Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch
Exploring the Confucian Self: A Critique and Reinterpretation
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Exploring the Confucian Self: A Critique and Reinterpretation Philippe Thiebault, Ph. D. [PHILIPPE THIEBAULT has lived in Korea for many years, taking a Master’s degree in East Asian philosophy and language in 1984 at Sungkyungwan University, followed by a doctorate in 1994. He has taught at Sungkyungwan University, Kangwon University, and Konkuk University. The academic year of 1995 was spent as a visiting professor at the University of Southern California.] What I intend to undertake is not an easy task, especially at this time when Koreans, having gone through the turmoil and rapid developments of the 20th century are searching for their individual and cultural identity. I would like to approach the philosophical dimension of Confucianism in an age of post-modernism or post-modernity. In order for Confucianism to speak to us, it must confront its critics and be positively reevaluated. Moreover, I will approach the core of what gave a vision, a dynamism and a courage to Asians—Koreans in particular―throughout history. I will speak, finally, of the new horizon on which it would be possible to think of Korean Confucianism, centering on its particular roots. When we hear some Western philosophers in the second half of the 20th century announcing the death of man, it is high time to reflect on both the Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. 1. LEARNING FROM CRITICS AND CONSTRUCTING A NEW INTERPRETATION It has been said in Korea, like in China, that Confucianism is dead, in the sense that it failed to evolve, to initiate modernization, or to respond to it by main-[page 12]taining a rigid structure for many aspects of society. Conflicting views arise: sometimes Confucianism is either blamed for Korea’s contemporary problems or praised for having supported the “economic miracle” through its sense of sacrifice for the group, its emphasis on education, and its strict morality. We need to reconsider Korean Confucianism in a more balanced way, its value and contribution; to do so, however, we need to examine this from a philosophical perspective. Descartes, Rousseau, and Kant helped Europeans shape their society and are not forgotten in modern political or educational views. Similarly, if we are to understand the social realities of Korea, we cannot avoid reading Korean thinkers, a few of whom will be mentioned later. Those thinkers have shaped the Korean mind over the past centuries and are the foundation of Korean society, but today many of them have been forgotten. First, it is healthy for any tradition of thought to recognize its limitations and even its errors. The European philosophical conscience became more humble and purified due to the masters of suspicion (Les maitres du soupcon)- namely, Freud, Marx and Nietzsche, and more recently the teachers of demythologization and deconstructionism. If one takes Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals seriously, one may understand how Europeans went through a deep philosophical and ethical crisis, and, as Paul Ricoeur put it, after the ‘exalted cogito’ of Descartes and the ‘humiliated cogito’ of Nietzsche1, we have to look for a new path. On the foundation of Descartes, man became overconfident in the power of his reason, but later on he discovered dark aspects of the subconscious and was shaken in his certitude. Only in facing these new discoveries and challenges, can man reconsider himself in a more comprehensive and mature way. Similarly, Confucianism, in facing all the cleansing, challenging forms of philosophical interrogations, can be rediscovered and renewed. In learning from critiques, I mean something very different from the temptation to reject, which took place in China with the rise of communism in the 1920s, that is a careful revaluation. The challenge of Korean Confucianism, because of all prejudices and misunderstandings, is even greater than that of Western philosophy. Many of its values are hidden and not yet clearly expressed especially to modern readers. European philosophers, mainly due to Greek and German philosophy, hold on to their strong rationality and methodology. Asian philosophers do not feel the same confidence, because they have developed a more practical ethic rather than a pure logic. They have been denied the recognition of true philosophy since Hegel2, who for example, declared that they have not reached the level of conceptual reasoning. Instead of opposing the strength of logic in the West vis-a-vis the absence of logic in the East, we could present East and [page 13] West as having a different type of logic and having complementary strong points, which I intend to show later on. East Asian philosophers like to suggest, to comprehend by reason, the dimension of what is beyond the purely conceptual. On the other hand, Western thinkers fascinated by what is in the light of reality, want to grasp clear ideas. This fact can be recognized through a comparison of Asian and Western paintings in the field of art. There may be different ways of philosophizing, and, as plurality has been progressively recognized within Western philosophy, the otherness of Eastern thought is still to be appreciated. Attitudes are changing. Francois Jullien, a French sinologist, began to express the philosophical values of East Asian thought, for example, in The Book of Changes.3 He also studied ethics in relation to European philosophy, establishing a dialogue between Mencius, 3rd century BC, and Rousseau or Kant.4 My purpose is to speak, beyond the necessary critical analysis, of the need for a successful reinterpretation of what made the strengths of Confucianism unique to Western philosophy. We need new approaches to explore Confucianism. Times have changed in Asia, people have learned about Western science, the mind, other philosophical thoughts. They are exposed to the Western world. The reality of Confucianism is far more complex today. Confucianism is no longer the official intellectual and spiritual force in Korean society. Many Koreans have