Introduction
Lifting up my skirt and crossing this river | An exile thrown into the southern end | Why Confucian classics? | From meditation to politics | How to read?

Part 1.
Events and Characters

Chapter 1.
The exile of the old nobleman

Chapter 2.
My conversation with Kyung-gong
The Monarch No One Remembers | Four Encounters | The Virtue of a Monarch, the Responsibility of Politics

Chapter 3.
Good and Evil
A long-lasting relationship with Yangho

Chapter 4.
Above airspace and wife man
A conversation between a pretty woman and a man

Chapter 5.
The suffering of the first hermits and the hermits, the Jinchae
A Conversation with the First Prince | The Hermits | The Trials of Jinchae

Part 2.
Confucius's disciples

Chapter 1.
Jaro, Poho Glacier
A Crawler | To the Sea on a Raft | Character and Study | Jaro's Political Ambition | Jaro's Prayer | Jaro's Death

Chapter 2.
Jakong, Park Sijejung
Splendid Vessels | The Wealthy Zigong | Zigong's Critical Appreciation | Zigong Discusses Politics | Loyalty and Forgiveness, Confucius's Ilgwanji | Confucius's Inner Self and Religious Depths | Zigong, Are You Superior to Confucius?

Chapter 3.
Anhui, extreme repentance
Anhui's Learning | Anhui's Character | Anhui's Death | The Realm of Academic Achievement | The Highest Ideal of Confucianism

Part 3.
Confucius's thoughts

Chapter 1.
study
What should I do? | I am not born knowing | Learning, mastering the art of life | Teachings of service | The realm of learning acquired by three disciples | Tradition and classics, learning through books | Confucius, a man of learning | The first verse of the Analects | What is learning? | Born knowing | Only learning or only thinking | Confucius, reflecting on the path of learning | Lower learning and higher attainment

Chapter 2.
heaven
Wealth and honor | Zhu Xi speaks of the laws of heaven | Dasan hears the mandate of heaven | What is there to fear? | I knew the mandate of heaven at fifty | The world of sacrifices and gods | Heaven's punishment | Heaven cannot be deceived | The Ilgwanji reaches the heavens

Chapter 3.
仁
Make benevolence your home | Why didn't I speak of benevolence? | The burden is heavy, and the road is long | How to advance toward benevolence | Consideration and wholeness | The principle of reciprocity | Training in overcoming oneself, the joy of serving oneself | The continuity of benevolence | The three wise men of the Yin Dynasty | Bai Yi and Shu Zhu | Traitors of virtue | Betrayal or hypocrisy | Is benevolence inside or outside? | From benevolence to sage, the civilization of politics | I am only a man of learning | Confucius's Ilgwanji

Chapter 4.
politics
Leaving Home | The Master's Way Is Too High | Confucius's Political Revolution | Ethics of the Heart and Ethics of Responsibility | What is Non-Desire? | The Ideal of Virtue Rule, Confucianism and Legalism | Non-action or Action? | The Politics of Yao and Shun: On the Reality | Respect: Self-Conscious Attention or Job-Responsibility? | The Goal of Politics | Trust, the Foundation of Politics | The Military and the Army | Prisons and Punishment | The Art of Managing Finance | Dasan's Political Realism

Conclusion
Events and Circumstances | Confucius's Disciples | Confucius' Thought | Meaning and Prospects

References

supplement
1.
Translation of the "Gongjasega"
Ancestors, childhood, and youth (551–523 BC) | After returning from Qi (522–503 BC) | In the midst of Lu politics (502–497 BC) | Five years of first wandering (496–492 BC) | Trouble between Qin and Cai (491–489 BC) | Continued wandering (488–484 BC) | Activities as a scholar and personal habits (484–481 BC) | Death and evaluation of Confucius

2.
An Apology for Fertility (Commentary on Professor Jeongmin's Presentation)
Kang Yi-won's Leak | Is Lee Ga-hwan the Leader of a Heretic? | Seongho Lee Ik's View of Seohak | Dasan's Four Works: Evasion or Reflection? | A Separate Faction of Confucianism or a Confucian Theist | Absurd and Bizarre, Defying Heaven and Blaspheming God | The Court of Reason | Conclusion | Postscript

