Korean Neo-Confucians' Critique of Wang Yangming's Thought in the Early Joseon Dynasty

Title

Korean Neo-Confucians' Critique of Wang Yangming's Thought in the Early Joseon Dynasty

Author

Yueh-hui LIN

Page

99-127

DOI

10.6163/tjeas.2013.10(2)99

Abstract

As we all know, the development of Korean Confucianism during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) is embodied in two opposite camps with extreme asymmetrical growing power. Korean Neo-Confucianism, which holds Zhu Xi (1130-1200) in high esteem, is regarded as orthodoxy; in contrast, Korean Yangming Learning, degraded as heresy, fights hard to survive. To shed light on the causes of this asymmetrical development of Korean Confucianism, this paper inquires into Korean Neo-Confucians' critiques of Wang Yangming's thought during the dissemination of Yangming Learning from Imperial China to Korea in the early Joseon dynasty, especially in 16th century. Korean Neo-Confucians' critiques of Wang Yangming's thought can be classified into three groups: 1. The criticisms levelled directly at Yangming's works; 2. The criticisms influenced by Luo Qinshun (1465-1547) and Chen Qing Lan (1497-1567); 3. Joseon envoys' criticisms directed against placing Yangming's tablet in the Confucian temple. The common claim of them all is to repudiate Yangming's thought as heresy. Suffering from the drawback that Yangming's important works haven't been published in the early Joseon dynasty, Korean Yangming Learning wins no chance to flourish. It is clear that only Yi T'oegye (1501-1571) confronts and criticizes the argumentations in the first volume of Wang Yangming's Instructions for Practical Living. The essence of Yangming's thought hasn't been treated as it is by the other two classes of criticisms which are mixed with Korean Neo-Confucianism's biased position and contaminated with political deliberations. Nonetheless, perhaps with the help of Joseon envoys' dispatch to Imperial China, most of Yangming's crucial works are circulated amongst the academic world in the late Joseon period, and collide with both Korean Neo-Confucianism and Korean Yangming Learning.

Keyword

Early Joseon Period, Neo-Confucianism, Korean Yangming Learning, Yi T'oegye, Joseon Missions to Imperial China, heresy

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