이돈화의 동학사상 연구 —‘인내천(人乃天)’과 ‘지기론(至氣論)’을 중심으로—

Abstract

This study examines the Donghak thought of Lee Don-hwa, who can be said to be a representative Donghak theorist under Japanese colonial rule, focusing on ‘Innaecheon (人乃天)’ and ‘theory of Jiki (至氣)’. When Donghak said, ‘Human is Hanul (Innaecheon, 人乃天)’, Lee Don-hwa divided Hanul into ‘quantitative Hanul of the great universe’ and ‘qualitative Hanul as autonomous creation of Muwiihwa (無爲而化)’. Muwiyihwa means Jigi(至氣, extreme energy)’s autonomous creation. Lee Don-hwa understood Su-woon's experience with Hanul-nim as a mental phenomenon of ‘mutual dialogue (天師問答)’. This was presented as the ‘God of Innaecheon(人乃天)’, that is, ‘pantheistic monotheism’ that went through a process of gradual change. Here, the gradual change means the stage of hearing the heavenly language from the air→the stage of hearing from the inside→the stage where each word becomes the inner voice and becomes the heavenly language. In addition, Lee Don-hwa also described Inaecheon as ‘humanity infinity’ and ‘humanity nature’. The ‘humanity infinity’ means to encompass the totality of all things in the universe that appear as differential images. The ‘humanity nature’ as Hanul’s spiritual power, means the subject of Gaebyeok (開闢) who achieves Hanul’s autonomous creation. This was part of Inecheon’s philosophical systematization, which led to the ‘Evolutionary theory of Muwiihwa (無爲而化)’ and ‘Theory of Jigi realism’.