Isabelle Sancho

of Bucharest -EPEL talk

Discourses and Practices of Confucian Friendship in 16 th -Century Korea" The original Confucian school might be described as starting with a group of disciples and friends gathering together around the central figure of a master: Confucius, Master Kong. The man Confucius, as he has been staged in the text of the Analects, is always surrounded by a few key figures with distinct personalities, social backgrounds, and trajectories: the practical and straight-talker Zilu with military training, the gifted and politically skilled Zigong coming from a wealthy family, the youngest and favorite disciple Yan Hui from humble origins whose premature death left the Master inconsolable, Zengzi keen on transmitting the supposed true teachings of Confucius and to whom is attributed the Book of Filial Piety, etc.

All these disciples ask him questions, discuss among themselves, and express their opinions on diverse matters. Without their presence and their questions or reactions, most of the sayings of Confucius would be meaningless, severed from their original dialogical form. The Analects has a very special status in the Confucian scriptural tradition indeed, because of its strong formal and stylistic features. These features fully participate in and give shape to how the Confucian "Learning" or the Confucian message presents and narrates itself: that is to say through orality and dialogical form, but also through fragmentariness and allusiveness. These features had been partly imitated in the book of Mencius, the Mengzi, as well as in the Fayan (Exemplary words) of Yang Xiong in later periods. The massive compilations of the sayings of Neo-Confucian scholars, like the Zhuzi yülei recording the discussions between Zhu Xi and his disciples or fellow literati are also illustrations of this strong tendency. Other Confucian texts do not bear as strongly as in the Analects this form of dialogues, like the Xunzi which resembles more a structured theoretical essay, but they do generally keep the fragmentariness and allusiveness of the original Confucian message, conveying the idea that this message cannot be fully covered, once for all, in simple and simplistic definitions. As for the Confucian Classics, they are also difficult to read and do not present themselves as strongly coherent textual narratives at first sight. So the original Confucian school might be summarized as a master gathering around him disciples who are basically friends with one

another and learning together by their multiple and complex human interactions and through dialogues, questions and answers that are never definitive.

Friendship in Confucianism is not a trivial and secondary issue. It is part of ethics, being one of the "Five Bonds" or "Five Humans Relationships" (prince/minister, father/son, elder brother/younger brother, husband/wife, friend/friend). These Five Bonds are metonymical of all possible human interactions and should not be understood in a very narrow sense. Confucian ethics has been described by some Western scholars (Roger Ames, Henri Rosemont) as "role-ethics," in the sense that it basically stresses the different roles that any single human being, within a society, has to live in a life-time. The word "role" is to be understood here as a role to be "lived" or "experienced" personally and not simply as a role to be "played" outwardly without any personal commitment. One of the most difficult aspects of Confucianism for a modern audience is certainly its focus on rituals. Yet, it is crucial to understand that rituals are not simple decorum or etiquette coming from exotic old ages, interesting only antiquity lovers. They are not authoritarian and prescriptive rules solely meant to assign rigid tasks and constraints to some segments of society. Contrary to what is sometimes believed, Confucian rites are not meant to be tools of oppression for, as for examples, women, young people, and lower classes in general. I am not saying that Confucianism is an egalitarian ideology, but such a questioning would be somehow anachronistic. Rituals are in fact thought in Confucianism as performative acts meant to truly transform the people who perform different ritual roles in different ritual situations. To understand correctly this point, let me remind you that rituals are fundamentally related to music in Confucianism. An analogy with musical performance is indeed rather enlightening.

Performing rituals or having proper ritual behaviors is just like playing and interpreting a score within a musical ensemble. Each performer plays according to his own capacities, talents, and emotions, but he has to be always in tune with the other performers playing their own scores at the same moment. The general score that they are all playing together is not written in advance. Ritual rules might be described as rough sketches, rules and guidelines for that still unwritten score, a score that remains to be played to really exist. The score is in fact created on the spot by the magic of the performance itself, and each musical performance is in that sense unique. Each human interaction is unique and participates at the same time in the common building of a properly human society.

So I would like you to keep in mind four fundamental ideas about Confucian ritualism and role-ethics. Firstly, leading a human life in a Confucian sense means that there are different roles to be experienced in a life-time: being a subject of a ruler, being a father, a spouse, a brother, a friend, etc. These roles are not fixed once for all, and one single person lives in fact different roles, depending on circumstances of his personal situation.

Circumstances are indeed always evolving and changing.

