Korean Confucianism - 3. Eminent Korean Thinkers and Scholars

Understanding Korea Series No.3
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2. Korean Confucianism: A Short History	3. Eminent Korean Thinkers and Scholars	4. Self-Cultivation: The Way of Learning to be Human

From the late fourteenth century, Korea began to produce numerous great Confucian scholars, many of whom also served as famous government officials. The names of these people include Chŏng Mongju (1337-1392), Chŏng Tojŏn (1342-1398), his colleague Kwŏn Kŭn (1352-1409), Sŏ Hwadam (1489-1546), Yi T’oegye (1501-1570), Yi Yulgok (1536-1584), and Chŏng Tasan (1762-1836). This chapter presents a general overview of their contributions to Korean Confucianism and briefly covers each thinker’s life, scholarship, and philosophy.

1. Chŏng Mongju: Neo-Confucian Learning and Morality

Chŏng Mongju (pen name, Poŭn) and others began to institute the state education system at the Sŏnggyun’gwan Confucian royal college in the late Koryŏ period. They strongly supported the Sŏnggyun’gwan as the national center for education. As a result, it eventually taught such outstanding students as Chŏng Tojŏn, Kwŏn Kŭn, Yi T’oegye, Yi Yulgok, and others, all of whom became influential Neo-Confucian scholars in Korea from the late fourteenth century.

Chŏng Mongju was an influential scholar-official and also served as an instructor at the Sŏnggyun’gwan. He was well versed in the Five Classics, Four Books, and Zhu Xi’s commentaries. His study of Song Chinese Neo-Confucianism was praised highly by others. He was even called the “founder of the school of principle (ihak/li-hsüeh) in Korea”; the term ihak is one of the common terms used in referring to the ChengZhu school associated with Song Chinese Neo-Confucianism. His contemporaries praised him as the first Korean who elevated the Korean tradition to the level of philosophical thinking and moral self-cultivation.

When General Yi Sŏnggye claimed for the legitimacy of his new Yi dynasty through a military coup d’état, Chŏng strongly opposed Yi’s rulership by maintaining that it was an improper, immoral and unjustified act. As a result, he was murdered by one of Yi’s sons, as the Koryŏ Dynasty fell. He is still highly admired by modern Koreans not only because he suffered martyrdom to defend his faith, but also as an everlasting Korean paradigm of the Confucian virtues of loyalty and righteousness.

2. Chŏng Tojŏn: The Establishment of Neo-Confucianism as the New State Ideology

By taking advantage of Yi Sŏnggye’s rise to power, scholar-officials began to establish Song Neo-Confucianism as the new state ideology and religion in Korea. Among Yi’s close supporters was his leading scholar-official, Chŏng Tojŏn (pen name, Sambong; 1342-1398) who assisted his ascent to supreme power. His first approach to reform was a revision of the legal code according to Neo-Confucian ethical and political ideals. As the principal architect of the new dynasty, he compiled major political writings such as the Chosŏn Korea’s codes for Governing the country (Chosŏn kyŏngguk chŏn) and Historical Mirror for Managing the World and Saving the People (Kyŏngje mu’gam); these works provided a general framework for the polity and social order of the new dynasty, becoming the basis of his Great Codes for Governing the Country (Kyŏngguk taejŏn), the new dynasty’s political canon.

At the same time, Sambong launched a serious attack against Buddhism. He was the first Korean Neo-Confucian to formulate a systematic philosophical criticism of Buddhist doctrines, as indicated in his major essay, “Arguments against the Buddha” (Pulssi chapp’yŏn). His conclusion was that the Confucian learning is much more valuable than Buddhist and Daoist teachings because of its emphasis on the objective reality of learning, self-cultivation, and socio-political actions.

3. Kwŏn Kŭn: Neo-Confucian Scholarship and Political Contribution

Kwŏn Kŭn (pen name, Yangch’on; 1352-1409) was an another important scholar-teacher who was a former dean of the national Sŏnggyun’gwan royal academy. He helped the new government in establishing Neo-Confucianism as the basis of its state religion and ideology. He did so by preparing influential scholarly works; e.g., the first Korean commentaries on Confucian rituals and ceremonies. These texts facilitated the promotion of the state rituals of the Chosŏn dynasty during its first century.

Like Sambong, he used Neo-Confucian doctrines to criticize Buddhism by emphasizing the unity of knowledge and action in Confucian learning. His most famous work is the Diagrammatic Treatise for the Commencement of Learning (Iphak tosŏl), the first major interpretation of Neo-Confucian thought in Korea. It was published fifty five times in both Korea and Japan. It consists of twenty-six diagrams, and the first diagram is especially significant because it summarizes the essentials of Neo-Confucian metaphysics and ethics. Through Sambong’s and Yangch’on’s writings, Neo-Confucianism was presented as the new intellectual, ethical, and political guide for scholar-officials to sustain a centralized, bureaucratic Confucian state in Korea. Even economic issues were to be addressed in the Confucian context of administrating a political economy. These practical ideas and concerns were the focus of their statecraft school, which helped the Korean scholar-officials to develop Neo-Confucianism from the middle of the sixteenth century on. Indeed, this period was the golden age in the history of Korean Confucianism when many eminent thinkers emerged, including those discussed in the following section.

