Abstract
This essay focuses on the ethical philosophy of the late Joseon dynasty Korean Confucian philosopher Jeong Yakyong 丁若鏞 (1762–1836), more commonly known as Dasan茶山, as revealed in his comprehensive commentary on the Mencius孟子 (K. Maengja). Dasan sought to rescue Mencius’s philosophy from what he saw as the metaphysical excesses of Song-Ming neo-Confucians, whose interpretations of this and other Chinese classics had become orthodox in Jeoson Korea, and return to the letter and spirit of Mencius’s original teachings.
This work was supported by a grant from The Academy of Korean Studies funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (AKS-2011-AAA-2102). Thanks to Youngsun Back, Erin M. Cline, Richard Kim, Sungmoon Kim, Michael R. Slater, and Justin Tiwald for helpful comments on earlier drafts.
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Notes
- 1.
For an excellent introduction to Dasan’s or Jeong Yakyong’s philosophy, see Setton 1997. For a study which explores his personal and philosophical relationship with Catholicism in great depth, see Kim 2010 and Baker 2002. For an insightful and concise introduction to Dasan’s philosophy that helpfully locates it within its historical context, see Kalton 1981.
- 2.
Dasan’s commentary, entitled Maengjayoui 孟子要義, is available as volume 7 of Chŏngbon Yŏyudang chŏnsŏ 定本與猶堂全書 (Seoul: Tasan Haksul Munhwa Chaedan, 2012). I give page numbers in the main text. I have also benefitted from consulting Yi Jihyoung 1994. I use only Korean Romanization for all Korean proper names and sources and only pinyin for all Chinese proper names and sources. I provide both pinyin and Korean Romanization for all terms of art.
- 3.
This quality of Dasan’s thought is also seen in contemporary thinkers in both China and Japan. For a discussion of this phenomenon, see Ivanhoe 2014.
- 4.
I translate xin/sim consistently as “heart” in order to bring out Dasan’s particular use of this term to refer to an innate human capacity and tendency not only to cognize but to evaluate actions and states of affairs. The same term often is translated as “mind” or “heart-mind” in order to indicate that it includes cognitive, affective, and conative capacities.
- 5.
The reference here is to neo-Confucians of the Song through Ming dynasties, such as the two cited above.
- 6.
Dasan offers a complex and subtle account of seo 恕, which entails using it to empathize and sympathize with others in ways that help to extend, curb, and shape one’s own standing beliefs and feelings so these are more in accord with the Way; see Ivanhoe 2014.
- 7.
Dasan is using a term from 6A15, the Great Self 大體 (Ch. dati; K. daechae) to single out the morally disposed part of the self, which, as we shall see, he goes on to describe as consisting of a variety of innate inclinations or sensibilities.
- 8.
Xie Anshi 謝安石 lived in the Jin Dynasty; his ancestral home was Yang Xia 陽夏. He was born with and became famous for possessing a kind of spiritual vision, which he later cultivated by living an ascetic life.
- 9.
Duke Zheng of Wei 魏鄭公 is the main figure in a book of admonitions written by the Tang Dynasty author Wang Fangqing 王方慶.
- 10.
Emperor Jie was the last ruler of the Xia Dyansty and was renowned for his cruelty.
- 11.
Robber Zhi is a famous, unrepentant thief and robber.
- 12.
One of the “four sprouts” Mencius claimed constitute the core of our good nature (2A6).
- 13.
Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE–18 CE) argued for such a view in work such as his Model Sayings (Fayan 法言).
- 14.
Xunzi 荀子, whose courtesy name was Qing 卿, was the third great Confucian philosopher of the early phase of the tradition. His dates are around 310–219 BCE.
- 15.
These terms first appear in the “Declarations of the Great Yu” chapter of the Book of History (書經). But they have eventually become key concepts for the Neo-Confucians.
- 16.
One should compare Dasan’s view on daoxin 道心 and renxin 人心 with Wang Fuzhi’s view; see the Liu Liangjian chapter in this volume.
- 17.
See note 23.
- 18.
In this respect, Dasan’s view is not wholly unlike Kant’s claim against the possibility of radical evil as presented in Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone.
- 19.
Human nature is simply our unselfconscious natural dispositions; these have no power to steer themselves. In contrast, the heart is aware and has the power of choice.
- 20.
Dasan’s claims here bear some significant resemblance to Sartre’s contrast in Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology between things that are in themselves (en soi), like tables and chairs, and those that are for themselves (pour soi), human beings, and his accompanying notion of bad faith.
- 21.
The phrase about “clutching (it) tightly to one’s breast” is from chapter eight of the Doctrine of the Mean. Confucius said of his disciple Yanzi, “Whenever he got hold of one good thing, he clutched it tightly to his breast and never let it go.”
- 22.
The idea is that the pelt of the ox, the feathers of a chicken, and the naked skin of a human being serve as the different vessels that shape the common nature poured into all of them.
- 23.
Qi (氣) and the images (xiang 象) are metaphysical constituents of the universe that exist before there are distinct and discernable things.
- 24.
Zhu Xi uses this expression in a number of places in his works to convey the lively and vibrant character of the Confucian Way (often in contrast to Buddhism). He uses this phrase to describe a line drawn from the Book of Poetry which is quoted in chap. 13 of the Doctrine of the Mean, “Hawks soar across the heavens; fish frolic in the depths.”
- 25.
The term “this heart” (Ch. cixin, K. chashim 此心) is first seen in the Mencius but commonly was used by neo-Confucians to refer to the innate moral mind.
- 26.
This refers to Zhaozhou Congshen 趙州從諗, a great Tang Chan Buddhist teacher. See Dumoulin 1988: 167–8.
- 27.
This is the opening line of the Doctrine of the Mean.
- 28.
The Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate 太極圖 (Ch. Taiji tu), as adopted and explained by Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–73), offered a schema illustrating Confucian cosmology. Zhu Xi is claiming that all of the fundamental modes of existence lie within the original and formless phase.
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Ivanhoe, P.J. (2023). Jeong Dasan’s Interpretation of Mencius: Heaven, Way, Human Nature, and the Human Heart. In: Xiao, Y., Chong, Kc. (eds) Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Mencius. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27620-0_12
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