moved to other inspirations, and sometimes Western scholars are more attracted to Confucian values than Koreans.5 I see two directions in reinterpreting Confucianism. First, for both Asians and Westerners, Confucian texts and tradition have to be reread in its deepest meaning, reinterpreted, reunderstood with a meaning with which we can identify. We need therefore, to elaborate a well formulated hermeneutics of Confucianism. I refer, among others, to the thought of Paul Ricoeur, who, on the bases of Hegel and Husserl, has built a fruitful system of Western hermeneutics related to phenomenology. The philosopher goes back to the original texts, and carefully analyzes their structure. He does a long detour in order to overcome all immediacies in order to let the different levels of meaning appear and to make a real link with the present situation. Second, I see another possibility, a new reading of Confucianism in the dialogue of East-West philosophy, in the articulation of two ways of philosophizing. I believe it is time for Western philosophers to meditate more on the Eastern heritage.6 [page 14] 2. THE CORE OF KOREAN CONFUCIANISM Let us mention first that Korean Confucianism is deeply rooted in Chinese philosophy and that, despite the creation of Hangul in the 15th century by King Sejong, Koreans have mostly written in Chinese characters; in this they differ from Japanese scholars. Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714) (b), a great Japanese Neo-Confucian of the 17th century wrote in Japanese. It takes time to recognize what is specifically Korean. Before dealing with philosophy, I would like to make a comparison in the field of art, first between Asian landscapes and Western landscapes; second, I will compare Korean paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries with their Chinese-Japanese counterparts; and third, Korean Buddhist sculptures of the early period, 7-8th centuries, with their Chinese and Japanese counterparts in order to appreciate the uniqueness of Korean art While comparing Asian and Western paintings, we can notice that Asians do not use oil paints but ink mixed with water, ink on paper, to give the atmosphere of fog, mist, and clouds. They allow us to imagine, to dream, beyond the frame of the painting. There is no fixed frame like in the West. The artist uses techniques influenced by Eastern thought like stylization, expressing an object, a form with few lines, almost like a sign. He also makes use of empty space, expressing the flow of life, its purity, its change, that which is impermanent, and eternal. Andre Malraux says that Asian landscapes emerge from silence.7 Furthermore, a careful study of the landscape paintings of China, Korea, and Japan, mainly from the 15th to the 16th centuries, allows us to approach what is Korean. And through sculptures, contrasting Buddhist and Christian sculptures, then similar Asian Buddhist sculptures, we may experience what the Asian mind, the Korean mind is. Malraux says that one knows Buddhism better through its art than through its scriptures. This brings to mind the contrast between the serenity of a Buddha’s face and the great suffering often depicted in that of Christ’s face. While Christian art often presents a tragic situation, Asian art brings us beyond our immediate feelings, guides us towards an internal reality, a communion with life, which is joy and peace, after giving up bonds with material desires. Malraux says: “Although indifferent to knowledge in the Western sense, East Asian art is a means of revelation.”8 [page 15] COMPARATIVE EAST-WEST PAINTINGS:
KOREA: An Kyong, 15th century (1447), Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land [page 16]
FRANCE: The Hours of the Duke of Berry, 12 th century; Poussin, 17th century [page 17] COMPARATIVE EAST-WEST PAINTINGS:
CHINA: Buddha, Touen-Houang, 6-7th Century. [page 18] 
KOREA: Yi Chang-son, end of 15th century. [page 19] 
JAPAN: Seshu, Winter landscape, 15th century; Fukae Roshu, (1699-1757), ink, color and gold on paper, The Ivy Lane from the Tales of Ise. [page 20] COMPARATIVE EAST-WEST PAINTINGS: 
CHINA: Bodhisattva, 4-6th centuries. [page 21] 
KOREA: Paekche, Gilt-bronze contemplative Bodhisattva treasure 83. [page 22] 
JAPAN: Maitreya of Horyuji, Asuka Period, 6-7th Century. [page 23] 
FRANCE: Reims, Angel with a smile 13th Century.9 [page 24] In viewing such a delicate work, we must keep in mind its pertinence to philosophy. In order to reach some of the major philosophical aspects of Korean Confucianism, we have to overcome prejudices and over-simplifications. We must see that Korean Confucianism is not synonymous with the ideology spoken of today when referring to external aspects, social structures, or referring to the deviations it may have produced at certain times in history. I make a distinction between the ‘ideology’ and the true ‘‘tradition”. Confucianism represents different aspects and different cultural layers. There is no such a thing as a Confucianism or a Korean Confucianism. Confucianism has developed with different characteristics at different periods of time and when introduced in Korea, was expressed by Koreans with new forms of creativity. Koreans were first influenced by the personality of Confucius as a teacher and a leader, and we cannot understand Korean Confucianism without meeting the Master, as we could not understand Christian thought without Jesus. Koreans have also been shaped by what are called The Five Classics10 (c), among them The Book of Changes (d) and The Book of Rites (e), and The Four Books (f), The Analects of Confucius (g), The Book of Mencius (h), The Great Learning (i) and The Doctrine of the Mean (j), an important metaphysical source. Many of these texts have been meditated on and put into practice by Koreans just as the Bible has been studied deeply by Christians. This cannot be ignored easily and provides an important framework for reflection. Chinese and Korean Confucians made a constant effort to return to the original inspiration in order to rethink their history and their social life; reforms were made respecting tradition, while Western philosophers created new philosophies, often at