3.
My favorite classic quote

Eulogy.
Han Hyeong-jo's Sea and Life, Academics and Philosophy
Han Hyeong-jo, the Man of the Sea | A Few Memories from My Graduate School of Korean Studies | Truly Beautiful Times | The Difference Between Zhu Xi's and Dasan's Schools | The Two Analects of Confucius, or the Sea as "All Things in the World" | Buddhism and the Light-Making Aspect

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A runner focused on the individual and the inner self
Dasan, who valued society and relationships
Two thinkers' different perspectives on Confucius's teachings

The Analects are composed of short and concise aphorisms.
Every single letter is questionable, and the meaning of phrases and sentences becomes even more difficult and unclear.
The background and context of the incident are buried, and there is controversy over whether the tone is direct, sarcastic, or exclamation.
Zhu Xi was the center of thought and culture in Joseon for 500 years, and Dasan, as a representative of Silhak, devoted his life's energy to reestablishing the way of the previous kings.
The interpretations of the Analects by Zhu Xi and Dasan are ‘completely’ different.
The academic confrontation between Zhu Xi and Dasan is so intense that sparks fly, and the differences are fundamental.
The author describes the difference in the interpretive spirit of the two masters in Western classical language as “meditation (vita contemplativa) vs.
It is read as “activity (vita activa).”

For the runner, the core of his existence is a cosmic force, like Buddha nature in Buddhism, and it is fundamentally good.
In other words, human evil comes from ignorance and bad habits, and if one becomes aware of one's own nature and corrects bad habits, one can recover one's original 'nature' and live as a healthy member of society.
And the awakened sage is the one who awakens his family, his neighbors, and the entire world to help them regain their true nature.
In this way, the plan of Confucianism is condensed into a healing technique that aims to restore alienated people to their original selves and to heal sick bodies and minds so that they can live as healthy people.

Dasan thought that this naive plan was a philosopher's utopia, not a solution that took real politics into account.
The age of fertility was a time when 'artificial' design of fundamental transformation was needed.
He did not forget that Confucianism was a discipline that dealt with social ethics.
Dasan believed that virtue was not something that could be 'discovered', but rather something that was 'accumulated' and 'growth' through external activities.
In other words, an inward-looking gaze is empty and is likely to ruin human affairs.
Dasan expressed his indignation, saying that the fact that politics in the late Joseon Dynasty had become so rotten and corrupt was a result of Zhu Xi's internal tendencies.

The life-changing events and people Confucius encountered

Part 1 explores notable events and figures in Confucius's life.
The first major event was the exile of Duke Shao of Lu in 517 BC.
Through this, we can read Confucius's view of civilization.
Here, Confucius meets with Duke Jing of Qi and explores his political participation.
Meeting him also provides important clues to reading Confucius's political thought.
There is also Yang Ho, a person who was intertwined with Confucius throughout his life.
Ever since Confucius was rudely kicked out of a banquet given by a nobleman in his youth, he had had a bad relationship with Yang Hao.
After Yang Hu's rebellion failed and he went into exile, Confucius became involved in the politics of the state of Lu and seemed to be pursuing his own ambitions by serving as the Grand Master, but the experiment failed and he ended up going into exile.


After that, the first place I went to was Wei, and it was also the place I stayed the longest.
There are conversations between Duke Ying of Wei, a feudal lord at the time, and his beautiful and powerful wife, Namja.
Confucius's wanderings continued far to the southernmost part of the country.
There are the hermits I met there, and the hardships of Jinchae.
Through this hardship, we can encounter the reality of the Way, which Confucius could not compromise on.
While Zhu Xi devoted all his efforts to developing his philosophy through the Analects, he paid little attention to the time and circumstances.
In contrast, Dasan delves into the circumstances of the Analects as thoroughly as possible, based on his historical inclinations and political interests.
This work has allowed me to rediscover and contextualize previously buried moments, sometimes revealing the meaning of utterances in a whole new light.

