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A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral - Tasan Chŏng Yagyong’s Reading of the Zhongyong (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,978
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A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral - Tasan Chŏng Yagyong’s Reading of the Zhongyong (Hardcover)
Series: Korean Classics Library: Philosophy and Religion
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Tasan Chŏng Yagyong (1762–1836) is one of the most creative
thinkers Korea has ever produced, one of the country’s first
Christians, and a leading scholar in Confucian philosophy. Born in
a staunchly Neo-Confucian society, in his early twenties he
encountered writings by Catholic missionaries in China and was
fascinated. However, when he later learned that the Catholic Church
condemned the Confucian practice of placing a spirit tablet on a
family altar to honor past generations, he left the small Catholic
community he had helped found and ostensibly returned to the
Neo-Confucian fold. Nevertheless, the Christian ideas he studied in
his youth influenced his thinking for the rest of his life,
stimulating him to look at Neo-Confucianism with a critical eye and
suggest new solutions to problems Confucian scholars had been
addressing for centuries. A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to
Be Moral is an annotated translation of Tasan’s commentaries on
the Confucian classic Zhongyong (usually translated as The Doctrine
of the Mean) in which he applies both Confucianism and Christianity
to the question of how to best develop a moral character. Written
as a dialogue with King Chŏngjo, (r. 1776–1800) these texts
reveal how Tasan interpreted his Confucian tradition, particularly
its understanding of how human beings could cultivate morality,
while the king’s questions illustrate the mainstream
Neo-Confucianism Tasan was reacting against. Tasan challenged the
non-theistic standard, insisting that living a moral life is not
easy and that we need to be motivated to exert the effort necessary
to overcome our selfish tendencies. He had abandoned his faith by
the time he wrote these commentaries but, influenced by Catholic
works and determined to find a more effective way to live a moral
life than non-theistic Neo-Confucianism provided, Tasan constructed
a Confucian philosophy of moral improvement centered on belief in
God. This translation, helpfully annotated for context and
analysis, is an exploration of early Korean engagement with the
West and a powerful guide to all those interested in Confucianism,
Christianity, and morality.
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