고려 중기 義理儒學의 실상―기존 학설에 대한 비판과 왕안석의 新學을 중심으로―

Abstract

This paper suggests the terms of Confucianism for Decrees and Regulations (典章儒學), Confucianism for Verse and Prose (辭章儒學), Confucianism as Philosophical Thought (義理儒學), and Confucianism for Basis and Foundation (基底儒學), for the classification of Confucianism, and also raises a new theory on Confucianism in the mid-Koryŏ period criticizing preceding researches. First of all, as for the Kujae Haktang (九齋學堂, Nine Hall Institute), a private school established by Ch’oe Ch’ung (崔沖), which has been rather insufficiently researched, this paper demonstrates the background of its establishment, the meaning of the each name of the nine halls and its logic of organization, from the perspective of Confucianism for principles and righteousness. Ch’oe Ch’ung combines together the concept of Xiushen (修身, cultivating one’s moral character) and Zhiguo (治國, governing a country well) in terms of Confucianism to recover the original meaning of the terms which has been understood separately in the prism of prevailing understanding in the period of Buddhism that Xiushen is related to Buddhism and Zhiguo to Confucianism. He establishes a private school with his considerable understanding of Confucianism which was deeply influenced by the pre-Dao Learning scholars, to cultivate the retainer-candidates who pursuit to be a sage-like person modeling after Confucius. This paper proves that nine names of the rooms of the school and its logic of organization is related to the way of being a sage in terms of Confucianism as Philosophical Thought. The germinating Confucianism as Philosophical Thought formulated by Ch’oe Ch’ung, however, did not have such sound theoretical foundations that it was eclipsed by the New Learning suggested by Wang Anshi from the Song dynasty. This New learning reaching its prime in the reign of King Yejong and Injong is characterized by two phenomena: a widespread thesis on Xingming Daode (性命道德, the nature and the fate, the way and the virtue) as a national academic policy, and a rise of a relatively high level of the Jingyixue (經義學, learning on the meaning of the Classic). This paper elucidates that the theory on Xingming Daode during that period, which has been recognized as a proposition of Dao Learnings, was in fact originated from Wang, and Jingyixue burgeoned under the influence of the New Learning with the improvement of national school and the state examination system. However, the theory suggested by Wang is so complex and intricate that the discourses mostly occurred in the verbal form and disappeared after the Military Officers’ Revolt in 1170. This paper rebuts the contention that Neo-Confucianism was already pervasive in this period, predicated on the assumption that the phrases such as Qiongli Jinxing (窮理盡性, probing the principle and exhausting the nature) or Yinxing Xunli (因性循理, following the fate and the principle) in literary writings after the Military Officers’ Revolt are propositions of Neo-Confucianism, and suggests that the proposition Qiongli Jinxing should be understood in its original meaning, not under the rubric of Neo-Confucianism. In the same vein, this paper also argues that Yinxing Xunli here simply means ‘to follow the natural flow’, that it does not relevant to the proposition of Neo-Confucianism at all, i.e. to follow “the principle that is what ought to be’ (所當然之理) or ‘the nature is principle’ (性卽理), based on the Xing (性) discourse in the Song period. Confucianism for Decrees and Regulations and Confucianism for Verse and Prose were dominant until the Mid-Koryŏ Period. Therefore, the orthodoxy of Confucianism as Philosophical Thought in Korea was derived from the doctrines Zhuzi xue (朱子學) that was imported to Koryŏ in the late 13th century. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that the concept of Li (理) and Qi(氣) that appears in a fu (賦, rhapsody) work by Chŏng Yi (鄭義) in the reign of King Kojong is based on that of Laozi (老子) from Huainanzi (淮南子), not that of Cheng Yi (程頤).