Secondly, the idea of the Five Bonds cannot be understood correctly without taking into account the Golden rule (or the ethics of reciprocity), common to many intellectual and religious traditions and known in Confucianism as the virtue of shu/sŏ 恕 (the pictogram of the "heart" topped by the character meaning "reciprocity," or "similarity," in the sense of "putting oneself in the place of others"). This golden rule was expressed by Confucius in the Analects: "What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others" (Analects 12.2 and 15.24).

Thirdly, Confucian ritualism is intimately connected to the cosmology of the Book of Changes, one Confucian Classic. This means that ritualism is not synonymous with rigidity or fixity. On the contrary, it is related to a philosophy that is basically preoccupied with the question: "how to bring and maintain "constancy" in a world regarded as ceaseless changes"?

The cosmology of the Changes involves in turn different temporalities in ethical practice and points at the tension between "duration" and "moment." This means that the outward conduct of an exemplary person might change under different circumstances, but his character should remain constant; which implies constant and repeated practice. The state of constant balance that the Confucians seek to achieve is comparable with that of a tightrope walker: it is only when he keeps walking on the rope that he can keep the balance and stay on the rope. So duration, constancy, and active practice are intimately linked one another. 4) Lastly, this long-lasting and repeated ethical practice is precisely what is meant by the word "Learning" (Xue/hak) in Confucianism. Learning is learning to walk on the Confucian Way. The Confucian way expresses the unwillingness to separate theory and practice, but also privilege and responsibility. So there is no distinction between end and means, speech and act. The goal to attain is an everyday "practice," to be performed until death, a constant walking on the right path. Moreover, this path lies in ordinary life, in "things near at hands," in daily routines and thus in basic human relationships. The purpose is to live a proper human life and to perform common human destiny according to natural orderor in other words according to natural, cosmological "patterns." I am aware that this short and quick overview of Confucian ethics may sound a little difficult to understand, but I hope that things will get a little bit clearer when we will be reading together the quotations about friendship. So let's now move on to the heart of today's topic.

The notions immediately associated with friendship in Confucian discourses are "Pleasure" and "Joy." This idea appears in the opening sentence of the Analects of Confucius:

The Master said: "Studying, and from time to time going over what you've learnedthat's enjoyable, isn't it? To have a friend come from a long way off -that's a pleasure, isn't it? Others don't understand him, but he doesn't resent it -that's the true gentleman, isn't it?" (Analects, 1.1)

The idea also appears in the Reflections on Things at Hand, the Neo-Confucian anthology written by Zhu Xi and Lü Zuqian in the 11 th century that became a primer in Confucian education: When one's mind, although deeply devoted to the Way, is suddenly distracted by other thoughts, that is because of material force [=vital energy, Qi/Ki]. If one is bound by old habits and cannot free oneself from them, it is after all no good, for then one will merely take delight in those old habits. The ancients desired to have friends, musical instruments, and books, and always kept their minds in them. The Sage alone knew that one derives the most benefit from friends. He was therefore delighted when friends came. (Jinsilu 5.37) Generally speaking friendship is something highly valuable and desirable, as it is shown in the following dialogue between Confucius, Yan Hui, and Zilu: Once, when Yan Yuan and Zilu were accompanying him, the Master said: "Why don't each of you speak of your desires?" Zilu said: "I wish that I and my friends could share the same carriages and horses, robes and furs, and never worry if we wore them out." Yan Yuan said: "I would like never to boast of what good points I have and never cause trouble to others." Zilu said: "I would like to hear the Master's desires." The Master said: "To free old people from worry, to be trustworthy toward my friends, and at all times solicitous of the young." (Analects 5.26) The term used by Confucius when he is asking about his disciples' "desires" is 志, which also means the aspiration and desire for Learning. So the three answers here illustrate in different ways the possible conceptions of Learning, and friendship has a significant role in that desire for Learning.

In the Book of Changes, extensively studied by Confucius who is said to have written himself the most important appendixes (the Great treatise) traditionally added to this Confucian Classic, friendship is linked to the 58 th hexagram, Dui 兌, also called "the Joyous."

