晦齋 箴銘의 내용과 성격 및 문학사적 의미

Abstract

Hoejae Lee Eonjeok(晦齋 李彦迪, 1491～1553)'s proverbs and mottos(Jam- yeong, 箴銘) carried out a leading role in transforming Korean allegorical Jam-myeong literature, which was actively created in Koryeo Dynasty in accordance with Jam-myeong tradition passed down from ancient East Asia, into Neo confucianism way. This study is done to examine Hoejae's Jam-myeong, evaluate its literary properties and its significance in history of Korean literature. Among Hoejae's Jam-myeong, there are 3 Jams(箴) and 3 Myeongs(銘) remaining, from 「Won-jo-o-jam(元朝五箴)」 written at his age 27 to 「Jeong-jeong-myeong(定靜銘)」 written at his age 57 during his exile in Gang-gye. 「Won-jo-o-jam」 contains five Jams, Woe-cheon(畏天, reverence to heaven), Yang-shim(養心, cultivate consciousness), Gyeong-shin(敬身, honor my body), Gae-gwa(改過, repentence), and Dok-ji(篤志, resolute will), so actually 7 Jams and 3 Myeongs are the total remaining Hoejae's Jam-myeong. The consistent theme of Hoejae's Jam-myeong is ‘suppressing one's greed and abiding by the courtesy[克己復禮].’ He was an earnest scholar and man of discipline who practiced his understandings in life. He strongly opposed personal inner greed and idleness, or external temptations and dangers. Based on such attitude, he declared his life attitude in 「Won-jo-o-jam」 to fear the heavens, introspect the mind, respect the body, mend the flaws, and establish his will. 「Ip-jam(立箴)」was written when he was at the age 30, and there he introspects and determines to be more philosophically and morally independent according to Confucius' teaching ‘on 30 years old I established myself(三十而立)’, and in「Ja-shin-jam(自新箴)」 he determines to follow ‘be the new person each and every day emulating[日新又日新]’ admonition. These three Jams, as they imply in their titles, were written to introspect and self-warn when he reached certain age or at new years. There are 3 Myeongs written by Hoejae. Among them, in 「Jeong-jeong- myeong(定靜銘)」 and 「Ji-chi-myeong(知耻銘)」, as it is implied in the title, he expresses his determination to acknowledge his shame and his hope to settle in peace. Especially in 「Ji-chi-myeong」, a lengthy Myeong that uses various expressions, he strongly opposes ones who don't know any shame. Among Hoejae's Myeongs, in 「Mu-hyeon-geum-myeong(無絃琴銘)」 he expresses his ego relatively free from Confucianism virtues. In this work, he shows his hope to be liberated from all the compliments and evaluations of cumbersome and troublesome world and to live freely in the primordial nature. In literary aspect, Hoejae's Jam-myeong is Confucianism didactic essay with Geuk-gi-bok-rye(克己復禮) as its ultimate goal. In his writings, most of the sufferings arose by the world around him are mostly caused by inner carelessness state, such as personal greed or idleness. When a work has a goal to grow upright heart against inner carelessness, writings become to have less literary tension because they usually have excessively didactic character. In order to avoid this, Hoejae used different terms, or repeated terms in creative ways, or he used counterevidence or interlocutory to enhance writing's vitality. Hoejae has a significant position in the history of Korean literature. In Koryeo Dynasty, Ki-mul-myeong style (proverbs written at daily necessities) Jam-myeong literature was created mostly with allegorical and satirical property, but in the late Joseon Dynasty, most of Jam-myeong literature was created with didactic property of vigilance and warning, and Hoejae's Jam-myeong lies at the transition. As much as the late Joseon Dynasty scholars respected Hoejae, their following Jam-myeong literature were highly influenced by Hoejae.