부동심(不動心) 공부와 시중(時中)과의 관계 고찰: 맹자 「공손추상」 2장 18-28절을 중심으로

Abstract

This study mainly aims to discuss the relationship between Unmoved Mind(不動心) and the Ceaseless Rebalancing(時中), based on the principle of the step-by-step progression of study presented in Mencius 3-2: 18-28. The research on the practical orientation that Mencius tried to secure through the study of Unmoved Mind is relatively insufficient compared to the interest in it. Since the continuous interest in the educational value and realistic scalability of the study of Confucianism is an essential pedagogical search, this study aims, through an intensive analysis of Mencius 3-2: 18-28, to suggest that the realistic orientation of Unmoved Mind(不動心) is the Ceaseless Rebalancing. This study believes that the practical orientation of Unmoved Mind study embodied through Understanding Words(知言) and Nourishing of Floodlike Vital Energy(養浩然之氣) is described in Mencius 3-2: 18-28, which has components of beginning, development, and deepening that can understand the study as a principle of step-by-step progress. First, at the beginning stage of study, the perspective on the individual study of knowledge and practice is presented, emphasizing its importance. Second, at the development stage of study, it was suggested that the study of knowledge and practice should go beyond individual stages, enter the integration stage in earnest, and progress gradually from weakness to rigidity. Third, at the advanced stage of study, it is suggested that if knowledge and practice are deepened, the realistic orientation of practicing one's own intention may appear differently, depending on the individual. Mencius dealt with the traditional study method of knowing and practicing through Understanding Words and Nourishing of Floodlike Vital Energy, and ultimately presented Confucius's the Ceaseless Rebalancing as a realistic direction for studying. In this respect, Unmoved Mind is maintained as a completion point in a situation when the Ceaseless Rebalancing based on righteousness(義) is continuous. However, when things change, the mind moves again and seeks another state of Ceaseless Rebalancing based on righteousness. Accordingly, the Unmoved Mind has a dynamic character, which is understood as a point connected to the Ceaseless Rebalancing as a realistic application of the Unmoved Mind. Unmoved Mind achieved by the method of Understanding Words and Nourishing of Floodlike Vital Energy is a persistent and intensive search for the Ceaseless Rebalancing.