성현 제사의 존재론적 토대에 관한 주자학적 고찰 - 도통론과의 정합적 해명을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper examines how the sympathetic and emotional logic of Li-Chi Theory (理氣論) based on the blood ties of ancestral rites can be applied to the rites for the saints with non-blood ties within the system of Neo-Confucianism, and discusses the possibility that Li-Chi Theory’s interpretation of the existential foundation of the rites for the saints can be explained in conformity with the theory of Dontong. Zhu Xi perceived the situation in China in the 12th century, when various religious beliefs such as Buddhism, Taoism, and shamanism dominated the daily lives of the people as a serious cultural crisis, and claimed that the ethics which inherited the teachings of the ancient saints could only resolve the confusion of the Chinese culture and rebuild that culture in the right direction. In addition, Zhu Xi expanded the Dotong theory, which claimed the pure succession of the saints' Do (道), spreading widely to society by establishing shrines for the saints and by holding rites for them. However, Zhu Xi, who argued that ghosts actually descend by synchronizing with the living, faced the problem of explaining how synchronized response was possible in the rites for the saints based on non-blood ties. In response, Zhu Xi argued that synchronized response can occur in the right relationship between the object and the subject of rites, and that the right relationship, which was based on Li (理), was not limited to blood ties, but could also be established through living persons' consideration and succession for the achievements of the deceased. This interpretation based on Li-Chi Theory explained the existential basis of the rites for the sages, and this opened the possibility that the transmission of Do (道), an existential and imperative law, could secure substantiality beyond logical reasoning or cultural symbolism.