양명학과 도가사상 : 이지의 도가사상 연구의 양명학적 동기 분석을 중심으로

Abstract

Li Zhi 李贄 (1527~1602, styled Zhuowu 卓吾) in Ming China left many works about Buddhism and Daoism. Li is said to have been influenced mainly from scholars of the Taizhou 泰州 school as well as Wang Ji 王畿 (1498~1583, styled Longxi 龍溪), who all belonged to the camp of Yangming learning and have been thought to regard Chan Buddhism with favor. In other words, Li has been considered one of the best examples to represent the academic disposition of the Yangming school; Li’s academic inclination for syncretism between Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism is usually explained to evolve from Wang Shouren 王守仁 (1472~1528, styled Yangming 陽明) and his followers’ open attitudes towards Chan Buddhism and Daoism. Such an explanation seems to provide us with the historical reason for Li’s Buddhist and Daoist studies. However, the ‘philosophical,’ or internal reason for Li’s study of other teachings has been poorly appreciated; it is explained just as his inclination for syncretism. Thus this article aims to find and appreciate the philosophical reason for his study of other teachings mainly in analyzing the motives of his Daoist works. This article assumes that Li must have thought that Daoist works, especially the Laozi was a good philosophical source, and discuss that on the text of the Laozi, Li wanted to speculate about the essential teaching of Wang Yangming, namely “innate knowing (liangzhi 良知)” and the “Four Maxims (sijujiao 四句敎),” which were of great importance to Yangming scholars including Li in terms of both theory and practice.