조선 유학에 계승된 단군신화의 ‘하늘 관념’과 ‘신선사상’ 탐색 ‒ 「천명도(天命圖)」를 중심으로 본 한국철학의 정체성

Abstract

In Dangun mythology, there is an inherent archetypal image of the heaven of our people. The myth of Dan-gun best describes the idea of Korean heaven, and the secret of Korean Sin-seon (Taoism) thought is hidden in it. The overall composition shows a mobius-like circular movement from Heaven(God) to earth and back to Heaven. In the structure of this Mobius circle, Heaven (God) shows a will to the earth. The will to the earth is expressed in ‘Hong-ik-in-gan(humanitarianism)’ and the realization of it is expressed by ‘Jae-sae-i-hwa(Ruling the world with reason)’. On the other hand, humans show their will to Heaven. But the desire to be heaven is, in turn, the desire for ‘Hong-ik-in-gan’ and ‘Jae-sae-i-hwa’, because the will of Heaven is directed to the earth. In other words, the characteristics of Koreans can be defined as people with a cyclical will to Heaven and again to the earth. Joseon was a period of extreme decline in Heaven-experience of the Korean people as they began to rule according to the ideology of Neo-Confucianism. Nevertheless, the Joseon Neo- Confucianism continued to inherit the idea of Heaven and Korean Sin-seon(Taoism) thought in Dangun myth. The characteristics of Korean Neo-Confucianism began to emerge in the first half of the 16th century, when the debate over the theme of ‘Chenmyeong(Providence)’ took place. ‘Cheonmyeongdo’ contains the characteristics of Korean Neo-Confucianism in the first half of the 16th century in an intensive and symbolic manner. The cultural heritage of Dangun mythology inherited to the ‘Cheon-myeong-do’ is the idea of transcendental God and the ‘Cheon-in-mu-gan’ that there is no gap between Heaven and man. This is different from the idea of Chinese Heaven, which has the characteristics of ‘Yi Beopcheon(理法天H, Heaven as laws and principles)’. Due to the different Heaven concepts from China’s, the characteristics of Joseon Confucianism are formed, not cosmological interests, but psychosocial and self-cultivational interests. And in terms of the methodology of the theory of self-cultivation, Joseon Neo-Confucianism takes a different path from Zhu Xi’s.