Kim You Gon

10.18399/acta.2015.18.2.008

Tasan Chŏng Yag-yong the Greater Learning the view of learning the practice of relationships between people three essential points and three specifics of the Greater Learning

This paper examines the view of learning that is presented in Tasan’s interpretation of the Greater Learning. Tasan presents the Confucian classic, the Greater Learning, as explaining the main themes that can achieve the goals of learning in Confucianism: cultivating the self and bringing good order to others, and the practical methods that can realize them. He asserts that the goals of learning in Confucianism are myŏng-myŏngdŏk (C. mingmingde), ch’inmin (C. qinmin), and chiŏjisŏn (C. zhiyuzhishan), and the realization of these goals is filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion. That is, the learning goals are myŏngmyŏngdŏk (C. mingmingde), ch’inmin (C. qinmin), and chiŏjisŏn (C. zhiyuzhishan), where myŏngmyŏngdŏk is a person’s practice of filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion; ch’inmin means inducing others to carry out filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion by practicing filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion oneself; and chiŏjisŏn is the perfect realization of relationships between people of filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion for oneself and for others. Accordingly, for Tasan, the learning goals consist of first acting in accordance with filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion where appropriate, and then influencing others to practice filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion through these personal actions, thus leading to a perfect realization of the relationships between people of filial piety, fraternal respect, and parental compassion for oneself and all people.