The Master from Mountains and Fields : : Prose Writings of Hwadam, Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk / / ed. by Robert E. Buswell.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• HerausgeberIn: Buswell, Robert E.,
• MitwirkendeR: Sancho, Isabelle,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2022]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Korean Classics Library: Philosophy and Religion
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (262 p.)

The Master from Mountains and Fields is a fully annotated translation of the prose texts from the “collected works” of Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk (1489–1546), an influential Confucian scholar from the early Chosŏn period (1392-1910). A native of Songdo (also known as Kaesŏng) in present-day North Korea, Sŏ has loomed large in the Korean cultural imagination and appeared as an exceptional sage and popular hero in numerous tales, dramas, and films, yet his writings are little known outside the academic milieu. Also called Master Hwadam, Sŏ embodied an archetype of the secluded scholar who remains hidden in “mountains and forests” to devote himself to his studies. Held in esteem in both South and North Korea today (a notable exception in contemporary studies on Chosŏn Neo-Confucianism), Sŏ and his ideas about Vital Energy influenced the great Korean Neo-Confucian debates of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries surrounding the psychophysiological origins of morality as well as various non-orthodox intellectual trends in the late Chosŏn. His thought is fundamentally rooted in the cosmology based on the exegesis of the Book of Changes and follows the teachings of various early Chinese Neo-Confucian thinkers; it presents a vivid example of the eclectic nature of ideas and intellectual trends coexisting within what is generically called Neo-Confucianism out of convenience.This volume presents the first English translation of all prose writings attributed to Sŏ and most of the peritexts from his posthumously published collection Hwadam chip. It reflects the importance of literary compilations (munjip) in the intellectual history of Chosŏn and the complex process of the making of Confucian masters in Korea. Sŏ’s prose works are concise and diverse and offer a glimpse at an author who thwarts stereotyping; an introduction and annotations provide further context. The lengthy endnotes that accompany each text make this a useful handbook for anybody interested in Chosŏn Korea and Confucianism, from students in East Asian and Korean studies to specialists in literary Chinese (hanmun) or East Asian intellectual history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- I. Translator’s Introduction -- II. Translation Works of Hwadam -- 1. Preface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Wŏn Inson [1770] -- 2. New Preface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Yun Suk [1786] -- 3. Memorial Addressed to the Great King Chungjong Declining Appointment -- 4. Memorial Addressed to the Great King Injong Discussing the Error of Not Following the Ancients in the Regulations for Official Royal Mourning -- 5. Letter Answering Pak Kunsil -- 6. Additional Note in Reply to Pak Ijŏng -- 7. Additional Note in Reply to Pak Ijŏng and Pak Kunsil -- 8. Additional Note in Reply to Pak Ijŏng -- 9. The Source of the Patterning Principle and Vital Energy -- 10. Explanation of the Patterning Principle and Vital Energy -- 11. Explanation of the Supreme Void -- 12. Discussions about Spirits and Spiritual Forces, Death and Life -- 13. Explanation on Seeing the Mind of Heaven and Earth in “The Return” -- 14. On the Distinctive Characteristics of Hot Springs -- 15. Analysis of Finals and Initials -- 16. Postscript about the Details Left Unexplained in the Preceding Analysis of Finals and Initials -- 17. Analysis of the Numbers of the August Ultimate Going through the Ages -- 18. Analysis of the Chart of the Directional Positions of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams -- 19. Analysis of Hexagram Changes -- 20. Statement about Pak Ijŏng’s Courtesy Name with a Foreword -- 21. Statement about Kim Sasin’s Courtesy Name -- 22. Farewell Words to Teacher Sim -- 23. Inscriptions on a Stringless Zither -- 24. Inscription on a Zither -- 25. Chronological Biography -- 26. Tombstone Inscription—with Additional Note—Pak Minhŏn -- 27. List of Disciples -- 28. Postface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Yun Hyosŏn [1601] -- 29. Postface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Hong Pang [1605] -- 30. Postface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Kim Yonggyŏm [1752] -- 31. Postface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Yun Tŭkkwan [1770] -- 32. Postface to the Literary Collection of Master Hwadam— Ch’ae Wiha [1770] -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Translator