odds with previous systems; I think of Descartes, Heidegger and Marx. Chong Ta-san (k), the talented Confucian scholar of the Sirhak movement at the time of the encounter between Confucianism and Catholicism, at the beginning of the 19th century, balanced technical discoveries, modernization, and classical Confucianism. While respectful of the fundamental tradition, he started to demythologize established views of Chu Hsiism, a philosophy based on the Chinese philosopher Chu Hsi (l)who lived during the 12th century. What Koreans have inherited from Confucianism from an early age is the “love of learning”(m) often expressed by Confucius. Confucius described himself as “a man, who in his eager pursuit [of knowledge] forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on.”11 He furthermore states, “At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning”.12 What is this learning? The motivation of learning was [page 25] expressed by Confucius as “a will to learn for oneself (n)”.13 Simply stated, learning is a process of life, in the course of which we learn, to think, to realize, and to change ourselves, to broaden our minds. Greek philosophers, particularly the Pre-Socratics, were inclined to establish a rational understanding of cosmic realities, laying the foundation for scientific knowledge. On the other hand, Confucians connected knowledge more to man’s action and transformation. More than knowing things as they are, they wanted to know how things should be, how man should act, what he should become, learning for oneself, as I put in my title the “Confucian Self”. Some may object that Confucians did not develop a clear concept of a Cogito, of an ‘individual’ like in European philosophy. The importance however, of the self is visible in Confucian philosophy, particularly in ‘self-cultivation’ (o), which we have to understand better, and in the third point, we will come back to the Eastern mind issue. The Confucian Self not being limited to the pure cogito of Descartes, or to the transcendental subject of Kant, embraces different aspects developed in Western philosophy. As Mary Evelyn Tucker, a specialist in Japanese Neo-Confucianism, put it recently: “Self-transformation depends on moral and spiritual cultivation to recover the deepest wellsprings of the human spirit.”14 Because of the Classics and of Confucius, the Confucian Self has been rooted more in achieving a righteous life than in the transparency of reason or rational enlightenment as found in Kant’s philosophy. The difficulty lies in the fact that Western thought clearly separated, through analysis, the differences among metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, logic and aesthetics, differentiating what is logical and non-logical, philosophical and religious, mind and heart reason and emotion. Eastern philosophy has always kept a sense of ‘interconnection,’ of fundamental unity, not ready to let go the unity of ‘Mind-and-Heart’, sim/hsin (p), which is at the same time a faculty of understanding the real and a faculty of relating to the real and people through intuition and emotion. Since Aristotle, man has been viewed as a rational being and everyone knows Descartes’ quotation: “I think, therefore I am,” concentrating only on “I think” and forgetting the existential foundation of “I am,” as Heidegger and Gabriel Marcel have pointed out. In Confucianism, man is more a “creative being.” Man, in relation to others, progressively discovers his situation and what remains yet unachieved in himself. The depths of his knowledge concern his own roots, his power of self-achievement which is called In/Jen by Confucius. Confucius said: “To subdue oneself and return to propriety, is perfect virtue (In/Jen) (q)15;” “He would love virtue, would esteem nothing above it”16 or “Fan Ch’ih asked about benevolence (In/Jen). The Master said, ‘It is to love [page 26] all men,”17 In his dialogues with his disciples, with princes, politicians and ordinary people, Confucius showed how easy it is to be satisfied with oneself, while one has reached only a weak level of “humanity,: whence his difference between what he calls the small man, Hsiao-jen/Soin (r) and the superior man, accomplished person, Kunja/Chun tzu, (s) which represent two extreme poles of development in one’s life. Related to the In/Jen, we find the concept of Tok/Te (t) which is difficult to understand correctly. Confucius said, “Heaven put virtue (Te/Tok) in me.”18 According to the etymology of the Chinese character, when our mind is really centered on true principles, we can go the right way. We have to polish, to work on the gift that we received from Heaven. Another aspect of the Self inherited more from The Book of Changes and The Doctrine of the Mean, one of the Four Books mentioned, is that man is ontologically part of the cosmos. Heidegger took great pains, in Being and Time, to show that man is first a being existing within the world. We will never know how much he was influenced by the East. In The Book of Changes, the Tao (u), a major Eastern concept, which we find at the root of Confucianism and Taoism, is presented. It would require a long explication to approach the Tao. I mention Victor Mair’s presentation, “As a religious and philosophical concept, Tao is the all-pervading self-existent, eternal cosmic unity, the source from which all created things emanate and to which they all return.”19 In The Book of Changes, the Tao is presented as a spring of life: “It [the Tao] possesses everything in great abundance: this is its great field of action (v). It renews everything daily: this is its glorious power, (w)”20 The Tao is goodness; it gives generously to all beings. It hides, but its fruits are all visible. “It manifests itself as kindness but conceals its workings. It gives life to all things...