Korean Confucianism

Korea was always susceptible to influence from China, its big neighbor, and this includes the influence of Confucianism. Although Koreans were engaged in broad cultural exchange with China from an early stage, the practical application of the philosophy of Confucius is thought to date from the Three Kingdoms period.

In its emphasis on this world and the fundamental importance of humanity, Confucianism has a common denominator with the ancient Korea. When it came into contact with the fundamental Korean sentiment, Confucianism brought about profound changes and exerted considerable influence on the Korean people. It has been an indispensable component of the Korean moral system, way of life, and laws.

The Goguryeo Kingdom was much inspired by Chinese culture and Confucian philosophy while maintaining its own customs and traditions. The Baekje Kingdom adopted Confucian tenets in its government and administrative structure, grafting them onto its state system and culture of arts and sciences. Silla was the last of the Three Kingdoms to accept Confucianism, though the spirit of its Youth Elite Corps was in part a reflection of Confucian thinking. The Goryeo Dynasty based its national ethics on Buddhism, though its founder Wang Geon based his political ideology on Confucianism. As an example, his Ten Testamentary Articles of Instruction conforms to a Confucian framework. Wang Geon's Confucian principles of civil administration were further developed under the 4th king of Goryeo, Gwangjong, and the 6th, Seongjong. The latter, in particular, was a very Confucian-oriented ruler. In the capital he founded a kind of national university, the Gukjagam, whose curriculum centered on the Confucian classics, and this became a turning point in the intellectual advance of Confucian culture. Seongjong also built an altar Sajikdan to the gods of the harvest and national prosperity and a shrine to the royal ancestors. He renovated the education system, thus stabilizing the foundation for a Confucian state.

When Goryeo was succeeded by the Joseon Dynasty, Korean Confucianism entered a new era. The Joseon regime made Confucianism the ruling ideology for governing the people, formulating its practices in books such as the Joseon Gyeonggukjeon (Administrative Code of Joseon), and the Gyeongguk Daejeon (Code of State Administration).
In addition, Joseon established Seonggyungwan, the national Confucian academy, and the subordinate Hyanggyo, the Confucian schools attached to Confucian shrines, where Confucian education was practiced with a spiritual focus on the veneration of ancestors. By the time of King Sejong (r. 1418-1450), all branches of learning were rooted in the fertile soil of Confucian thought. In 1420 Sejong established Jiphyeonjeon, the Hall of Worthies, where the most brilliant scholars could pursue their studies and publish numerous books.

A further flowering of Korean Confucianism was in the mid-Joseon period. Seowon, private community schools, were founded with the objective of teaching Confucian thought to the younger generation. The first of these private schools was the Baegundong Seowon founded by Ju Se-bung in 1542, but it was only after Yi Hwang (pen name Toegye, 1501-1570) won state support for his views on the importance of the academies that they began to flourish. The Joseon period may be described as the heyday of Confucianism, and Joseon scholarship and philosophy came to be highly enriched by the emergence of celebrated scholars. Joseon Neo-Confucianism reached its peak in the 16th century with Yi Hwang and Yi Yi (pen name Yulgok, 1536-1584). Korean Confucianism brought in the study of decorum, and from the number of books written on the subject one would have to say that the mid-Joseon period was an age of decorum.

The most important Korean Confucian ceremonies were those that marked coming-of-age, marriage, death, and the anniversary of an ancestor's death, and among these, funerals had the greatest effect on people's lives. The funeral was a way of expressing one's innermost feelings, and its conduct and atmosphere depended on the degree of intimacy or formality in the relationship between the living and the deceased, so funerals were bound to be highly varied in form.

Developing continuously on the foundation of Confucianism, the scholarship of Joseon eventually gave rise to Silhak, or Practical Learning. Confucianism deeply permeates the consciousness of the Korean people and can be seen today in many forms, such as the ceremonies that continue to be held: Jongmyo Jerye, the royal ancestral service at the Jongmyo Shrine, and Seokjeon Daeje, the worship rites at the Seonggyungwan in honor of Confucius, his disciples, and other celebrated Chinese and Korean Confucian scholars.