Eminent Thinker-Scholars from the Sixteenth-Century

4. Sŏ Hwadam: A Philosophy of Ki

Sŏ Hwadam (1489-1546), T’oegye, and Yulgok are known as the “Three Masters” (samja) of Korean Neo-Confucianism who determined its unique patterns. After turning his back on the political world of the Chosŏn dynasty, Hwadam dedicated himself to the study of Neo-Confucianism and became the first Korean thinker to have formulated a philosophy of material force (ki/qi; physical energy). In his short philosophical treatises, he articulated the role of ki in the process of all cosmic transformation. His whole philosophy emphasizes the idea of ki as the “fundamental substance” of the universe: ki is the formless and unlimited force and therefore creates and transforms all phenomena. Hwadam explained that life and death are due to the fusing and intermingling activities of ki, and the operation of everything is founded on this dynamic role of ki. Yi T’oegye later criticized Hwadam for misinterpreting Zhu Xi’s metaphysics of i and ki; by contrast, Yi Yulgok praised Hwadam’s originality.

5. Yi T’oegye: The Korean Philosophy of Principle: Neo-Confucian Ethics and Spirituality

Yi Hwang (1501-1570) is better known by his pen name T’oegye, and is often referred to as the Master Zhu Xi of Korea. Prof. Tu Weiming of Harvard University and Beijing University called T’oegye “a major source of inspiration for creative scholarship on Confucian philosophy and its modern scholarship” (Tu 1978:467). The contemporary Japanese scholar Abe Yoshio (1977:9) considered T’oegye as “the greatest scholar of the ChengZhu school in Korea.” T’oegye’s thought exerted a good deal of influence on the development of Neo-Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan as well. The Japanese scholars learned Neo-Confucianism partly through reading T’oegye’s editions of the Chinese writings.

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  photo 2a Eminent Confucian scholar: Yi T’oegye’s portrait in color ⓒBank of Korea in Seoul/ Mr. (Hyuncho) LEE, Yu Tae

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  photo 2b Eminent Confucian scholar: Yi T’oegye’s portrait - Korean paper money, 1000 won

T’oegye was a quiet and introspective man, who always liked reading and study. Even in the early years of his life, he practiced quiet-sitting and self-reflection over what he learned from books, especially when his mind recovered its serenity at night. He also composed over 2,000 poems of various types. In fact, the poetic and intuitive aspects of life influenced T’oegye’s philosophy, which emphasizes an inner-directed and contemplative way of life as well as his practice of self-cultivation. He served in a total of twenty-nine official positions, in which he utilized his scholarly and literary talents. But he always wanted to retire because he never had any political ambition. Obviously, T’oegye’s longing for an opportunity to devote himself to study corresponds to his strong dissatisfaction with the political problems of his time. He always wished to return to his home town in the beautiful countryside, so that he could fully devote himself to Confucian learning and self-cultivation. Furthermore, he was also busy with teaching and writing.

T’oegye compiled many famous works in his sixties. Among them is his greatest writing, Sŏnghak sipto (Ten diagrams on sage learning), a concise summation and commentary on the whole framework of ChengZhu Neo-Confucianism. It covers the essentials of Neo-Confucian metaphysics, ethics and spirituality, together with T’oegye’s diagrams and annotate comments.

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  photo 3a Eminent Confucian scholar: Yi Yulgok’s portrait in color ⓒOjukheon & Museum in Gangneung/ Mr. (I-dang) Kim, Eun-ho

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  photo 3b Eminent Confucian scholar: Yi Yulgok’s portrait - Korean paper money 5000 won

For seven years from early 1559 to late 1566, T’oegye carried on his famous Four-Seven correspondence with Ki Taesŭng (pen name, Kobong; 1529-1592). It was in this debate that he formulated a highly sophisticated moral philosophy and psychology of human nature and feelings, as well as their implication for self-cultivation in relation to the Neo-Confucian metaphysics and ethics of good and evil. In short, T’oegye emphasized the transcendent and virtuous reality of principle (i) over the immanent, physical and emotional world of material force, (ki), thereby calling for moral and spiritual self-cultivation. His Four-Seven letters are an excellent source for understanding not only the ethical and spiritual dimensions of his Neo-Confucianism but also his wisdom, scholarship, and mentorship. He emphasized the ultimate truth of human nature (as discussed in Chapters 1 and 4), thereby calling for a sagely learning that integrates intellectual insight, moral effort, and spiritual cultivation. T’oegye’s entire thought centers around such a philosophy that greatly enhanced the moral and spiritual dimension of Korean Neo-Confucianism.