(x)”21 fruits in man are man’s nature. “As continue, it is good (y). As completer, it is the essence (human nature) (z).”22 As the Tao is the source of creativity, man is part of this creative process. The Doctrine of the Mean became a reference for all Neo-Confucianists from the time of Chu Hsi, giving a philosophical support to their view of Self, and Koreans have taken inspiration from it. In the view of the Doctrine of the Mean, man fulfills himself in fulfilling others and his final maturity is to contribute to the fulfillment of the whole universe. “Able to give its full development to his own nature, he can do the same for the nature of other men.../...Able to give their full development to the natures of creatures and things, he can assist the transforming and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth...forming a trinity with them.”23 We recognize here the three pillars of Confucianism: Heaven, Man, and Earth. (aa) [page 27] Recent research, for example, Tu Wei-ming, a Chinese/American scholar, has developed this view of a creative Self, relating it to Christian thinking. Tu Wei-ming, author of Selfhood as Creative Transformation,24 speaks of man as “co-creator” in the universe. “The godlike sage,” he states, “is the co-creator of the universe, not because the transcendent is totally humanized, but because the human is intimately transformed by means of a faithful dialogical response to the transcendent.”25 Korean thinkers, assimilating first classical Confucianism and enriching it with Neo-Confucianism, have taken seriously external and internal fulfillment, “wisdom inside, kinship outside.” (ab) Mary Evelyn Tucker shows that “Cultivation is the working toward resolving the tension (between grounding and growing) through an ongoing deepening and broadening of one’s personhood. The deepening is the inner grounding while the broadening is the growing outward.”26 Confucians always kept a high sense of responsibility in the success or failure of society. During the first part of the Choson dynasty，Koreans expressed their own research through two main trends of thought, namely the Tohak (ac) and the Songhak (ad) approaches. Hegel reflected on the evolution of abstract right to subjective morality and concrete morality in the state and society. If they did not develop a philosophy of right, Koreans worked on the emergence of a society rooted on higher principles, on justice and on the Tao, like Cho Kwang-jo (1480-1519) (ae), a figurehead of Tohak respected by T’oegye and Yulgok. Yi Toegye (1501-1570) (af), meditating on the political failures of his time, gave a touch of contemplation to Korean Neo-Confucianism. At the same time, that Western philosophers were freeing themselves from religion, T’oegye and Yulgok expressed the scholarly quest of Songhak, learning to become a sage. In admiring Confucius and Chu Hsi, T’oegye thought that great examples were needed to move a society in the right direction. He explored much of the heartistic dimensions of man, in an ethical-religious dimension, man ceaselessly cultivating his heart-and-mind and making his In/Jen shine. He initiated a debate, “The Four Beginnings and Seven Emotions” expressed first by Mencius and which became an important issue for Koreans. The religious dimension of Confucianism has only recently been introduced to the West.27 Yi Yulgok (1536-1584) (a), on T’oegye’s foundation, continued learning to become a sage, but differently from T’oegye, he was open to different trends of thought, even Wang Yang-ming (ag) and Buddhism. When assuming high political responsibilities, he suffered from the rivalries and narrow-mindedness of people. This is evident from his letters and poems. What made him [page 28] an important scholar is his intense and precise expression of a philosophy connecting the ideal world and the concrete world, which he expressed by his “mysterious unifying relation of I/Li and Ki/Ch’I’ (ah), “I-Ki chi myo”. (ai) He was conscious of the limits of his time and the weakness of culture. In 1574, in the Ten Thousand Characters Memorial he wrote: “The reason people today do not make an effort to practice goodness is because their mind-and- heart and their will are focused on other things. Politics, education and traditions have become that way. Culture is not enlightened and people’s desires are without limit. They set their will on wealth and position; they set their will on desire and enjoyment; they set their will on avoiding difficulties.
Better to understand this, we must take into account the attraction Koreans have for Western philosophy. Why does Western philosophy today have the upper hand in relation to Eastern thought? Koreans have discovered, during this century, that at the core of Western philosophy, we discover the power of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Western people have forgotten that it took almost two thousand years after the Greeks for Europeans to reach what they call a liberation from many forms of slavery and to reach freedom through confidence in their own thinking. In 1784, Kant wrote: “The motto of enlightenment is: Sapere aude. Have courage to use your own understanding. Only a few, by cultivating their own minds, have succeeded in freeing themselves from immaturity...”30 Later, Hegel explained in The Phenomenology of Spirit/Mind that the conscience must go through the stages of stoicism, skepticism and “unhappy conscience,” three forms of freedom, in order to enter the realm of reason. It must be mentioned that, although Kant and Hegel brought an important [page 29] “awakening” to the East, the reverse, which has not yet fully reached the world conscience, is that Western philosophy is not without the need to be stimulated or supplemented. Kant, as Chinese professor Mou Tsoung-tsan noticed31, viewed man too much as a limited, finite being, unable to reach the knowledge of noumena. Kant, emphasizing the role of critique, denied man an intellectual intuition, considering the metaphysical reality as impossible to reach and dealing with Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Here, Confucianism, in accord with Taoism and Buddhism, may answer that, on the one hand, Kant is right regarding scientific knowledge within the sphere of consciousness and empirical reality, but, on the other hand, man is able to push forward in the sphere of transcendental dimension in reconsidering the function of the mind-and-heart. East Asian philosophers have always believed that man has an intellectual intuition related to wisdom, besides