The hexagram "Joyous" is one of the 8 hexagrams formed by doubling of a trigram (☱ ; 兌 duì; two first yang -solid, unbrokenlines in the bottom, followed by a yin -brokenline at the third place. The trigram means "swamp" or "lake" but also "mouth" and designates something "open"). So the hexagram of the Joyful is composed by inner and outer trigrams that are the same and are doubled. The comment on the image of the hexagram the Joyful (that is to say the commentary on the hexagram taken as whole) reads as follows:

"Lakes resting one on the other; the image of the Joyous. Thus the superior man joins with his friends for discussion and practice." So the repetition/doubling of "mouth" has to be understood as "discussion" (講) and the repetition of "lake" as "practice" (習). This hexagram and its commentary point at the virtue associated to friendship in the Five Bonds, that is to say "faithfulness," "being faithful to one's word," which means the "complete sincerity of the man who is totally committed in his speeches and acts": 信 (Character composed by the "man" 人 (also written 亻 when composed) and the pictogram of "speech" 言).

The description of the Five Bonds and the virtues associated with each of them appears first in the Mengzi:

Hou Ji [Shun's minister of agriculture] taught the people to sow and to reap and to cultivate the five grains. When the grains ripened, the people has their nourishment. It is the way of human beings that when they have sufficient food, warm clothing, and comfortable dwellings, but are without education, they become little more than birds and beasts. It was the part of the sage [= Shun] to grieve anxiously over this. He appointed Xie minister of education in order to teach people about human relations: that between parents and children there is affection; between ruler and minister, rightness; between husband and wife, separate functions; between older and younger, proper order; and between friends, faithfulness. Fangxun [= Yao] said, "Encourage them, lead them, reform then, correct them, assist them, give them wings, let them get it for themselves. Then follow by inspiring them to Virtue." (Mengzi III.A.4) As it is shown in the quotation, the Five Bonds are basically related to the civilizing process or the "education" (教/教化) ensured by mythical emperors of Antiquity, Yao and Shun, in order to teach to people how to live as proper men, and not like birds or beasts. What is at stakes here is what might be called the Confucian civilizing project for society. Broadly speaking this Confucian civilizing project has to be understood as the very Confucian

Learning, what is also called the Confucian Way. Friendship, as one fundamental human relationship that is ritualized, is thus also involved in the project as a means to practice Confucian Learning and walk on the Confucian Way, as can be seen in the following quotations:

(in chronological order) Zixia said: "If he treats worthy persons as worthy and is respectful to them, does all in his power to serve his father and mother, gives his best in the service of the ruler, and in dealings with friends is faithful to his word, though some may say he lacks learning, I would surely call him learned [學]!" (Analects 1.7)

The Master [= Confucius] said: "The proper way is not at all remote from people. If someone takes as the way that which distances them from others, it should not be considered the proper way. Where in everyday moral conduct and in everyday attention to proper speech I am lacking in some respect, I must make every effort to attend to this; where there is excess in some respect, I must make every effort to constrain myself. In speech pay attention to what is done, and in conduct pay attention to what is said. How could the exemplary person not but earnestly aspire to behave in such a manner? (Zhongyong 13; one of the Four Books, originally one chapter of the Book of Rites)

Master Ming-Tao [=Cheng Hao] said: "There is nothing outside the Way, and there is no Way outside of things. Thus within heaven and earth there is nowhere without the Way. Right in the relation of father and son, affection is the way, and right in the relation between ruler and minister, seriousness is the way. From these relations to those of being husband and wife, elder and younger, and friends, there is no activity that is not the Way. This is why "the Way cannot be separated from us for a moment." This being the case, to renounce human relations and to do away with the Four Elements is to deviate very far from the Way. [= criticism against Buddhism; Four Elements: earth, water, fire, and wind, the basic elements of the universe] (Jinsilu 13.3) There are usually two Chinese characters meaning "friend" or "friendship": 朋 and 友. They can be taken separately or together. When they are used separately, 朋 usually refers to a companion or classmate (it designates indeed the persons who are studying under the same master), and 友 designates more specifically a "friend" or "friendship." In many texts, this term is also used in a verbal sense as well, when friendship is viewed in parallel with other bonds (especially brotherhood). It has then the meaning of "to befriend someone" and refers to mutual aid and benevolence. Friendship or "being friendly" are then correlated with the idea of being close to others, being intimate, kind and gentle just as if others were one's own siblings. This is because, as it has been seen previously, friendship is part of the Five Bonds and participates in the same logic of ethical training for the implementation of a good society.

But friendship has strong specificities that make it different from other forms of social relationships.

