Korean Confucianism

The Philosophy and Politics of Toegye and Yulgok

Hyoungchan Kim

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781786608628
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

This book explores Neo-Confucianism and its relationship to politics by examining the life and work of the two iconic figures of the Joseon dynasty Yi Hwang (1501-1570, Toegye) and Yi I (1536-1584, Yulgok). Neo-Confucianism became state orthodoxy in 1392, and remained in place for over five centuries until the end of the dynasty in 1910, thereby shaping the Korea of today. Toegye and Yulgok founded the two main schools of Josean Neo-Confucianism, which became the most dominant schools of thought in Korean history. In shedding new light on the important relationship between these two iconic figures, Hyoungchan Kim offers an important new examination of Korea today, which will be essential to those interested in the philosophy and history of Korea.

Chapter 1

The First Encounter

Twenty-three-year-old Yulgok called on fifty-eight-year-old Toegye in the early spring of 1558. At that time Toegye was one of the most eminent scholars in the Joseon Dynasty. Yulgok, having visited his father-in-law in Seongsan (星山, present-day Seongju in Gyeongbuk Province), and while on his way to his mother’s hometown in Gangneung in Gangwon Province, visited Toegye’s house in Ye-an (禮安, present-day Andong in Gyeongbuk Province). Yulgok stayed at the house for three days, a longer sojourn than had been planned owing to the unexpected early spring rain. When the rain turned to snow, Yulgok said goodbye to the old scholar and went on his way.

After Yulgok left his house, Toegye wrote a letter to one of his disciples named Jo Mok (趙穆, 1524–1606), whose pen name was Wolcheon (月川):

A few days ago Yulgok, who lives in Hanseong (漢城: present-day Seoul), called on me after his visit to Seongsan. He stayed at my house for three days owing to rain. He was cheerful, intelligent, and seemed to have read and remembered much, and to have devoted himself to learning. Indeed, he reminded me of the saying, “Youth is to be regarded with respect (husaeng ga-oe / hou-sheng-ke-wei 後生可畏).”¹

From that time on, Toegye and Yulgok exchanged letters and discussed learning, the moral life, and the righteous path of the scholar. Yulgok sincerely respected Toegye and periodically asked advice of him. In addition, after he entered government service, Yulgok earnestly asked Toegye to participate in government administration. And after Toegye died, Yulgok attempted to enshrine his tablet in Confucian academies and in the National Shrine of Confucius.

Toegye reciprocated in his respect for Yulgok and wished that his intellectual talents might not be wasted on trifling secular affairs. Hoping that he would grow to be a great scholar, Toegye attempted to persuade Yulgok, whose personality he felt was too scrupulous and rigid, to devote himself to his studies and scolded him for not doing so sufficiently.

After Toegye passed away, Yulgok consolidated his position as a statesman while deepening his learning through scholarly debates. He tried in vain to prevent the division of political factions into Easterners and Westerners but was obliged to become the leader of the Western Faction. By contrast, Toegye was posthumously nominated as the leader of the Eastern Faction. After Toegye’s passing, Yulgok criticized only a few of his theories. However, in the context of the political divisions of the time, Toegye’s learning was regarded as the philosophical underpinning of the Eastern Faction, while Yulgok’s was seen as that of the Western Faction.² Eventually, the intelligentsia and political elite of Joseon came to be divided into the two camps of Toegye’s and Yulgok’s schools of learning, and they led Joseon society through alternating periods of mutual conflict and accommodation.

The two scholars devoted their entire lives to the embodiment of the Confucian ideal of “sage on the inside, virtuous king on the outside (naeseong oewang / nei-sheng-wai-wang 內聖外王).” However, they pursued their own paths in accordance with the different social circumstances of the times in which they were immersed. Though Toegye had once been in government service, he looked on helplessly at the purge of scholars and the arbitrary actions of the king’s maternal relatives of that period. Like Confucius (孔子) and Mencius (孟子), in his later years Toegye returned to his native town, pursued his studies, mentored his disciples, and suggested the righteous direction for the country to take regardless of the characteristics of those who came to power. On the other hand, Yulgok entered government service when the overweening influence of the king’s maternal relatives had been supplanted and the purged scholars had been rehabilitated. During his lifetime of forty-eight years, he paved the way for the embodiment of Confucian ideals in Joseon society, achieved mainly in the persons of erudite scholars who had a sense of duty in terms of the pursuit of truth.

The exchange of ideas between Toegye and Yulgok through letters continued for thirteen years, from 1558 when Yulgok called on Toegye in early spring until the winter of 1570 when Toegye died. However, it may be said that their relationship persisted when Yulgok wrote a funeral oration for Toegye and presented a memorial to the king in order to persuade him to enshrine Toegye’s tablet in the National Shrine of Confucius. Their relationship may be said to have continued by proxy even after Yulgok died, when the Easterners entered a confrontation with the Westerners, and further, when the political factions divided into the Southern Faction and the Western Faction and confronted each other.