the sense intuition, and can develop a knowledge by virtue and, through it, enter the sphere of noumena. We could express this East-West difference by the opposition between “knowledge by consciousness” and “knowledge by intellect” (wisdom) (aj) or “knowledge by virtue.” (ak) Yulgok, reflecting on The Doctrine of the Mean, emphasized that there is a form of knowledge coming out of sincerity (al) deeper than purely intellectual knowledge (am). Although this issue may seem abstract, it is, in fact, directly related to practical experience, which Asian philosophy has always emphasized. Kant figured out that the approach to the deepest questions of self, freedom, and God, is possible only through the exercise of “practical reason” and is more closely related to hope. Here I turn, for a moment, to a French philosopher of this century, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) who, refusing to sacrifice philosophy on the altar of science, allows a bridge with Eastern thought. In his work Creative Evolution he states: “To a metaphysical dogmatism, which has erected into an absolute the factitious unity of science, there succeeds a skepticism or a relativism that uni-versalizes and extends to all the results of science the artificial character of some among them. So philosophy swings to and fro between the doctrine that regards absolute reality as unknowable and that which, in the idea it gives us of this reality, says nothing more than science has said.”32 Bergson, who was looking for a specific solution to the question of philosophical knowledge, thought that Kant could have opened the way for a new philosophy, but that he did not believe that the matter of our knowledge was going beyond its form. For Bergson, experience progresses in two directions, [page 30] not only the direction of intelligence, but also the direction of intuition, of symbols. According to his hypothesis: “There would be a supra-intellectual intuition. If this intuition exists, a taking possession of the spirit by itself is possible, and no longer a knowledge that is external and phenomenal.” .../... “Sensuous intuition itself is promoted. It will no longer attain only the phantom of an unattainable thing-in-itself. It is (provided we bring to it certain indispensable corrections) into the absolute itself that it will introduce us.”33 With Bergson, the barriers between intelligence and intuition, understanding and sensitiveness are fading away. This is something Kant could not admit. Bergson speaks of “a knowledge from within, that can grasp facts in their springing forth instead of taking them already sprung, that would dig beneath space and spatialized time...”34 He speaks of the spirit reaching being in its depths: “Thus combined, all our knowledge, both scientific and metaphysical, is heightened. In the absolute we live and move and have our being. The knowledge we possess of it is incomplete, no doubt, but not external or relative. It is reality itself (being itself), in the profoundest meaning of the word that we reach by the combined and progressive development of science and philosophy.”35 Such philosophical research is in harmony with the Eastern way: to enter into relations, in communion with reality. Eastern thought lets us think that, if man is a being of reason, he is in an equally essential way, a being of heart. In this sense heart includes and fulfills different forms of knowledge, as well as emotions. Different concepts have been formulated in East Asian philosophy to express the multiple aspects of the mind-and-heart.36 Korean scholars, under the influence of Mencius, have constantly explored the heart on a philosophical level, although not in the modern Freudian psychological sense of the term, but more in an ethico-religious dimension. The Korean debate on The Four Beginnings and Seven Emotions (aq), as mentioned earlier, could be reexpressed as an attempt to put into perspective the positive heartistic dimension of man, as an ongoing process of the self, above the level of passions or impulses. Ricoeur once thought of the possibility of a philosophy of heart between the transcendental analysis and the experience of man’s wretchedness as expressed by Pascal.37 We are only beginning to discover what the East—be it either Confucianism, Taoism, or Buddhism—has to offer on this heartistic dimension of the Self. Let us turn, for a moment, to Yulgok and his conception of the Self. I [page 31] have analyzed elsewhere Yulgok’s ontological exigence of the Self in relation to Merleau-Ponty and Gabriel Marcel. Yulgok was searching, within the scope of Neo-Confucianism, to articulate the realm of mind-and-heart and the physical world, taking both seriously and wanting to go further than idealism or realism. Giving full consideration to the “incarnate dimension” of man, he showed that man has the responsibility to let his heart flourish among the risks of life. Yulgok helps us to deepen the Self from within our physical condition. What come first are feelings related to the physical experience, to concrete things and beings, but in experiencing feelings, man is on his way toward a very internal aspect of his nature, the In/Jen. “The In/Jen,” he states, “is the totality of the virtues and the summit of all forms of goodness. The mind-and- heart is the body’s subject and the all-embracing organ of human value and feelings.”38 It is in becoming a being of true feelings that man awakens to the depths of the In/Jen. Differently from T’oegye, for Yulgok, emotions comprise the Four Beginnings; although the Seven Feelings have not the full genuineness of the Four Beginnings, they are the place where the depths of human nature blossom. Through feelings, Yulgok takes us to deeper levels of experience. The emotions are rooted in In/Jen; the In/Jen (q) is rooted in Song/sincerity (ar), which is at the same time the foundation of cosmic being and the foundation of human nature. “ ‘Origination, flourishing, benefiting, and firmness’ represent the sincerity of Heaven and ‘Humanity, righteousness, propriety and wisdom’ represent the sincerity of human nature.”39 Yulgok calls this vision of the Self true heart (as) or real/substantial