Enlightenment and Government in Traditional Korea Part 1

The Wind and the Engines of Moral Transformations

Soojin Hyun

Lecturer in History, Sungkyunkwan University

 

Minchul Kim

Associate Professor of History, Sungkyunkwan University

Research Fellow, Voltaire Foundation

 

Choe Rubaek Eats the Tiger that Ate His Father

In the mid-twelfth century Choe Rubaek (?–1205), a scholar-official of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), became renowned for his filial piety. A story about him has been handed down which might seem rather grotesque from today’s perspective. When he was fifteen his father was devoured by a tiger. Determined to avenge his father, Choe shouldered an axe and set out in search of the beast that had eaten his father. At last he found the tiger lying down, its stomach full. He struck it with his axe, split open its belly, and gathered his father’s bones and flesh. He then held a funeral with the remains and practiced Simyosari—living by the grave in mourning—which was regarded at the time as the act of a dutiful son. In Choe’s dream his father appeared and praised his devotion. When the mourning period was over, Choe completed his vengeance by taking the tiger’s meat and eating it all.

This story is included in the Illustrated Conduct of the Three Bonds (三綱行實圖, K.Samganghaengsildo, 1434), a book compiled and distributed during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The rulers of Joseon sought to inculcate among the people Confucian ethics, the core ideology of governance, through this work. The Illustrated Conduct of the Three Bonds was commissioned by King Sejong (the fourth monarch of Joseon, r. 1418–1450), who is also renowned for laying the institutional and cultural foundations of Joseon and for creating the Korean alphabet-script, Hangeul. The book illustrates exemplary conduct related to the samgang (三綱, three bonds)—namely ruler and subject, father and son, and husband and wife—using historical figures from China and Korea as models.

 

 

Particularly interesting here is the fact that the story of the filial son Choe Rubaek was presented alongside the illustration in two different languages. One was classical Chinese (漢文; K.hanmun), the shared written language of rulers and intellectuals that had come from China. The other was Hangeul, the script created by King Sejong for the common people who could not read, and which has since become the writing system of the Korean language. Why, then, did King Sejong convey the tale of Choe Rubaek’s filial devotion through both images and Hangeul? The intention was clear: he wished the people—the subjects of rule—to internalize filial piety (孝; K.hyo), a central ethic of Confucian political thought. He believed that governance was to be achieved by moral transformation (敎化; K.gyohwa)—that is, by teaching (敎; K.gyo) and morally transforming (化; K.hwa) the people. This theory of moral transformation was a core concept of Confucian thought, established by Confucius (551–479 BCE) of the state of Lu in the late Spring and Autumn period in China, and it had since exerted a profound influence on the history of the Korean peninsula as part of the East Asian cultural sphere.

The core content of the Confucian theory of moral transformation (gyohwa) concerns the monarchical system of rule, the sovereign and his officials as the agents of governance, the people as its subjects, and, as the governing principle, views of human nature and the operation of the state and society. From this perspective, even though the historical contexts are entirely different, it is nonetheless intriguing to examine it in dialogue with the Enlightenment that drove political, social, cultural, and intellectual upheavals in Europe following the seventeenth century. Moreover, although Confucian thought originated in China during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, it was received, reinterpreted, and deployed through multiple processes in Korea as the central political philosophy of its dynasties. From the nineteenth century onwards, when it came into direct contact with Western civilization—or indirectly through Japan and China—one can observe points at which it intersected, blended, and transformed in relation to the European ‘Enlightenment’.

 

To stir the wind so that it moves. To teach so that they transform.

Confucius lived during the Spring and Autumn period (770–403 BCE), when the Zhou dynasty—which had created the classical pattern of Chinese civilization—was divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou and the Eastern Zhou weakened, giving rise to powerful regional lords. As various feudal states competed for hegemony in the Central Plains in this era, thinkers advocating different political philosophies travelled from court to court, seeking rulers who would adopt their theories of governance. Confucius was one of these itinerant persuaders, and he became the founder of Confucianism. It was at the time merely one among the “Hundred Schools of Thought” (諸子百家; K.Jejabaekga, C.zhuzibaijia). Yet in later centuries, when the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE)—which became the political model for East Asian civilization—formally recognized it as a state doctrine of governance, Confucianism attained firm authority over rival philosophies as the preeminent political theory.

