【Special issue: Confucian ethos: Etiquette & Vernacular life】Jeong Sambong’s Refutation of Buddhism

Author: Cho-Hon Yang (Department of Chinese Literature, National Central University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 59, No. 1
Date：March 2014
Pages：43-62
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.2014.59(1).03

Abstract：

Jeong Dojeon (pen name: Sambong) was a noble Confucian in the early Joseon Dynasty. He was also a major advisor to King Taejo, the founder and first king of the Joseon Dynasty. As a Confucian, Sambong was a strict critic of Buddhism. The base of his criticism was Chu Hsi’s philosophy. Sambong used the Chinese neo-Confucian philosophers’ theories in the Song Dynasty, such as Chou Lien-his, Chang Tsai, and Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi), to refute the Buddhism. His representative work is “Bulsijapbyeon,” which has 20 sections. Six critical sections of “Bulsijapbyeon,” were analyzed. I attempt to show that Sambong profoundly understood the difference between Confucianism and Buddhism. His critical tandpoint toward Buddhism was based on a crucial contention regarding Confucianism: what a person morally ought to do is only for the sake of morality itself but not for the sake of any interests or other purpose.

Keywords：Joseon Dynasty, moral consciousness, Korean Confucianism, to refute Buddhism

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