heart (at) related to real principle. While man is led toward the deepest level of the Self, at the same time he is connected to all dimensions of the universe and moved toward true action. As the universe does not cease to give life and to renew all things, man, who discovers and attains his true Self, is constantly active. Yulgok does not allow himself to be enclosed in an analysis set only by the Four Beginnings, but he delves into the heart-and-mind dynamic, returning always to its original unity. He approaches mind-and-heart from different angles, but, according to him, mind-and-heart finds its true identity in a mature Self. This maturity responds to true principle and to true heart. Man has to keep these three dimensions together. He is at the same time an internal man and involved in fulfilling history and the universe. True heart is what motivates man to act and fulfill all responsibilities. What is at stake is not just maturity on a mind level according to the Enlightenment, but going toward a full maturation of mind and heart. Many 19th-20th century philosophers cele- [page 32] brated the Self as a rebellious self, Nietzsche, Marx, Camus, Sartre, Foucault et al., the Self being totally independent, emerging in revolt against God, against others, against institutions. Yulgok suggests a path for man toward the true Self as self-fulfillment, Ingan Songch’ui (au). A true man is a being of interrelation, mind and body, reason and emotion, self and other, on the way to sagehood, as well as on the way to full social responsibility and communion with the cosmos. Honor is to walk this path without quitting, whatever the cost, sometimes in solitude, sometimes in the midst of despair, bringing one’s part to the foundation of a truer society, by becoming truer oneself. Yulgok is conscious of the possibilities of contradiction and evil in man because of the two dimensions of the human mind and the Tao mind (av), although he underlines the unity of the heart-and-mind. Depth and internal strength are needed to understand what is taking place within the Self: “The issuance of the Tao mind is like a fire to burn or a spring just issuing forth, insofar as at first they are difficult to see; hence it is described as “subtle”. The issuance of the human mind is like a hawk loosed from its tether or a horse that has slipped its bridle, insofar as their flying or galloping off is hard to control; hence it is described as “perilous”. Yulgok differentiates the human mind and the Tao mind, but his final aim is that, even via the human mind condition, it is the Tao mind condition which ultimately prevails. Setting the will (aw) is a crucial decision for man to move toward wisdom. Oftentimes I am asked the question “What does Confucianism have to offer?” I answer, especially during the past ten years, that much has already been accomplished concerning Confucianism in the world community by scholars of East Asian studies. Eastern specialists in various fields have progressively analyzed the many facets of Confucianism, such aspects as: the anthropocosmic view, the social ethic, the political ideology, its philosophy, art and way of life. Publications, conferences, and activities are numerous and conducted by outstanding scholars who follow the foundations laid by previous pioneers, i.e. the Jesuits in China since the 16th century, the German, British and French missionaries who systematically started translating the Classics at the end of the 19th century, just to mention a few. Among recent American studies on Confucianism, I mention a collection of articles on The Religious Dimension of Confucianism in Japan recently published by Philosophy East & West, which is very instructive on a crucial aspect of Confucianism.41 The authors stress how much Confucianism helps us to rethink what religion is, the relation to the absolute and life, and the relationship between [page 33] various religions. Rodney Taylor, for example, concludes his article by saying, “To be fully human for the Confucian is to be fully religious.”42 Among many lessons from Confucianism we might treasure, I would like to stress two points. First, in contrast to many complex philosophical theories and systems, Confucianism may guide us in rediscovering major questions with simplicity. “God is love,” Christianity teaches us, “Use your reason,” Kant tells us. Confucius and great Confucians tell us: “Do not cease to learn to become a real human being,” which we need more than ever. Our century has been shattered by so many tragedies, and Korea is not yet out of it with the North. “How is it possible to think and to live after Auschwitz?” many philosophers have asked. There is a barbarity within man which we have difficulty controlling, despite all important religious and philosophic teachings. Confucianism brings us back to ordinary life, to daily practice here and now, starting with those who are the closest to us and guides us to appreciate first goodness in others without emphasizing their shortcomings. We need to conquer, win day by day our human dignity, as Gabriel Marcel so eloquently states throughout his work. The second point, also crucial in Confucianism is that the Self is intimately connected to others. The West sometimes reaches the limitations of individualism, which is not the true dimension of the individual. The Confucian Self is a common Self, living in a fiduciary community to take an expression of Tu Wei-ming, although it needs to be reinterpreted today. One disciple of Confucius says of the marten’s whole teachings, “It is to be true to the principles of our nature chung/chung and the benevolent exercise of them to others so/shu (ax) -this and nothing more.”43 The character of Shu/so expresses how people are able to vibrate to the heart of the other; it is used by Koreans when they ask for forgiveness yongso. (ay) Such is the true foundation of Confucianism. Society is to care wholly for others. To become a true Self is to establish a relationship of fidelity and sincerity with others, which is the root of society, more than any political contract or legal system of duty. In order that Confucian relations do not become formalized, it is important to go back to the source. It is significant to me that Paul Ricoeur, who spoke years ago of the impact which Eastern thought would have on the Western Greek/Judeo-Christian philosophical tradition, wrote in his book The Self as Another, in which he explores the ontological foundation of the Western Self concerning the experience of suffering, while looking for a practical wisdom to guide us in living a good life respectful of the golden rule, a moral principle that involves inherently a justice and real sharing in our social relations. [page 34] 4. CONCLUSION
