucianism were gradually introduced to Korea and Japan, although the former generally became the orthodox school.

The Confucian tradition of Chosŏn Korea (1392-1910) produced many outstanding scholars such as Yi T’oegye (1501-1570) and Yi Yulgok (1536-1584). Chapter 3 in this book discusses seven eminent Confucian scholars in Korea including T’oegye and Yulgok.

2. Confucian Classics

The sacred books of Confucianism are nine Chinese scriptures divided into two groups: the Five Classics (Wujing) and the Four Books (Sishu). All of the major teachings are preserved in these works, which greatly contributed to shaping the cultural identity and philosophical-religious traditions of East Asia as a whole. Confucius was believed to have spent his last years editing and completing certain portions of the Five Classics.

The Five Classics consist of the Book of Changes (Yijing), Book of History (Shujing), Book of Poetry (Shijing), Book of Rites (Liji), and Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu), most of which had existed prior to the time of Confucius. The Yijing is a manual of divination, probably compiled before the eleventh century BCE; its supplementary philosophical portion is collected in a series of appendixes. The Book of History is a collection of ancient historical documents, and the Book of Poetry (or Odes) is an anthology of ancient religious songs, hymns and poems. The Book of Rites deals with various rituals and the corresponding principles of moral conduct, including those for the rites of passage and public religious ceremonies. The Spring and Autumn Annals is the work reputedly compiled by Confucius himself, for it is a historical chronicle about his home state of Lu from the eighth century to the early fifth century BCE.

The Four Books are the Analects (Lunyu), Great Learning (Daxue), Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), and Book of Mencius (Mengzi). The Analects is the most reliable text about Confucius’ life and teachings and his conversations with disciples. The Great Learning, attributed to Confucius, is a brief essay dealing with the practical dimension of Confucian life, including education, self-cultivation, family regulation, and political order. The Doctrine of the Mean, another brief text, contains some of Confucius’ teaching organized with comments by others. It deals with the inner, spiritual dimension of self-cultivation with respect to “the oneness of Heaven and human nature.” The Book of Mencius is a longer book written by Mencius himself and contains his idealistic philosophy of human nature and its implications for self-cultivation and benevolent government. The famous Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi called these texts “the Four Books,” and emphasized them as containing the central ideas of Confucian thought, for which reason he wrote an immense amount of commentaries on them. Scholars and students in China, Korea, and (to a lesser extent) Japan commonly studied the Five Classics, Four Books, and Zhu Xi’s commentaries because they were the subjects of civil service examinations for over many centuries until the late nineteenth century.

3. Basic Confucian Teachings

The core Confucian doctrine is about “learning to be human,” and its ultimate goal is sagehood (self-perfection). It presents a unifying commitment to promoting peace, order, and prosperity through the transformation of the individual. It is basically concerned with the ultimate meaning of humanity and the best way of maintaining our ethical and social roles.

Confucianism therefore emphasizes human-heartedness (in/ren) and other virtues. Ren is variously translated as benevolence, love, compassion, or human goodness as the supreme, universal virtue, representing the source of all other virtues. It is the key to the way of wisdom, representing human qualities at their best. Confucius said: “Ren is to love all human beings” (Analects, 12:22). It is best expressed in the Confucian golden rule: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself” (4:15 and 12:2). The proper cultivation of ren embodies the Way (Do/Dao), which is meant to be extended to family, society, government, and beyond.

Another key teaching is propriety or ritual (ye/li). The tradition takes it beyond the formal religious ceremonies by including moral human relationships and a customary code of social propriety. Confucius taught it not as sacrifices asking for divine grace (blessing) or theistic salvation, but rather as appropriate actions and ceremonies. It governs the basic means by which ren is cultivated: ritual acts may enrich one’s moral and spiritual growth. Confucius said: “To master oneself and return to ritual propriety is human-heartedness” (Analects, 12:1). This also means the so-called four-fold prohibition which Confucius emphasized for practicing propriety in daily life:

To master oneself and return to propriety (ye/li) is humanity (in/ren)…. Do not look at what is contrary to propriety, do not listen to what is contrary to propriety, do not speak what is contrary to propriety, and do not make any movement which is contrary to propriety. (Analects, 12:1; Chan 1963:38-39; cf. Lau 1979:112)

Chapter 4 in this book discusses human-heartedness and propriety as the essential basis of the Confucian way of self-cultivation.

