20세기 한문지식인 華隱 權平鉉의 삶과 학문

Abstract

Hwaeun(華隱) Kwon Pyeong-hyeon(權平鉉), who was born in 1897 in the late 19 century and passed away in 1969 in the mid 20 century, touted himself as an expert in Chinese characters throughout his life. The times when he lived was none other than the era of turbulences from national colonization by the Janese empire to the Korean War. Around when he started a career in scholarship, there were increased arguments for the abolition of Chinese character education and, in a similar vein, Confucian studies became treated unnecessary. Nevertheless, however, Kwon Pyeong-hyeon chose to pursue both Chinese characters and Confucianism on his scholastic journey. Also, he worshipped Yulgok(栗谷) Yiyi(李珥) as his mentor and accepted nothing but the mentor’s theory of sadan chiljeong with a strong conviction. The life and scholarship of Hwaeun suggests he was so spiritually strong that he kept pushing himself with what he thought was right without being conscious of people around or period situations. For him, following ways that saints of the past had pursued was more important than keeping pace with changes of his times. He believed that Chinese characters and Confucianism, even though both of them were considered old-fashioned, could provide a proper solution to the new future. For example, he was confident that his country would be liberated like a law that when yin(陰) reaches to its full, it necessarily gives way to the restart of yang(陽)’s increase. However, it’s a pity that whether it was in terms of life or scholarship, he didn’t tune himself to the times when he lived. Yet, Kwon Pyeong-hyeon was the last Confucian scholar of the 20 century who thoroughly followed sayings from saints and worked hard to practice them in his life. This may have some significant implications for today when people are never reluctant to change their behaviors only if it’s profitable to themselves.