6. Yi Yulgok: Learning, Self-Cultivation, and Socio-Political Actions

Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok are often mentioned together as the two greatest minds of Chosŏn Korea. Modern Koreans respect Yulgok not only as a brilliant Neo-Confucian thinker-scholar but also as a distinguished politician and reformer who advocated Confucian principles to improve the political, economic, social, and military institutions of the Chosŏn dynasty. He had many remarkable accomplishments during his short life of forty-nine years. No other Korean Neo-Confucians can match his far-reaching vision of history, practical learning, public service, and political reform.

At age five Yulgok began to commit himself seriously to mastering literary Chinese and basic Confucian classics, under the guidance of his mother. His beloved mother’s early death in 1551, when Yulgok was only fifteen years old, gave him a deep sorrow about life. He built a small hut near his mother’s grave, and there he mourned her for three years. His official career began when he was twenty-three years old; after that, his scholarly and official life was a busy and influential one.

Yulgok compiled many important philosophical, political and educational works. Among those presented to the king include the following: “Tongho Questions and Answers” (Tongho mundap), a famous political memorial consisting of eleven critical articles of political reform, and “A Model for Academy” (Hakkyo mobŏm), a major essay covering the Confucian goals and methods of educating youth. These works articulate the practical aspects of his thought dealing with government, economy, social reform, and education. For example, Yulgok presented an urgent call to abolish political corruption maintained by the traditional rules of government and to establish new programs and strategies to bring about an economic and social progress. He also urged the liberation of talented slaves and advocated a reform measure that sons of secondary wives of the gentry class should be appointed to both civil and military government offices.

The Sŏnghak chipyo (Essentials of the learning of sagehood) is Yulgok’s most famous philosophical work, which contains the fundamentals of Neo-Confucian metaphysics, ethics, self-cultivation, and statecraft. Furthermore, his famous “Four-Seven Debate Letters” articulated the crucial topic T’oegye had discussed a decade before. Yulgok gave a detailed and systematic interpretation of the Confucian philosophy of mind, human nature, and feelings and its implication for self-cultivation and practical learning. In comparison to T’oegye who had no interest in politics, Yulgok was an active statesman who utilized Confucian principles and ideals in order to formulate his political thought concerning reform and progress. Yulgok emphasized the philosophical idea of ki (material force or physical energy) with respect to learning and self-cultivation, which has its rational and moral grounds in the ChengZhu school of Neo-Confucianism. Overall, his thought tends to emphasize a realistic and practical philosophy of ki that eventually shaped his philosophy of practical learning and political reform.

7. Chŏng Tasan: Practical Learning (Sirhak) and Reform Confucianism

Chŏng Tasan (1762-1836) systematized a major philosophy of practical learning (sirhak). Tasan, originally a student of the ChengZhu school in Korea, became the greatest name among the Korean Sirhak scholars. He also incorporated Western Learning (sŏhak; Catholicism and Western science) in addition to studying not only Neo-Confucian writings but also compiling many commentaries on classical Confucian texts. For example, his Complete Works contains forty-eight volumes of his commentaries on the classics, thirty-nine volumes of political thought, twenty-four volumes of his commentaries on Confucian rites, and eight volumes of geographical studies. Particularly using the Ching Chinese method of “classical learning” and “evidential learning,” Tasan challenged the authority of ChengZhu thought and Korean Sŏngnihak.

photo4 Eminent confucian scholar: Chong Tasan's Portrait in color ⓒBank of Korea in Seoul/Mr. (Woljeon) Chang, Woo Seong

In his commentaries on the Four Books (including Confucius’ Analects and the Mencius), he charged that Chinese Neo-Confucianism and Korean Sŏngnihak did not follow the original classics in the philological or philosophical context. Human nature is a dynamic entity that integrates intellectual faculty, moral virtue, and emotional behaviour. So Tasan emphasized virtue as something that actually engages in the practice of daily actions. Self-cultivation depends on the sphere of practical ethics. Tasan therefore regarded Confucian learning as the way of self-cultivation and governing the people. This dual ideal frequently appears in his various essays and commentaries. Tasan also criticized his fellow Korean scholars for wasting their time and energy in an endless series of debates on metaphysical ideas and theoretical doctrines. In his famous political essays–such as Design for Governing the Country (Kyŏngse yup’yo) and Essay on Leading the People (Mongmin simsŏ)–Tasan presented an innovative set of specific political, social, and economic strategies for the Confucian framework of Chosŏn institutions. The latter essay reveals his disapproval of the ineffectiveness and corruption of government administration, as well as his sympathy for the difficult economic and social situations of the local peasantry. As Tasan pointed out, Confucian learning must combine “self-cultivation” and “leading the people.” By emphasizing the “people-based” principle, he therefore advocated two other norms: “loving the people” and “protecting the people.”

Overall, Tasan attempted to reform government administration and improve the social and economic situation of the people. This certainly points to a prototype of modern democracy that addresses the basic ideology of social welfare and economic prosperity on behalf of the common people. In this regard, Tasan continues to receive a good deal of respect from today’s Korean intellectuals who have recently paid more attention to his life and thought.

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