I will now carefully examine the main strands of the two scholars’ thinking through their most important writings and the letters they exchanged for thirteen years. Radically misreading their intentions, later scholars believed that they were exclusively opposed to and critical of each other, and recently such a perspective has become more prevalent. However, careful reading of their writings enables us to understand that their relationship was that of a master and disciple who earnestly exchanged views on the moral life and the path of learning. They were also comrades who took pains to transform the Joseon into an ideal nation based on the values of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. At first the young Yulgok asked for guidance and the more elderly Toegye responded, but later Yulgok answered Toegye’s questions about the contemporary social situation.

A Difficult Decision: To Advance into the World or Retreat from It

Yulgok introduced his first encounter with Toegye in an essay entitled “Swae-eon (瑣言),” which means “miscellaneous stories.” It seems that Yulgok wanted to record the first meeting with Toegye in the form of an apparently anecdotal text that did not involve profound learning or engage in systematic commentary on the contemporary situation.

Miscellaneous Stories (I)³

When I read the history of the Han (漢) Dynasty, I suspected that strangely enough, the advance into and retreat from the world of “the four hoary old men” were unjustifiable, but I dared not reveal my view to anyone. However, I expressed my opinion without reserve to Master Toegye and he agreed with me. I did not know that ancient sages had commented on this matter until I read Zhu Xi’s thoughts in Xing-li da-quan (性理大全). Zhu Xi said, “The four hoary old men might not be Confucian scholars but merely quick-witted intellectuals.”⁴ Only then could I feel sure that I was right.

Some people maintained that “the four hoary old men” disguised themselves as sages only to help the prince in accordance with the tactics of Zhang Liang (張良),⁵ of which almost all the retainers of the Imperial Court of the Han Dynasty were ignorant. I could not agree with them because their view presupposed that Zhang Liang, who had been loyal to the king, betrayed him impetuously. In general, at the end of “the Warring States period (戰國時代),” scholars were not well versed in moral principles but extolled those who displayed fortitude. The four old scholars disappeared solely to avoid being insulted by Emperor Gaozu (高祖). How could their retreat from the world be considered equal to that of Yi Yin (伊尹)⁶ or of Tai-gong (太公)?⁷ If they could be highly esteemed merely by rejecting the meeting with Emperor Gaozu, can it also be said that tacticians such as An Qi-sheng (安期生)⁸ and Kuai Che (蒯徹)⁹ were lofty and solemn scholars? Once, I wrote the following poems about the four old men:

Oh, gone are the age-old paragons Yao and Shun,

As futilely, the four hoary old men left Mt. Shang behind.

For, alas, having lost his once generous nature,

The king consigned them into the hands of Duke Jian-cheng.¹⁰

唐虞世遠更何求 一出商顏亦浪游

可惜龍顏空大度 得賢終讓建成侯

Like Qin Shi Huang, the king pissed into scholars’ hats.¹¹

So why did they feign to become vassals of the Han Dynasty?

No one knew, however, the hoary men’s real intention.

Willingly, they wanted to serve the cause of the prince.

溲溺儒冠亦一秦 如何更作漢家臣

那知四皓商山老 盡是東宮願死人

The four old men who were inducted in the Court of Han

Should feel ashamed, recalling the verdancy of Mt. Shou-yang.¹²

Alas, hoary old men from Mt. Shang, what did you earn thus?

Was it only your lifelong disgrace, as “the attendants of the prince”?

聘幣慇懃出漢廷 商山應愧首陽靑

可憐四皓成何事 贏得生平羽翼名

In his first encounter with Toegye, Yulgok commenced by asking him about the hoary old men’s steps into and retreat from the world because understanding the circumstances surrounding their advance or withdrawal could be helpful to his decision about the wisdom of entering government service.

It was quite natural for a Confucian scholar who had cultivated his philosophical capacities through learning to be concerned with public affairs and to enter government service because one of the purposes of Confucian learning was to become “a sage on the inside and a virtuous king on the outside.” So for a Confucian scholar to step into the world of practical affairs was to embody the ideals and values he had pursued through learning ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• The History of Korean Confucianism and the Status of Toegye and Yulgok as Confucian Scholars
• Notes on Dates and Quoted Texts
• 1 The First Encounter
• 2 Yulgok Asks and Toegye Answers 1 (May 1558)
• 3 The Four Beginnings and Seven Feelings: The Eight-Year Debate between Toegye and Gobong
• 4 Yulgok Asks and Toegye Answers 2: On The Doctrine of the Mean (May–October 1570)
• 5 Yulgok Asks and Toegye Answers 3: On Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning (May–October 1570
• 6 The Four Beginnings and Seven Feelings; the Human Mind and the Moral Mind: The Debate between Yulgok and Ugye
• 7 The Politics of the Royal Court
• 8 Conclusion: The Mind of the King and the Retainers’ Adherence to Confucian Ideals
• Glossary: M-R System
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• About the Translators