여말 선초 절의파(節義派)의 고민: 출사(出仕)와 은둔(隱遁)의 기로

Abstract

[1] Confucianism or the ideology of Chu-tzu (朱子學), once at the center of the controversy between national autonomy and Sino-centrism, are issues that arise again and again in Korean historiography regardless of whether historians view it negatively or positively. In the transitional age from the Yuan Dynasty (元) to the Ming Dynasty (明) in China and from the Goryu Dynasty (高麗) to the Chosun Dynasty (朝鮮) in Korea, Korean bureaucratic intellectuals agonized both internationally and domestically about whether to accept and to assimilate the ideology. [2] Chut-ze, who attempted to interpret Confucianism as political doctrine for the reconstruction of the exiled Southern Sung (南宋) Dynasty in turmoil, gave many suggestions to Korean bureaucrats, who were in the same agony under the Mongolian regime. At the same time, Korean intellectuals pursued Chu-tze's ideology as a means to free themselves from the prevailing tenets of Buddhism. [3] Korean intellectuals found themselves at the crossroads of deciding whether to enter into service in the new dynasty or seclude themselves as hermits in the country. Conflicts between seclusionists led by Lee gok, his son Lee Saek, Chung Mong-joo and Gil Jae, and realistic reformists led by Chung Do-jun and Kwon Geun ended with the victory of the latter at the founding of the Chosun Dynasty in 1392. Following this, the followers of the former group formed a school of seclusion (士林) and the latter formed a conservative bureaucracy (勳舊), each continuing to strive against the other. [4] Whether seclusionist or newly emerging bureaucrat, both groups realized that there would be no freedom from the "great China." The former group indulged in an illusion of a great Mongol, and the latter in Sino-centrism through Ming China.