유교 예학(禮學)의 시선으로 본 고려 초 지배층의 효 사상 고찰

Abstract

In this paper, it was investigated whether the Hyo(孝: filial piety) ideology which was fundamental in Confucianism should be applied comprehensively to the general public before enlightenment in the same way as to the ruling class from a Confucian ritual perspective. The definition of Hyo(孝) in the ideology of Confucianism, which can be discussed based on the results of previous research, is ‘a person who properly has succeeded or will succeed the good deeds that one's parents used to perform based on solemn and focused attitude’. It is difficult to say that the notion of inheriting the parents who walked the path of cultivating a moral perfection was the notion of commoners during the Goryeo dynasty, before Confucianism was popularized by Neo-Confucian scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty. For a detailed discussion of the Confucian Hyo(孝) ideology of Goryeo Dynasty, the Confucian scriptures written during Han and Tang Dynasty and before them were extensively referred to. The politicians of Goryeo took Confucianism as ‘the foundation of good ruling of a nation.’ In the early days of Goryeo, in King Sungjong(成宗)s decree, he announced that “when one rules a nation and a family, one should give priority to fundamentals, for which there’s nothing better than Hyo(孝).” In the ancient Confucianism, the ‘cún-wáng-jì-jué(存亡繼絶: reviving a destroyed country and continuing died-out descendants) idea’ to preserve a collapsed nation and continue stopped public offices was applied to the wáng-dào(王道: the poitics by a royal king who rules the world through benevolence(仁) and righteousness(義)) ideology. The despensation by Wang Geon, the founder of Goryeo, for the descendants of the destroyed Balhae kingdom can be discussed in the context of its practice. The ancestral rituals for the first ancestor and following ancestors was one of the notions to inherit as a filial son. The administrators of Goryeo believed that the foundation of ruling a nation was practicing Confucian teachings, and for this, King Sungjong(成宗) emphasized the importance of filial acts to shì(士: junior officials) and shù(庶: the descendants of the ruling class, who are not government officials yet) who would be ‘the pillar of the nation’ in the future. He demanded them that they should be equipped with Confucian knowledge and character to be a good administrator. The beginning of the idea of Chung-Hyo(忠孝: loyalty and filial piety) was never to urge the people to submit to the state unconditionally and ideologically. It was a kind of ideological contract between the family of the ruling class and the supreme ruler. The virtuous cicle of the descendants following the great will of their ancestors and inheriting the spirit of their family from generation to generation was the essence of Confucian Hyo(孝) ideology, and in it, the Chung(忠: loyalty) ideology of all administrators followed.