Intangible Culture ISSN:2799-3868(Print) 무형문화연구

The purpose of this study is to understand the structure of Confucianism's theory of mind about human nature, how it has developed from Chinese Confucianism to Korean Confucianism, and to examine the characteristics of Korean Confucianism in this process. In Neo-Confucianism, Zhangzai believed that human beings are agglomeration of ‘Supreme Void’, Taixu, and when Taixu agglomerate various differences(淸濁偏正) of qi is created, so there is a distinction between parts in humane nature. So there aretwo parts, ‘the nature of Heaven and Earth(天地之性)’ and ‘physically endowed nature(氣質之性)’. The original nature of ‘the nature of Heaven and Earth(天地之性)’ is pure good, because that is ‘the state of being prior to the emergence of concrete existence(weifa 未發)’. In the contrary, the original nature of ‘physically endowed nature’ is good or not good, because that is ‘the state in which human experience have already emerged into reality. I think that The nature of Heaven and Earth is Confucian translation of the aspect of Mind in terms of the Absolute(心眞如門), and ‘Physically endowed nature is the translation of the aspect of Mind in terms of phenomena(心生滅門). The theory of spirituality of Neo-Confucianism was introduced to Korean Confucianism as it is, and after that, it was divided into two main streams and developed in various ways. The two trends are the dual tendency of the intrinsic and temperamental intellect of the Toegye School(退溪學派) and the unification of the intrinsic and temperamental intellect of the Yulgok School(栗谷學派). The main concern of Lee Hwang (退溪 李滉) was to dually separate the two, that is ‘the nature of Heaven and Earth(天地之性)’and‘physically endowed nature(氣質之性)’. Yulgok Yiyi(栗谷 李珥) criticized Yi Hwang's method of division, which in the real world completely separates humane nature into two. Only one temperament and intelligence made up of Li(理) and Qi(氣) should be acknowledged, and it is believed that there is not a fork between good and evil in the inner nature of human beings, but that good and evil are divided in the process of their use. Confucianism in Korea progressed on the axis of two different streams of Toegye and Yulgok, but in reality, the tendency to unify Toegye appeared as the main stream. It is characterized by the fact that the dual conflict between good and evil, the two aspects of human nature, is well revealed in the theory of mind.