The Eastern Learning is evaluated to have synthesized or integrated not only Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism but also Christianity with one another. It seeks relevance to Confucianism in that it asserts the Great Absolute, natural laws and God's wil...
The Eastern Learning is evaluated to have synthesized or integrated not only Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism but also Christianity with one another. It seeks relevance to Confucianism in that it asserts the Great Absolute, natural laws and God's will, attaches importance to morality, sincerity and respect and argues a ghost. It discovers relevance to the Western Learning in that it believes in and serves the Lord of Heaven or God or Hanwoolnim. It also maintains relevance to shamanism in that it argues a spiritual symbol received from Hanwoolnim, an incantation or experience of having God descend.
What is more important than the synthesis or integration, however, is the question of what fundamental spirit the Eastern Learning enabling such integration has.
The political structure of the Josun dynasty consisted of Sung Confucian governing structure from the beginning of its foundation. Its Confucian scholars developed the Primary Movement for practicing Confucian ethics in the 15th century. By the Justice Movement in the 17th century they had monopolized all powers of the ruling class called yangban. Sung Confucianism could have a great effect on the dynasty like it because politics was not separated from religion. Since such views of religion and politics in East Asia lasted until the 19th century, the Confucian scholars of the Pro-Confucian Anti-Foreign school did not change in traditional structure of consciousness.
Thus, the dynasty at that time reached the peak of corruption by in-laws government for more than 60 years. Also, it continued to rule cruelly and plunder its people. By imperialist foreign invasion, it could no longer expect a Sung Confucian view of ethics to play the role as a spiritual support. Instead of the Sung Confucianism at that time which kept the thought that religion coincided with politics, a movement for forming a new national order happened in general popular society. It is just the Eastern Learning advocated by Jewoo Choi.
Later, it developed a religious movement combined with a political movement in various forms meeting the demands of the times. It had progressively made its doctrine social thought timely. Believing that Hanwoolnim is always in mind - that one should also respect man as one respects Hanwoolnim - that man is, that is, heaven, it had gradually changed into a religious philosophy of uniting religion and politics with philosophy. It propagated the religion with the idea that Hanwoolnim is always in mind, developed a peasant movement of the Eastern Learning with the idea that one should also respect man as one respects Hanwoolnim, and developed the 1919 Independence Movement on a pan-national scale with the idea that man is, that is, heaven. As the ideas were systematized in the form of ideological national independence movement caused by the division of the religious body, the Eastern Learning Movement also changed in character and aspect. It is the fundamental goal intrinsic to it that it should permanently continue as the demands of the times change.
But recently the society has ambiguously recognized the Eastern Learning and the Religion of the Heavenly Way. It can not clearly tell whether they are religions or social ideas, nor clearly know even their existences. Further, even academic circles has very negatively evaluated the ideological role of the religion opposed to its division since the 1930s. It is, however, necessary to think over what meaning the Eastern Learning gives to us simply beyond affirmation/negation. In modern times of the 21st century, each of the countries on the earth is advocating globalization. Every country not only attaches importance to its own culture in the direction but also introduces the culture positively to foreign countries. I think how it will be that also Korea of today should advocate the idea that man is, that is, heaven, one of the ideas of the Eastern Learning, with Korean modern original thought. In such a sense, centering on its initial ideas this thesis has examined Suwoon's, Haewol's and Euiam's ideas that Hanwoolnim is always in mind - that one should also respect man as one respects Hanwoolnim - that man is, that is, heaven focusing on their Confucian interpretations and thought what message the Eastern Learning and the Religion of the Heavenly Way indeed gave to us.