덕천서원 유생들의 심신관리 지혜의 모태

Abstract

Confucian scholars in the Joseon era believed that managing one’s mind and body to cultivate one’s morals was the foundation for practicing Confucian virtues. This was accomplished by preserving one’s health and nurturing one’s mind. Existing research in Nammyong Studies show that Nammyong was devoted to his personal cultivation. However, there are not many studies on moral cultivation, i.e., the sagacious mind and body management of Nammyong and the writers in his circle. In this study, researchers have attempted to find the matrix of sagacious mind and body management by Confucian scholars at the Deokcheon-seowon Confucian Academy in HakGiYuPyeon[學記類編] , an abstract of Nammyong’s thoughts on Neo-Confucianism, and in the deeds of Nammyong and his disciples. According to the Neo-Confucian order prevalent during the Joseon era, medicine was regarded as general knowledge that disrupted moral cultivation. However, it was also regarded as an ordinary skill required to preserve one’s body and fulfill one’s filial piety. This was also the case in China where Confucianism originated. However, Confucianism and medicine have an inseparable relationship in the history of the origin and development. During the time of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, principles of the physical body and pathological phenomena were accepted. This “life” worldview of medicine became the new paradigm of Neo-Confucianism. The Neo-Confucian “life” worldview during the Song Dynasty is reflected in SeongLiDaeJeon (Collection of Neo-Confucianism)[性 理大典] and the words spoken by Confucian scholars during the time. The dynamic and practical worldviews based on HakGiYuPyeon were foundations for life and were applied as imperceptible religious precepts by Gwak Jaewoo[郭再祐], Jeong In-hong[鄭仁弘], Kim Woowoong[金宇顒], Jeong Gu[鄭逑], etc. Nammyong’s mind and body management, as well as deeds related to curing disease, can mostly be found in Nammyong Jip[南 冥集]. Nammyong believed that before curing the body, the mind needed to be cultivated and thus used special methods to do so. He attempted to focus his mind in one place and awakened his consciousness through meditation, bell sounds, and the sharpness of his ornamental knife. Nammyong fell seriously ill when he was nine years old and almost died. This has been recorded in the chronology of his life. A collection of literary works cite that he suffered from chronic dizziness and headaches. Nammyong was extremely strict with himself in his day-to-day happenings. This temperament may have led to his chronic ailments. Nammyong administered medicine and even prepared it. He treated his family’s illnesses as well as his own. His life records state that he was well-read in medicine and proficient in various other fields. Of the writers in Nammyong’s circle, Hangang[寒岡] Jeong Gu[鄭 逑] showed his willingness to practice self-cultivation and comfortable lives of others by writing medical books and rebuilding public medical facilities. Hangang, in his 60s, experienced internal and external troubles and then suffered a stroke at the age of 73. He began visiting hot springs in 1616, to treat his illness and continued to do so for three years. Hangang’s trips to hot springs are recorded in his disciple Lee Yoonwoo’s BongSanYokHaengNok[蓬山浴行錄]. Mangwoodang[忘憂堂] Kwak Jaewoo[郭再祐], another writer in Nammyong’s circle, became a soldier after the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. He attempted to emulate Nammyong’s loyalty and love for the people and his willingness to practice. However, Mangwoodang has suffered misfortunes in his personal life also a bureaucrat was not without problems in his public life. He was absorbed in a world of perennial youth and long life of a Taoist hermit. Mangwoodang chose to practice a different type of self-preservation rather than conserving his health like the other Confucian scholars. When Mangwoodang reached his 50s, he opted to live on a plain meager diet. During his final years, he not only suffered from a chronic disease that had ailed him from the start but also from the side effects of his meager diet. However, he refused to take medication for it. Heo Gyun and Seong Yeoshin justified Mangwoodang’s plain and meager diet by stating that it was an art of living that could be compared to Zhang Liang’s during the Han Dynasty. In Korean Taoist history, Mangwoodang’s legacy was said to have continued in the Josen Danhak circles. To the people, he was a legendary figure that was a soldier and Taoist hermit. To the Confucian scholars at Deokcheon-seowon Confucian Academy, it is likely that he was a colleague with a unique spirit. There were many erudite literary colleagues and disciples within Nammyong Studies, including Nammyong himself. His disciples and their disciples thereafter medically treated themselves and their families, and made efforts to provide public aid. This shows that Nammyong’s loyalty and love for the people along with his ideological practices live on through his followers.