Confucianism posited that rulers and their officials were agents of governance and that the people were their object. The logic that structured the relationship between rulers and the people was precisely gyohwa (moral transformation). One of Confucianism’s core classics, the Classic of Poetry (詩; K.Si, C.Shi), contains noteworthy passages about this idea. The Classic of Poetry is said to have been compiled into 300 poems by Confucius out of more than 3,000 songs that had circulated in various regions up until the Spring and Autumn period (though whether Confucius himself edited the work remains uncertain). Because the feelings of the people toward governance were thought to be directly expressed in song, these songs were regarded as being intimately connected to the governance of the people.

 

‘Wind (風; K.pung, C.feng) means to stir up the wind and to teach; it is to set things in motion by stirring the wind and to bring about transformation by instruction. … In times of good governance the sounds (of music and song) are peaceful and joyful, for government is harmonious. In times of disorder the sounds are resentful and angry, for government is estranged. In a country on the brink of ruin, the sounds are mournful and longing for good rule, for the people are in distress. … The former kings used poetry to dignify the relationship between husband and wife, to fulfill filial piety and reverence, to strengthen human relations, to lead the people to follow moral transformation (Gyohwa), and to reform customs. … Superiors could transform inferiors through moral instruction, while inferiors could satirize their superiors through song. By harmonizing words with music, they could offer gentle remonstrance—so that those who spoke would not be punished, and those who listened could take ample warning. For this reason it was called wind (pung).’

Corrected meaning of the Mao Commentary on the Book of Poetry (毛詩正義; K.Mosijeongui, C.Maoshizhengyi), ‘Junam’ (周南; C.Zhounan), Gwanjeo (關雎; C.Guanju), Preface (詩序).

 

The ruler was to stir the wind so as to transform the people naturally, while the people, in turn, satirized their superiors through songs. As a result, peaceful and harmonious music prevailed in times of good governance, whereas resentful and angry music spread in troubled times marked by war and disaster. This was the Confucian ideal of the moral transformation (gyohwa) in governance. The ruler’s instruction of the people was to take place as naturally as the blowing of the wind. According to the Analects (論語), chapter ‘Anyeon’ (顏淵; C.Yanyuan, one of Confucius’s disciples), Confucius said that the virtue of the gunja (君子; C.junzi, the morally cultivated ruler) was like the wind, while the virtue of the common people was like the grass: when the wind blew over the grass, the grass inevitably bent. Gunja would therefore be obliged to govern with a benevolent heart; allowing the moral transformation (gyohwa) through virtue to occur as naturally as grass bending before the wind, and governance to be well ordered. Poetry thus served as a criterion by which a ruler could discern whether the realm was enjoying good governance or falling into disorder.

At this point the question of human nature came to the fore. Mencius (372–289 BCE), the intellectual heir to Confucius, argued that all human beings were inherently endowed with four virtues: benevolence (仁; K.yin), justice (義; K.ui ), propriety (禮; K.ye), and wisdom (智, K.ji). The ruler therefore had to be a gunja who had refined these virtues through constant learning (學; K.hak). A Gunja who had achieved true learning was thereby qualified to morally transform (gyohwa) the people. Moral transformation (gyohwa) emerged directly from relationships. Among the most fundamental human relations were those between father and son, and between ruler and subject, with filial piety (孝; K.hyo) and loyalty (忠; K.chung) as the corresponding ethics (although the basic set of relationships and their required virtues varied depending on the thinker and the period). If the people practiced these relational ethics in accordance with their innate moral nature, the social order would naturally become well-ordered and governance would be properly carried out. In other words, if the ruler cultivated the virtues and embodied the ethics required by these relationships through learning, the Moral Transformation would occur as naturally as the wind, resulting in an era of peace.

 

The Wind of Moral Transformation Reaches the Korean Peninsula

In 756 Emperor Xuanzong of Tang praised King Gyeongdeok of the Silla dynasty for his tribute and composed the following poem.

 

The envoys return to transmit the teachings of moral transformation.