Anhui of virtue, Zigong of language, Zi Zi of politics

Part 2 deals with Confucius's representative disciples.
There are ten representative disciples in the 'four fields' covered in the Analects.
The author chose three here.
They are Anhui of virtue, Zigong of language, and Zilu of politics.
These three are the most outstanding personalities of the public document, they traveled with Confucius for a long time, and they appear most frequently in the Analects.
There is no need to mention the bond and closeness with Confucius.
The most important and profound themes in Confucius's thought are also revealed through conversations with them.
Through his dialogue with his disciples, we can examine his political ideology and the training of virtue.
We can also read clearly about Confucius's ability as a teacher, acknowledging his disciple An Hui's indifference to poverty, Zigong's practical ability, and Zilu's courage, and trying to complement their shortcomings and deficiencies.

Among these three, Zhu Xi clearly puts forward 'An Hui' as the representative figure, while simultaneously belittling Zigong and Zilu as second-rate officials.
However, through a new interpretation, Dasan reveals that Confucius highly recognized Zigong's capable political skills and that he had a sound common sense about production and wealth.
Jaro also shows that he was not only an expert in the finances and military of a country, but also possessed fair judgment.
Through these, we can also glimpse the conflicting views of Zhu Xi and Dasan on wealth and poverty.

Four Core Ideas of Confucius as Seen by Zhu Xi and Dasan

Part 3 shows that Zhu Xi and Dasan have different perspectives on the relationship between Confucius's four core ideas: learning (學), origin (天), virtue (仁), and politics (政).
Confucianism holds benevolence as its highest goal.
What exactly is this benevolence? While Zhu Xi advocated that benevolence is an internal force of the universe and human nature, and urged us to discover it within ourselves through "meditation," Dasan argued that benevolence is not internal, but rather an extrinsic virtue painstakingly accumulated through behavioral choices in social spaces.
These different perspectives naturally lead to different paths to learning, that is, benevolence.
The runner grasped that the path to benevolence was to remove the old self's oblivion and its pollution and restore the original light and strength.
Dasan places 'relationship' at the center of all learning.
For him, learning is a general term for all efforts to achieve benevolence, and benevolence is merely a virtue that is built up like bricks through appropriate actions in the field of ‘relationships between people.’


In addition, Zhu Xi replaced the heaven and the mandate of heaven that appear in the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, and the Analects with the natural concept of heavenly law.
Because of this, the supernatural and religious horizon contained in heaven was stripped away.
Dasan seeks to restore the old religious concept of a transcendent being, saying that Confucius's Heaven cannot be reduced to 'nature'.
Dasan says that Heaven created all things and gave humans a special calling, and that He resonates in the hearts of humans as a faint voice of conscience.
Finally, the perspectives on the ideal of political order are also different.
Zhu Xi said that if the nature of the country is restored, the country can be managed properly, and he attributed politics to morality.
But Dasan shouts, “Practice is more important than name.”
In other words, the key is what benefits it provides to others and what contribution it makes to society.

A New Attempt at Reading the Analects

The Analects are not one.
Buddhism says, “There are as many Buddhists in Tibet as there are monks,” and the Bible says, “There are as many rooms in the Father’s house.”
Confucianism also has as many Analects as commentators.
Nevertheless, the authority of interpretation, especially in Joseon, has been monopolized by Zhu Xi.
Therefore, the meaning of Dasan's Analects cannot be fully revealed without comparison or confrontation with Zhu Xi.
With this problem in mind, the author conducted research for three years.
By clarifying the meaning of the Analects through the interpretations of Zhu Xi and Dasan, the author provides a way to approach Confucius's thought and its system.
This is a new attempt at reading the Analects.
Even though the opinions of these two thinkers sometimes diverge dramatically, if readers grasp these two horns and reflect, they will hear the voice of Confucius somewhere in between.
By following the guidance of these two thinkers, both familiar with the classics and creative in their thinking, you may have the good fortune to open your ears to the voice of Confucius and gauge his thoughts and aspirations.