朱熹与李珥的鬼神祭祀观

Abstract

This essay aims to analyze Zhu Xi's and Lee Yi's thinking about ghosts(ancestors) and ancestral rites. This also focuses a transitional tendency that ancestral rites on Korean traditional holidays are becoming just formal. Of cause, it is impossible to refuge a new paradigm and go back to the past. In spite of that, it is needed to revive the concept of "like being here" by Confucius, "being sincere is being practical" by Zhu Xi and "real minds to serve ancestors" by Lee Yi. Confucianism is not a kind of religion, although it highlights serving ghosts. It is a theory on social ethics and politics to emphasize human beings and humanism in reality. Zhu Xi thinks man attains his life and form from Ri and the activities of his consciousness and soul come from Gi. He thinks all transformations or changes of things are originated from the effect of Gi. He also places the same value on the active variability of Gi in the matter of ghosts(ancestors). Human being and their ancestors can be related by the same Gi one another, so his being sincere and respectful is essential to serve ancestors. Lee Yi follows Zhu Xi's thoughts a little. However, Lee Yi re-explains the concept as his own term, "Ri-Tong-Gi-Guk" meaning "Ri penetrates all things but Gi is limited within itself." In other words, Gi is gathered and then dispersed, but Ri never has its beginning and end. Ri is thus a universal truth and is immanent in Gi, which is a phenomenon of various things. A real body exists in a changeable and prevalent phenomenon. As a result of that, a real body would be a phenomenon and a phenomenon would be a real body. So, Ri can connect man to his ancestor through a sincere rite even though both of them are far away from each other in life and death. Relating descendents to their ancestors is the validity for the ancestral rites of Confucianism. In fact, the importance of the rite is continually lessening. People in modern society, never being in a feudal society, are likely to be self-interested and consider their practical interests the most. People are busy maintaining the form of the rites rather than true contents. Maintaining balance between two things convenient and inconvenient or simple and vexatious may be difficult like simplicity and elegance in harmony. Therefore, ancestral rites will naturally be changed according to the changes of people's thinking and time. Nevertheless, the only thing that should not be changed is the descendants' mind and attitude to honor their ancestors through the form of the rites. That is the same as what Zhu Xi and Lee Yi accentuates.