Are you at a loss as to what to fill your life with?
Haven't you found the answer to how to live 'well'?

Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, a genius who achieved great things amidst the harshest trials in Joseon history.
He used the 18 years of exile in Gangjin, and the subsequent 18 years in his hometown of Namyangju, as a time of great 'design' for himself and the world.
In this way, from the depths of despair, he penetrated the essence of life and perfected the timeless, immutable laws.
This book distills the core principles hidden within his vast wisdom into a clear, six-step life-design process that can be applied directly to our lives.

Step 1: Investigate the nature of the problem
Step 2: Governing the mind (controlling the mind to achieve learning)
Step 3: Self-cultivation (establishing an unshakable standard)
Step 4: Governing the World (Drawing the Optimal Solution)
Step 5: Prove knowledge through action (proving knowledge through life)
Step 6: Rebirth (Rebirth every day)

Through this great blueprint that Dasan completed throughout his life, your life will become the most solid and shining structure.

The scholarship of the era in which Dasan was active was confined within the comfortable framework of the metaphysical idealism of Zhu Xi's teachings.
Scholars sat in their rooms and tried to find all the principles of the world in their minds.
However, Dasan strongly criticizes these reasons and declares:
The mind is merely an organ that thinks about reason, and is distinct from reason itself.
Reason exists in concrete ‘things and events’ ‘outside’ the mind.
Therefore, true knowledge had to begin with an active exploration of the external world, that is, an investigation of things, rather than sinking inward.
--- From “Part 1: Examining Things and Acquiring Knowledge - Examining Things”

Dasan Jeong Yak-yong saw this very point, the discrepancy between the 'revealed self' and the 'alone self', as the beginning of hypocrisy and personal collapse.
He observed that the depth of a person's character and cultivation is revealed not in relationships with others, but in moments of solitude when one faces only oneself.
And the study of self-cultivation during these lonely times was called 'Sindok (愼獨)'.
--- From "Part 2: Treating the Mind - Shindok"

This has its roots in ‘overcoming oneself and returning to propriety’, which Confucius presented as a way to practice benevolence in the Analects.
Dasan did not regard 'self-denial' as merely an act of returning to the old rites and etiquette, but rather as an active practice of will to fight and overcome one's own obstacles, oneself, in order to achieve one's goals.
His philosophy was that before governing the world, one must first subdue the chaos within oneself.

--- From "Part 2: Cultivating the Mind - Self-Discipline"

First, what is "Wiinzihak," or studying for others? It refers to any study that has no interest in cultivating one's own inner self, but is solely aimed at demonstrating one's knowledge to gain fame, win arguments with others, or achieve officialdom.
These studies are like fancy clothes, they may look good on the outside, but they never become part of your flesh and blood.
Knowledge is not embodied in the personality, but is reduced to a tool for shallow intellectual play.

--- From “Part 3: Self-cultivation - The Study of Great Man”

In the “Six Articles on Relief from the Desert” of “Mokminsimseo,” Dasan first says that one should accurately measure the local situation with the attitude of investigating things.
The scale of the disaster can be determined by having the local government report on its grain reserves, the extent of crop failure, and the situation of the displaced people.
He then gets to the root of the problem.
The fundamental cause of hunger is not in distribution technology, but in the absence of a grain acquisition system and distribution principles, and the first step in dealing with it is to establish a "visa," that is, to stockpile reserve supplies and secure a supply route.
And based on this, we design the order of solutions.
Only after establishing a stockpiling and procurement system and designing distribution principles and targets can relief facilities be installed, implemented, and settled after the fact.
Relief cannot be sustained through punishment and crackdowns alone, so we must first secure the fundamental driving force of grain and financial resources.

--- From "4th Part of Governing the World - The Origin of Water"