Confucianism—Korea

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Koreans are fond of bragging that Korea is the most Confucian country on earth. They note that over 230 Confucian academies are still open south of the border that divides North Korea from South Korea. They also boast that Confucianism has been an important part of Korean culture for at least 1,600 years. However, the Confucianism found in South Korea in the twenty-first century differs from the Confucianism that existed on the Korean peninsula a millennium and a half ago. Moreover, both forms of Confucianism differ from the Confucianism that dominated Korea during the five centuries of the Choson dynasty (1392–1910).

Confucianism originally entered Korea from China as an administrative tool. In the fourth century, two of the three kingdoms on the Korean peninsula at that time, Koguryo (37 BCE–668 CE) and Paekche (18 BCE–663 CE), established Confucian academies to teach lower-level government officials how to keep historical records and write diplomatic documents in the format and language used by Confucian government officials in China. The third kingdom, Shilla (57 BCE–935 CE), did the same in the seventh century.

This Confucianism was for government clerks. High government officials were not expected to have a Confucian education until the Koryo dynasty (918–1392). A substantial percentage of upper-echelon Koryo officials passed the Confucian civil-service examination after they had embarked on their careers in government. This suggests that a Confucian education had become an aid to promotion, although it was not yet required for an initial appointment.

The Koryo civil-service examination system was a modified version of the civil-service examination systemof Tang-dynasty China (618–907). The men who took the Koryo examinations could choose to be tested either on their ability to analyze classical Confucian texts or on their ability to write essays and poems in the style of revered Chinese Confucian writers. Because most who sat for the examinations chose the composition track, Confucianism remained primarily a guide to good writing.

This approach changed in the Choson dynasty, which replaced the Koryo at the end of the fourteenth century. The Choson dynasty was Korea's first and only Confucian dynasty, and most entry-level government officials were required to pass a Confucian civil-service examination. This examination focused on policy and morality more than on literary style. In the preceding periods, Buddhism had dominated court ritual and ethical discourse. Confucianism was confined primarily to defining how official histories, government documents, and literary compositions should be written.

Confucian influence on Korean moral thinking before the fourteenth century, however, was not insignificant. Confucian moral rhetoric, particularly terms such as loyalty and filial piety, had penetrated Korea via the texts taught to government clerks in earlier periods. Confucian virtues had become an inextricable part of the Korean ethical discourse, but they existed alongside, and often as a supplement to, the ethical principles of the official state religion, Buddhism.

During the Choson dynasty, Neo-Confucianism replaced Buddhism both inside and outside government as the principal arbitrator of how human beings should live. Neo-Confucianism, which Koreans called "the learning of human nature and principle," insisted that Confucian moral principles not only defined how human beings should interact with one another, but also defined what human beings were when they realized their full human potential. In other words, moral principles constituted human nature.

In order to help human beings realize that full potential, Neo-Confucianism offered two tools to replace the sutra study, chanting, and meditation Buddhism had offered. The first was ritual and etiquette, detailed prescriptions of how to behave in specific situations. The second was practical moral psychology, techniques for cultivating a moral character that could follow those prescriptions.

One of the more important guides to proper behavior during the Choson dynasty was House Rules of Master Zhu, a guide to household ritual and etiquette by the great Chinese Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Koreans became aware of this work near the end of the Koryo dynasty, but only in the Choson dynasty did it assume so much importance that family relationships were restructured to bring them more in line with its prescriptions. According to Zhu Xi, only eldest sons could host ancestral memorial services. This contradicted the Koryo practice of letting younger sons and even daughters lead rituals honoring their parents and of letting younger sons and daughters inherit the property that provided enough income to host such rituals. In order to bring Korean ritual practices in line with Neo-Confucian ritual prescriptions, the Choson dynasty redefined the family to give priority to the eldest son, reducing the inheritance rights of younger sons and depriving daughters of any inheritance rights whatsoever.

Korean Neo-Confucians accorded as much importance to the cultivation of a proper mental attitude for such rituals as they did to the rituals themselves. The most effective approach to such character cultivation became a hotly debated issue in the sixteenth century. For the next three centuries, Koreans argued about whether to follow the advice of Yi Hwang (1510–1570, pen name T'oegye) or Yi I (1536–1584, pen name Yulgok). T'oegye recommended sitting in quiet concentration to rid the mind of disturbing self-centered emotions. Yulgok, on the other hand, encouraged his followers to cultivate an attitude of sincerity so that they always acted appropriately in whatever situation they found themselves, whether hosting an ancestral memorial service or advising their king.

When the Choson dynasty fell in 1910, Neo-Confucianism lost its institutional base and could not maintain its hegemony over government, ritual, philosophy, and ethics. Nevertheless, a century later, Korea still shows traces of its Confucian past. Koreans continue to mourn their ancestors with Confucian ritual, albeit modernized and simplified. And they continue to wield Confucian terminology in debates over ethical issues. Sixteen hundred years after Confucianism became established in Korea, Korea remains in many ways a Confucian country.

Don Baker

Deuchler, Martina. (1992) The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Duncan, John. (2000) The Origins of the Choson Dynasty. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Kalton, Michael. (1988) To Become a Sage : The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning. New York: Columbia University Press.

Palais, James. (1996) Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Palmer, Spencer. (1984) Confucian Rituals in Korea. Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press.

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