The people come to study the canonical norms.

Those properly attired know how to uphold ritual propriety.

Those loyal and trustworthy know how to honour Confucian learning.

History of the Three Kingdoms (三國史記; K.Samguksagi), scroll 9, Silla annals 9, February, 15th year of King Gyeongdeok (756).

 

Since the Tang dynasty was regarded as the center of civilization in the East Asian world, Silla (57 BCE–935 CE), a kingdom situated in the Korean peninsula, devoted great effort to ‘learning’ from Tang. Numerous envoys and students were dispatched to China in order to bring back its ‘advanced institutions and culture’. Among these, what Silla most eagerly sought to learn was punggyo (風敎), the Confucian theory of moral transformation symbolized as the ‘teaching of the wind’. In 682, modeling itself on Tang institutions, Silla established the National Academy (國學; K.Gukak) to educate aristocratic youth in the Confucian classics. Then, in 788, it introduced an examination system that tested proficiency in the Confucian texts to recruit government officials (讀書三品科; K.Dokseosampumgwa).

 

With the fall of the Silla kingdom and the founding of the Goryeo dynasty, the idea that both the king and the officials—the agents of rule—must be Confucian scholars became further entrenched. The kings of Goryeo not only studied the Five Classics, the core texts of Han and Tang Confucianism, but also issued royal edicts declaring their intent to extend moral transformation (gyohwa) in accordance with Confucian teachings. To cultivate and recruit Confucian scholar-officials, the dynasty adopted schools and examination systems. In the capital, they established a national university called Gukjagam (國子監, later renamed ‘Sungkyunkwan’), where the sons of officials were educated in the Confucian classics. Beginning in 958, the dynasty instituted the civil service examinations (科擧; K.Gwageo) as means of selecting officials, by which candidates were tested on their mastery of the Confucian texts. These measures amounted to a declaration that Goryeo would cultivate Confucian scholars and appoint them as administrators in order to govern the state. For the purpose of transforming the people morally, it was considered most important to produce rulers endowed with virtue. To recruit talent not only in the capital Gaegyeong (currently the city of Kaesong in North Korea) but also in the provinces, the dynasty dispatched Professors of Confucian Classics (經學博士; K.Gyeonghakbaksa) to major regions across the country, where they would educate local elites and establish schools throughout the realm to provide instruction in the Confucian texts.

 

 

The Confucian scholar-officials selected through the civil service examinations were dispatched throughout the lands of Goryeo to serve as local administrators. Since these officials directly governed the people, they bore the crucial responsibility of exercising government by morally transforming (gyohwa) the population. According to the biography of Kim Simeon in the History of Goryeo (高麗史; K.Goryeosa), the roles required of local administrators were sixfold:

1) To observe whether the people were afflicted by illness or hardship, or whether they had lost their means of livelihood.

2) To oversee the administrative work of local officials.

3) To monitor thieves and those of great cunning who might harm the people.

4) To keep watch over those who violated laws concerning land or who disobeyed seasonal prohibitions.

5) To identify among the people those who were filial and respectful, honest and upright, of good conduct, and possessed of exceptional talent.

6) To prevent officials from deliberately discarding or failing to record money and grain in official registers.

The intellectual rulers of Goryeo believed in the end that they themselves had to cultivate virtue through learning, but also that they had to teach Confucian ethics to the people in order to reform customs and thereby achieve governance. Traces remain of efforts to provide even the common people, who were not part of the educated elite, with instruction in the basic Confucian classics. According to the History of Goryeo (高麗史; K.Goryeosa), annals of King Injong, on 22 March 1134 copies of the Analects and the Classic of Filial Piety (孝經) were distributed to children among the people. As noted above, the Analects was a record of dialogues between Confucius and his disciples. The Classic of Filial Piety explained the Confucian ethic of filial piety (孝; K.hyo)—that a child must devote himself wholeheartedly and reverently to his parents. Since this was before the invention of Hangeul, the writing system of Chinese characters remained the preserve of the educated officials, and it is unlikely that ordinary people could have actually read and comprehended these Confucian texts. It nevertheless demonstrates that there was an intention in place to instruct the common people in Confucian ethics.