조선조 유교사회에서의 풍수 담론

Abstract

In this study, I tried to look at Feng-Shui discourse in the Joseon Dynasty. Feng-Shui was in the religious and cultural status in Joseon society. In the Confucian society, scholars had two different ideas about Feng-Shui. They treated Feng-Shui as heterodoxy(左道), while at the same time they knew it couldn't be totally removed from their lives. For example, Feng-Shui was for practical use. It served as a crucial method when the state had to locate the places for the palace, capital, loyal tombs, individual architecture, and the graves of the family members. This irony means, ‘we can't believe in it nor remove it from our life’. Since the Joseon Dynasty admitted theories that went with Confucian, they only approved the restrictive justness of Feng-Shui with a topology of a way of adapting to exigent circumstances(權道). The way of adapting to exigent circumstances(權道) refers to the scope of flexibility(變通), the restrictively acceptable scope in the unacceptable context of an unchanging, eternal, normal way(常道) in Confucianism. And so, Confucian scholars composed new discourses and Feng-Shui was translated in a new way. First of all, they criticized the idea: Our life is destined by the space shape. Our fortune or misfortune is not destined by the space shape or its influence, but achieved or given through well behaviors and good deed in our life. On the other hand, Feng-Shui was accepted because it maintained that our parents or ancestors should be buried in a nice place after their death. This, however, is only about the beauty of the space shape, not about fortune or misfortune. As we can see here, Feng-Shui contains both humanism and classical ideal of Seongnihak(性理學 Neo-Confucianism). After all, Feng-Shui became part of the Confucian culture, a topology of a way of adapting to exigent circumstances(權道) and at the same time influenced its development.