명철보신론고―왕간과 이지의 경우를 중심으로

Abstract

Everyone knows the phrase ‘put one’s own safety by being wise’, but how many people know what it means? In China, the term has been studied by many scholars since it first appeared in the Book of Songs and was quoted in the Doctrine of the Mean, not only because of its academic significance but also because it has become a part of the everyday idiom. Since the Han Dynasty, scholars such as Zheng-Xuan, Kong-Yingda, and Zhu-Xi have associated it with the Doctrine of the Mean and interpreted it to mean that a soldier should be able to discern disputes well and master logic to always reach the most correct way to do things and protect his safety. By the Ming dynasty, Wang-Gan interpreted it to mean that a man of virtue would not only preserve his own body but would also value the lives of others to the same degree as himself. This reflected the turbulent political climate of the Ming dynasty, which believed that only by honoring the Tao could the people and the state be preserved. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li-Zhi pointed out that there were cases of adults who had achieved virtue and literacy but failed to attain ‘put one’s own safety by being wise’, arguing that it was related to the realization of the self through individual awakening at different times. In modern times, Lu-Xun cited it as a synonym for hypocrisy in his works. Regardless of its positive or negative connotations, the phrase is worth exploring for its ambivalence, as it encompasses the goals and disposition of intellectuals in a society dominated by Confucian thought.