Besides formal daily manners, ye/li ritual may be as complex as the funeral and memorial rites for a deceased parent, so it implies the moral-religious dimension of the tradition. Chapter 9 in this book will discuss its implication for the Korean tradition of Confucian ancestral rites and family spirituality which will point to Confucianism as a living tradition in today’s Korea.

Furthermore, righteousness is necessary for developing ren; one follows this virtue according to propriety (ye/li). It is also a natural moral feeling to do good. Mencius, in particular, developed a doctrine of righteousness with respect to personal cultivation, sagehood, and government. Mencius formulated an explicit theory of “the original goodness of human nature.”

Filial piety is another important virtue, which Confucius and others regarded as basic to family and social ethics. Also understood as family love, it enables children to grow up with filial respect for parents and a sense of propriety in social relationships.

One who follows these key virtues is called a noble or cultivated person (kunja/junzi). Confucius and others discussed this role model as “the human way,” and affirmed it as a necessary path to the ultimate attainment of sagehood in unity with “the Heavenly Dao.” Centuries later, Neo-Confucian thinkers in China, Korea, and Japan generally interpreted these teachings in the similar ways, while compiling a large number of discourses, essays, commentaries, and anthologies.

Confucianism emphasized the so-called Five Relationships, maintained by the two principles of reciprocity and mutual obligation. They are not just biological or social relationships but are also based on moral-philosophical principles, revealing a fundamental belief in human dignity and equality. So the proper roles and virtues are emphasized: affection between parents and children; righteousness between ruler and subjects; distinction and harmony between husband and wife; order (and respect) among older and younger siblings; and trust among friends (Mencius, 3A:4). As Confucius said,

If the names and duties are not rectified, the language will not accord with truth; if the language is not in accordance with the truth, things cannot be accomplished (properly). (Analects, 13:3)

These ideals of human relationships are meant to be “reciprocal” and be practiced in various circles of society. Chapter 5 will discuss this topic in terms of modern Korean ethics of human relationships inter-connecting the self, family, society, government, nation, and beyond.

The Great Learning, one of the Four Books of Confucianism, presents its famous teaching on the ultimate goal of learning: an integrated path to self-cultivation, family regulation, socio-political order, and then universal peace and harmony. As the first chapter articulates, “The Way of learning to be great consists of illuminating the virtue, renovating the people, and maintaining the highest good….” And this well-known passage also states:

The ancients who wished to manifest their clear character to the world would first bring order to their states. Those who wished to bring order to their states would first regulate their families. Those who wished to regulate their families would first cultivate their personal lives. Those who wished to cultivate their personal lives would first rectify their minds. Those who wished to rectify their minds would first make their wills sincere. Those who wished to make their wills sincere would first extend their knowledge. The extension of knowledge consists in the investigation of things. (Chan 1963:86)

Korean Neo-Confucians such as Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok frequently discussed this core teaching, which may be called the 8-step Confucian way of perfecting the self and the world. It begins from “the investigation of things” and continues through “self-cultivation” and “governing the state.” This teaching also has a cosmological and spiritual basis, as indicated in the Doctrine of the Mean (chap. 1): “What Heaven (tian) imparts to human beings is called human nature; to follow our nature is called the Way (Dao). Cultivating the Way is called learning.” It is to take human knowledge, action and experience seriously as the arena of moral-spiritual fulfillment. For this reason, Chapter 4 will discuss the Confucian way of self-cultivation as “learning to be human.”

The idealist inner dimension of Confucianism embodies a spiritual nature with respect to the Way and the oneness of Heaven and humanity. It is uniquely about the Confucian notion of transcendence: to perfect the self and the society, as bestowed by the Dao. Here we can see its spiritual teaching of sagehood.