If however, circumstances seem against us and people in disarray or even doing wrong, we have left, beyond everything, the wisdom life gave us. Never does spring fail to fill us with wonder. This is expressed in hexagram 24 Pok/Fu.46 So many difficulties remain, but the light is coming back, new ideas, new people are emerging and bringing real changes to us. While respecting the natural course of events, it is up to us to have the patience and the courage to act without acting, which Confucians share with the Taoists. Here, in order to see what is newly emerging on the horizon, we need to learn with the great sages the importance of contemplation and meditation, to solve the complex problems of life. According to the Yi King, “Only through what is deep can one penetrate all wills on earth. Only through the seeds can one complete all affairs on earth. Only through the divine can one hurry without haste and reach the goal without walking.”47 And, here, Yi Yulgok and Gabriel Marcel share the same quest for the accomplished life. As Marcel put it, let us see beyond the problems which block our way and let us enter into a metaproblematic, let us enter in what he calls the ontological mystery, the deepest ontological reality in which I am participating but of which I have discovered only a small part.48 In the end, what do we know about ourselves and man’s place in society? Confucius said, “I am unknowing.”49 Lao Tzu put it this way, “One who knows [page 35] does not speak. One who speaks does not know.”50 I leave the last words to Yi Yulgok from a conversation with a Buddhist monk: “A jumping fish and a flying eagle Are the rhythm of life That runs downward and upward. It is neither reality Nor emptiness (az). But reality yet emptiness and emptiness yet reality. In the speech of the Confucianist There are things that cannot be said And even in the silence of the Buddhist There are things that can be said.”51 NOTES 1. Ricoeur, Paul, Oneself as Another, tr. Kathleen Blarney, University of Chicago Press, 1992, Preface, pp. 16-23. 2. Hegel, History of Philosophy, French edition, Gallimard, tome 2, 1970, Oriental Philosophy, pp.67 & sq. 3. Jullien, Frangois, Figures de 1’Immanence -Pour une lecture philosophique du Yi King, le Classique du Changement, Grasset, 1993. 4. Jullien, Frangois, Fonder la Morale -Dialogue de Mencius avec un philosophe des Lumieres, Grasset, 1996. 5. Thiebault, Philippe, Building Character, For Man’s Fulfillment, according to the Confucian View of Sage-Learning -centered on Yi Yulgok’s (a) Philosophy. Doctoral dissertation written in Korean, 1994. 6. David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, Anticipating China, Thinking through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture, State University of New York Press, 1995. 7. Malraux, Andre, La Metamorphose des Dieux, L’Intemporel, Gallimard, 1976. Pp.169-238. 8. Malraux, Andre, op. cit., p.219. 9. Treasures of the Early Choson Dynasty, 1392-1592，published by Ho-Am Art Gallery, 1997; Sherman E.Lee, A History of Far Eastern Art, Harry N. Abrams, 1982; Masterpieces from East and West, Introduction by John Russell, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Rizzoli, 1992. 10. The Book of Changes or The Yi Ching; The Book of Rites or the Li Ki: The Book of Poetry or the She King; The Book of Historical Documents or The [page 36] Shoo King; The Ch’un Ts’ew & The Tso Chuen. 11. Confucian Analects, translated by James Legge, Dover, 1892, Analects 7, 18. 12. Op.cit, Analects 2, 4. 13. Op.cit. Analects, 14, 25: “In ancient times, men learned with a view to their own improvement. Nowadays, men learn with a view to the approbation of others.” 14. Philosophy East & West, Special Issue, January 1998: The Religious Dimension of Confucianism in Japan, Guest Editor, Peter Nosco; Mary Evelyn Tucker, Religious Dimensions of Confucianism: Cosmology and Cultivation, p. 14. 15. Confucian Analects, tr. Legge, op.cit., Analects, 12, 1. 16. Op. cit., Analects, 4, 6. 17. Op. cit., Analects, 12, 22. 18. Op. cit., Analects, 7, 22. 19. Tao Te Ching, Translated, annotated, and with an afterword by Victor Mair, Bantam Books, 1990, Afterword p. 133. 20. The I Ching or Book of Changes, translated by Richard Wilhelm, Princeton University Press, 1950/1976，The Great Treatise, chapter V, 5. 21. Op. cit., The Great Treatise, chapter V, 4. 22. Op. cit., The Great Treatise, chapter V, 2. 23. The Doctrine of the Mean, translated by James Legge, Chapter 22. 24. Tu Wei-Ming, Confucian Thought -Selfhood as Creative Transformation, State University of New York Press, 1985/1991. 25. Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Commonality, an essay on Confucian Religious-ness, a revised and enlarged edition of Centrality and Community- an essay on Chung-yung, 1989, p.98. 26. Mary Evelyn Tucker, Philosophy East & West, Religious Dimensions of Confucianism, op.cit., p.9. 27. Taylor, Rodney, The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism, State University of New York Press, 1990; The Religious Character of the Confucian Tradition, Philosophy East & West, January 1998, pp.80-107. 28. Yi Yulgok, Ten Thousand Characters Memorial, 5, 25. 29. Ricoeur, Paul, The Conflict of Interpretations, Essays in Hermeneutics, ed. By Don Ihde, Northwestern University Press, 1974; French edition, p.396. 30. Kant, Immanuel, An Answer to the Question: “What is Enlightenment?”, 1784. 31. Mou Tsoung-tsan, Fourteen Lectures on the Intercommunication between Chinese and Western Philosophy, translated by Chan Clapton Wai-Cheung，Lecture 4, 1995. 