150196 VO Neo-Confucianism in Korea: Gwon Geun's "Diagrams and Explanations upon Entering Learning" (2017S)

The Korean scholar Gwon Geun (1352-1409), a contemporary of the dynastic change in Korea, played a pivotal role in the distribution of Zhu Xi’s teachings in Korea and for laying the foundations of Korean Neo-Confucian ideology. He created the Iphak doseol "Diagrams and Explanations upon Entering Learning" for students who had approached him with questions in 1390 while he was in exile. The aim of the book was to provide easier (visual) explanations of the complex Neo-Confucian doctrines. Later, Gwon Geun’s book became the basis of other works of prominent Korean literati and served as a model for the creation of further diagrammatic explanations. The book systematizes and illustrates religious, philosophical and cosmological concepts that came to dominate the minds of Koreans throughout the Joseon period, the imprint of which still can be felt in today’s mainstream Korean thinking.