Yi Hwang

Yi Hwang [이황] [李滉] (1501–1570) is one of the most prominent Korean Confucian scholars of the Joseon Dynasty.

Quotes

Twelve Songs of Dosan

陶山十二曲

• 古人도날몯보고나도古人몯뵈
  古人를몯봐도녀던길알ᄑᆡ잇ᄂᆡ
  녀던길알ᄑᆡ잇거든아니녀고엇뎔고
  • The ancients see me not, nor I, the ancients,
    Though I see the ancients not, the Way they trod is before me,
    Their Way before me, can I but follow.
  • The old teacher never saw me; he lived long before my time.
    Though I may never meet him, I can see the road he traveled.
    With his wise road before me, what reason for me to stray?

• 靑山ᄂᆞᆫ엇뎨ᄒᆞ야萬古애프르르며
  流水ᄂᆞᆫ엇뎨ᄒᆞ야晝夜애긋디아니ᄂᆞᆫ고
  우리도그치디마라萬古常靑호리라
  • How do the green mountains through the ages remain green?
    How do the flowing waters day and night keep flowing?
    Let us not cease either but through the ages remain green.

• 愚夫도알며ᄒᆞ거니긔아니쉬운가
  聖人도몯다ᄒᆞ시니긔아니어려운가
  쉽거나엷거낫듕에늙ᄂᆞᆫ주를몰래라
  • Even ignorant men seek perfection; perhaps the way is easy.
    Not even wise men can be perfect; perhaps the way is difficult.
    Easy or difficult, between the two, I do not feel the advance of age.

Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning

聖學十圖

• ...[T]he Confucian way of learning is that in order to ascend to lofty heights one must begin with the lowly, to travel afar one must begin with what is near. Indeed, to begin from the lowly and near certainly is a slow process. But apart from it, whence comes the lofty and distant? In applying one’s efforts to gradual advancement one attain what is lofty and distant without parting from what is lowly and near; it is in this that it is different from Buddhist and Daoist learning.
  • Ch. 3. Diagram Of The Elementary Learning

External links

• Cyber Dosan Seowon, general information on Yi Hwang and his teachings
• The T'oegye Studies Institute, Busan
• The T'oegye Research Institute, Kyungpook National University
• "To become a sage", translation of Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, Michael C. Kalton, Columbia University Press, (1988)
• Secrets of Reality – Yi Hwang's major work with diagrams
• Detailed bibliography