ABSTRACT

Both Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and Yi T’oegye (1501-1570) have played an important role in the development of Neo-Confucianism in China and Korea. Reading the same Confucian Classics, they discussed and debated philosophical issues respectively with their contemporaries. One of the core topics for them is how to interpret the philosophical implications of qing (especially the “four buddings” and the “seven emotions”) in the Confucian Classics.

This paper aims at dealing with some hermeneutic problems in Zhu’s and Yi’s exegesis of Confucian classics. First, by comparing their interpretations of the concept of qing reflected in related texts, I find that they followed different philosophical approaches and came to variant conclusions. Then, I explicate some theoretical difficulties, with which Zhu’s and Yi’s interpretations confronted. Zhu’s text- interpretation cannot reflect the true view of Mencius, whereas Yi’s interpretation revealed his wavering between Mencius and Zhu Xi. Although both of their text-interpretations did not correspond with Mencius’ original idea, they propounded creative interpretations of this topic. In the end, I summarize some characteristics of East Asian Confucianism in terms of the case of Zhu and Yi.

Key words: Zhu Xi, Yi T’oegye, hermeneutics of classics si duan (four buddings), qi qing (seven emotions)