Abstract

“The Secret of Expelling Ignorance” has been used as a primary manual of the Confucian way of living. Yi I(1536‒1584) advocated strongly that human beings, at birth, are far from being complete but in “transition,” waiting to be overcome as in Zarathustra’s famous aphorism. So the goal of ‘this Confucian learning’ lies not so much in secular power or in the hermit, as in the wisdom of everyday life, which could be called the ars vitae. In this sense, it may seem strange to hear that Confucianism was far from popular but exceptional in the 500 years of Joseon era as in our times. The first step towards Confucian wisdom is the existential determination to break through the “everydayness,” to use Heideggerian phraseology, followed by changing one’s own familiar habits and accustomed attitudes. The crucial part of this learning requires the courage to be alone, in other words, to cope with one’s fear of social estrangement. While Confucianism does not contain beliefs in the after‒world, and therefore, God’s blessing is lacking, the fulfillment of this project is to actualize one’s own nature into being, The Sage in Confucianism can be explained as a fully mature person who can respond to every situation in a creative and spontaneous way. The preface and first chapter of this book outlines the aim and the conditions of this learning, and the chapters thereafter show their concrete practices, i.e., discarding bad habits, enforcing correct posture, good manners, self‒reflection, and most of all, reading the Classics.