32. Bergson, Henri, Creative Evolution, tr. By Arthur Mitchell, The Modern Library, New York, 1944, p.216. 33. Bergson, Henri, op.cit., p.391. 34. Bergson, Henri, op.cit., p.393. 35. Bergson, Henri, op.cit., p.218. 36. Ponsim (an), Tosim (an), Totoksim/dao de xin (ao), Yangsim/linijn zhi (ap). [page 37] 37. Ricoeur, Paul, Philosophy of the Will, Fallible Man, tr. Charles A.Kelbely, Chicago, Henry Regnery, 1965(1960), p.98. 38. Yi Yulgok, Questions on the Sincerity in the Four Books, 6.43ab. 39. Yi Yulgok, Book on Sincerity, 6, 18. 40. Yulgok’s Response to Ugye’s First Letter, The Four-Seven Debate, op.cit., p. 130. 41. Philosophy East & West, Special Issue, January 1998, Guest Editor, Peter Nosco. 42. Op.cit., p.97. 43. Confucian Analects, translated by James Legge, Dover, 1892, Analects, 4, 15. 44. The Book of Changes, tr.. Richard Wilhelm/Cary Baynes, Book I, 23, Po/Split- ting Apart, The Image, p.94: “The mountain rests on the earth: The image of splitting apart. Thus those above can ensure their position only by giving generously to those below.”; Commentary on the decision, p.501: “Splitting apart means ruin .../... The superior man takes heed of the alternation of increase and decrease, fullness and emptiness; for it is the course of heaven.” 45. Jullien, Frangois, Figures de 1’Immanence，Pour une Lecture philosophique du Yi King, Grasset, 1993, p.163. 46. The Book of Changes, Book I, op.cit., The Image, p.98: “Thunder within the earth: The image of the Turning Point.”; The Sequence, p.504: “Things cannot be destroyed once and for all. When what is above is completely split apart, it returns below.”; Commentary on the Decision, p.505: “ ‘Return has success.’ The firm returns. Movement and action through devotion. Therefore, ‘Going and Coming in without error.’ “ 47. The Book of Changes, Great Treatise, op.cit., I, 10, 6. 48. Marcel, Gabriel, Positions et Approches Concretes du Mystere Ontologique, Nauvelaerts, 1949. 49. Analects, op.cit., 9, 7, 50. Tao Te Ching , op.cit., 19(50), p.25. 51. Quoted in Yu Chin-sei, The Quest for the Self in the Philosophy of Yi Yulgok, University of Michigan, 1984, p.43. BIBLIOGRAPHY I. EASTERN CLASSICS • The Five Classics • The Four Books • The I Ching or Book of Changes, translated by Richard Wilhelm, Princeton University Press, 1950/1976 • The Chinese Classics, Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, translated by [page 38] James Legge, Hong Kong University Press, 1960 • The Chinese Classics, The Works of Mencius, translated by James Legge, Hong Kong University Press, 1960 • Tao Te Ching, translated, annotated, and with an afterword by Victor Mair, Bantam Books, 1990 \ II. WESTERN BOOKS ON EASTERN THOUGHT • Jullien, Frangois, Figures de l’Immanence-Pour une lecture philosophique du Yi King, le Classique du changement, Grasset, 1995 • Jullien, Frangois, Fonder la Morale-Dialogue de Mencius avec un philosophe des Lumieres, Grasset, 1996 • David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, Thinking through Confucius, State University of New York Press, 1987 • David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, Anticipating China, Thinking through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture, State University of New York Press, 1995 • Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Commonality, an essay on Confucian Religiousness, a revised and enlarged edition of centrality and Community-an essay on Chung- yung, 1989 • Tu Wei-ming, Confucian Thought-Selfhood as Creative transformation, State University of New York Press, 1985/1991 • The Four-Seven Debate, ed. by Michael Kalton, SUNY Press, 1994 • To Become A Sage, The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning by Yi T’oegye，translated by Michael Kalton, Columbia University Press, 1988 • Chung, Edward, The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok, SUNY Press, 1995 • Ro, Young-Chan, The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi Yulgok, SUNY Press, 1989 • Nosco, Peter, Guest Editor, The Religious Dimension of Confucianism in Japan, Philosophy East & West, Special Issue, January 1998 • Malraux, Andre, La Metamorphose des dieux, L’Intemporel, Gallimard, 1976 III. WESTERN PHILOSOPHY BOOKS • Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, 1781，translated by Meiklejohn • Kant, An Answer to the Question: “What is Enlightenment”, 1784 • Hegel, History of Philosophy, French edition, Gallimard, tome 2, 1970 • Bergson, Henri, Creative Evolution, tr. by Arthur Mitchell, The Modern Library, New York, 1944 • Ricoeur, Paul, Philosophy of the Will, Fallible Man, tr. Charles A. Kelbely, Chicago, Henry Regnery, 1965 (1960) • Ricoeur, Paul, The Conflict of Interpretations, Essays in hermeneutics, ed. by Don Ihde, Northwestern University Press, 1974 [page 39] • Ricoeur, Paul, Oneself as Another, tr. Kathleen Blarney, University of Chicago Press, 1992 • Marcel, Gabriel, La dignite humaine, Aubier, 1964 • Marcel, Gabriel, Les Hommes contre l’Humain, La Colombe, 1951 • Marcel, Gabriel, Positions et Approches Concretes du Mystere Ontologique, Nauvelaerts, 1949 GLOSSARY OF CHINESE CHARACTERS a. Yi Yulgok 李栗谷 b. Kaibara Ekken 貝原益軒 c. The Five Classics 五經 d. The Book of Changes 周易 e. The Book of Rites 禮記 f. The Four Books 四書 g. Confucian Analects 論語 h. The Book of Mencius 孟子 i. The Great Learning 大學 J. The Doctrine of the Mean 中庸 k. Chong Yak-yong, Tasan 丁若鏞 茶山 l. Chu Hsi 朱熹 朱子 m. Ho hak 好學 n. Wigi chi hak 爲己之學 o. Susin Sugi 修身 修己 P. Sim/hsin 心 q. In/Jen 仁 r. Soin/Hsiao-jen 小人 s. Kunj a/Chun tzu 君子 t. Tok/Te 德 u. To/Tao 道 V. Taeop 大業 w. Song tok 盛 德 X. Ko manmul 鼓萬物 y. Kyejija sonya 繼之者 善也 z. Songjija songya 成之者 性也 aa. Ch’oninchi 天人地 ab. Naesong waewang 內聖外王 ac. Tohak 道學 ad. Songhak 聖學 ae. Cho Kwang-jo 趙光祖 [page 40] af. Yi T’oegye 李退溪 ag. Wang Yang-ming 王陽明 ah. I/Li-Ki/Ch’i 理-氣 ai. I-Ki chi myo 理氣之妙 aj. Sik chi/Shi shi ji 識 知 ak. Toksong chi ji/dao de shih 德性之知 al. Chasongmong 自誠明 am. Chamyongsong 自明誠 an. Ponsim, Tosim 本心, 道心 ao. Totoksim/dao de xin 道德心 ap. Yangsim/liang zhi 良心 aq. Sadan Ch’ilchong 四端七情 ar. Song 誠 as. Silsim 實心 at. Silli 實理 au. Ingan Songch’ui 人間成就 av. Insim-Tosim 人心-道心 aw. Ipchi 立志 ax. Ch’ung-So 忠-恕 ay. Yongso 容恕 az. 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