In medieval China, the leading Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi wrote numerous commentaries and essays in order to strengthen and enrich the entire Confucian tradition by developing a comprehensive system of metaphysics, ethics, and spiritual practice in terms of i/li (metaphysical principle) and ki/qi (physical energy or material force), human nature and emotions, good and evil, self-cultivation, and so on. Overall, Zhu’s interpretation emphasized the transcendent, virtuous reality of i/li over the physical, emotional and material world of ki, thereby calling for learning and moral-spiritual self-cultivation. This is basically how Yi T’oegye articulated such a philosophy in Korea centuries later.

The Zhu Xi school in Song China became known as “the ChengZhu school” of orthodoxy that offered a balance of study, self-cultivation, social ethics, ritual practice, and government administration. Other Neo-Confucians in China as well as Korea developed it further until the late nineteenth century. Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok are the two best-known scholars in the Korean ChengZhu school; Chapter 2 will explore its history, and Chapter 3 presents its eminent scholars and thinkers including them.

As I have noted at the beginning of this chapter, Confucianism, unlike Christianity or even Buddhism, is not an organized membership religion with clergy or a set of religious creeds. Given its historical and cultural background, it did not need to develop a central church, organized priesthood or worship services (Ching 1993). For many centuries in East Asia including Korea, the Confucian tradition developed and promoted self-cultivation, public education, family, society, government, cultural development, and so on. It is continuously influencing elite culture, moral education, family values, social harmony and ethics, political leadership, and cultural identity in modern East Asia. In Chapters 5-9 we discuss these living aspects of Korean Confucianism and their modern changes.

Supplementary Readings

Berthrong, John. 2002. Confucianism: A Short Introduction.

Chan, Wing-tsit. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Chan, Wing-tsit, ed. 1986. Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Ching, Julia. 1993. Chinese Religions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Chung, Edward Y. J. 1995. The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok: A Reappraisal of the “Four-Seven Thesis” and Its Implications for Self-Cultivation. Albany: State University of New York Press.

De Bary, William, T., et al. 1960. Sources of the Chinese Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press.

Ebrey, Patricia B., trans. 1991. Chu Hsi’s Family Rituals: A Twelfth-Century Chinese Manual for the Performance of Cappings, Weddings, Funerals, and Ancestral Rites. Princeton Library of Asian Translations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Gardner, Daniel K. 2007. The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.

Kalton, Michael C., trans. 1988. To Become A Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning by Yi T’oegye. New York: Columbia University Press.

Küng, Hans and Julia Ching. 1989. Christianity and Chinese Religions. New York: Doubleday.

Lau. D. C., trans. 1979. Confucius: The Analects. New York: Penguin Classics.

Lau. D. C., trans. 1970. Mencius. New York: Penguin Classics.

Legge, James, trans., 1962. Chinese Classics, 7 vols. (Five Classics, Analects, and Mencius). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Ro, Young-chan. 1989. The Korean Confucianism of Yi Yulgok. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Tu, Weiming. 1985. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Self-Transformation. Albany: SUNY Press.

Tu, Weiming, M. Hejtmanek, and A. Wachman. eds. 1992. The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia. Honolulu: The East-West Center.

Footnote

Understanding Korea Series No.3 Korean Confucianism

Foreword · Acknowledgments I · Acknowledgments II · Note on the Citation and Transliteration Style 1. Confucianism: Great Teachers and Teachings 2. Korean Confucianism: A Short History 3. Eminent Korean Thinkers and Scholars 4. Self-Cultivation: The Way of Learning to be Human 5. The Ethics of Human Relationships: Confucian Influence on Korean Family, Society, and Language 6. Education, Confucian Values, and Economic Development in Twentieth-Century Korea 7. Confucianism and Globalization: National Identity and Cultural Assimilation 8. Modern Korean Women and Confucian Values: Change and Assimilation 9. Ancestral Rites and Family Moral Spirituality: A Living Tradition in Today’s Korea 10. Koreans and Confucianism in the West: Some International Reflections 11. The Relevance and Future of Korean Confucianism in the Modern World Selected Bibliography · About the Author