Examined in this article is how Gweon Geun justified his serving of two countries, and why he decided to cooperate with Jeong Do-jeon.
Gweon Geun wanted to make the world a place ruled by Confucianism instead of Buddhism. He compiled important academic points of the Confucian philosophy when he wrote Ib’hak Do’seol and 『O’gyeong Cheon’gyeon-rok』. He intended to establish Confucianism as a legitimate, one-and-only righteous form of study. He argued that Confucianism was the ‘real, substantial’ philosophy(實學) to lead the world, and criticized Buddhism as a heresy that would impede the world’s efforts to become a better one.
Based upon a Neo-Confucian view of the world, he criticized Buddhism as a school of thoughts that did not recognize the objective world and its principles, and a mere form of belief that eventually forced people to ignore their own human obligations. In his eyes, Buddhism was a religion for the animals, as it allowed people to sever all the personal relationships, either between a king and a vassal, or between a father and son, by having them commit to a Buddhist way of life. He also argued that Buddhism considered all actions as of the mere heart(imagination), and did not acknowledge the existence of a principle or an obligation, from which the actions would generate, or upon which the actions would operate.
With Neo-Confucian theories regarding the ‘Human nature(“Inseong, 人性”)’ and the ‘Law of Nature(“Cheon’ri, 天理)’ in mind, Gweon Guen considered morality to be very important, and hoped for an enlightenment to come to the people, based upon all that. He also wanted a world in which the people’s good nature would be more refined(or corrected from a corrupted state) with the concept of ‘Respect(Gyeong, 敬),’ so that morality could firmly be established. In order to maintain social stability and order, he preferred a character-building exercise based upon people’s moral nature and respect, to the employment of external forces such as law enforcement or institutional corrections. He wanted to reinforce school education, and modified the national examination system to prioritize Creative writing(製述), so that the Confucian concept of morality would dominate the people’s consciousness and living patterns.
In the meantime, Gweon Geun decided to join the new dynasty and bring his plans to realize his political philosophy in motion. First, to support Jeong Do-jeon’s plans for a new dynasty in theoretical terms, he authored the foreword for 『Bulshi Jab’byeon』, and highlighted the book’s meaning. He depicted Jeong Do-jeon as a visionary who intended to establish a new country, and explained Jeong’s academic traits, from the perspective of the Neo-Confucian argument of legitimacy.
Gweon Geun participated in the publication of 『Gyeong’je Mun’gam』 which did not thoroughly cited all the Chinese materials consulted in its creation. In 『Gyeong’je Mun’gam』, Jeong Do-jeon cited the Chinese texts yet marked them as his own thoughts, and Gweon Geun did the same, because he agreed with Jeong Do-jeon’s thoughts and accommodate his intentions.
In short, Gweon Guen tried to establish an idealistic Confucian soceity, and joined the Joseon government, established a relationship with the powerful Jeong Do-jeon, and tried to accommodate his intentions.