Indeed, friendship is a specific step in the Confucian ethical program, connecting together or bridging together the realm of the self and family interactions on the one hand, and that of society on the other hand. As it is said in the Mengzi:

"When those occupying positions below do not gain the confidence of those above, they cannot succeed in governing the people. There is a way to gain the confidence of those above: one who does not inspire the trust of friends will not have the confidence of those above. There is a way to gain the trust of friends: one who does not serve his parents so as to please them will not inspire the trust of friends. There is a way to please one's parents: one who turns within and finds himself not to be sincere does not please his parents. There is a way to be sincere within oneself: if one is not clear about what is good, one will not be sincere within oneself. […]" (Mengzi IV.A.12)

The reason why one cannot gain the trust of friends if one doesn't serve his parents correctly and is not sincere within oneself is that true friendship attracts and gathers together people who share same culture and same desires for Learning.

Master Zeng said: "The gentleman uses culture [文] in gathering friends and uses friends in helping him to become humane [仁]." (Analects 12.24)

The Master said: "If the gentleman lacks gravity, he won't command respect. If he studies he will avoid narrow-mindedness. Put prime value on loyalty and trustworthiness [ 信 ], have no friends who are not your equal, and if you make mistakes, don't be afraid to correct them." (Analects 1.8; same idea in Analects 9.25) Following the same idea, it was interesting for me, as a French native-speaker, to find out that the English rendering for the French proverb "Qui se ressemble s'assemble" was "Birds of feather flock together." It is because friendship is expressed through various metaphors in Confucian texts; and birds are one of them: "Those rallies, jabbering and cawing badly if not worse than crows, solely gather in order to eat up crops. Companioning [朋] without committing hearts is being outward companions; befriending each other [友] without committing hearts is being outward friends." (Fayan 1.20) Here the term "rallies" refers to groups of scholars-officials who gather together like noisy flights of crows and whose only common goal is to eat up and devour crops. Birds are a very common metaphor for the scholars and also the ministers, opposed to the ruler. Like in many Western languages, the idea of "wings" refers to the possibility of "rising up" to the top of social ladder. Scholars-officials are often compared to birds gathered together, but depending on their species, they have different attitudes. There are noble birds, that are originally solitary but can meet and befriend birds sharing the same ideals, and conversely there are inferior birds that are just driven by greed and behave like "social pack hunters": "How about the worthy man in times of order?" "He is like a phoenix." "And in times of disorder?" "He is like a phoenix." The person who asked the question does not understand. "You have not thought about it enough." He further says: "In times of order, he makes himself visible; in times of disorder, he remains hidden. The swan flies in dark skies, how could the archer hope to cull him? The birds jiaoming gather together with caution and feed with purity; the phoenixes only fly around and whizz in Yao's courtyard." (Fayan 6.16)

In the Shiji, 117, biography of Sima Xiangru, it is explained that the bird jiaoming, coming from Western territories, looks like a phoenix and only gather together with lonely birds like itself and that feeds only on precious food.

A second metaphor often used to describe the "natural" and mutual attraction existing between friends sharing the same nature and heart is borrowed from the natural world: fire and water.

It is impermissible for a lord of men to be incautious in the selection of his ministers. It is improper for the common people to be careless in the choice of friends. Friends are those with whom one has mutual interests. If their Way is not the same, how can there be mutual interests? When firewood is spread out and lit, fire seeks out the driest sticks; when water is poured out on level ground, it flows to the dampest places. It is evident that things of the same kind naturally come together; hence one reviews a man by looking at his friends. Could there be any doubt about this? To choose good men as one's friends -in this it is wrong to be incautious, for it is the foundation of inner power. An Ode says: "Do not lean on the great carriage, the swirling dust will blind you." This says that one should not live among ordinary men. (Xunzi 27.102) If friendship is described as the gathering of people driven by same ideals, it can also be exclusive of other categories of men in a Confucian perspective. Among the people who could be excluded from Confucian ideal friendship, one figure is remarkable, standing on his own in superb and terrible solitude: the ruler. As an ideology and philosophy designed by and for scholars-officials, Confucianism isolates and excludes the ruler from the possibility of true friendship:

Duke Mu often saw Zisi. Once he said: "In antiquity, the ruler of a state of a thousand chariots would have been friendly with scholars. What do you think of that?" Zisi was not pleased and said: "The ancients said, "A scholars should be served." How could they have said, "Make him your friend"?" Being thus displeased, how could Zisi not have said: "In terms of our positions, you are the ruler, and I am the subject. How could I presume to be a friend of the ruler? In terms of our Virtue, you should be serving me. How could you be my friend?" Thus a ruler with a thousand chariots may have sought to be a friend of a scholar, but he could not do so, much less summon him to his presence. (Mengzi V.B.7)

In the same vein, that is to say because of the "role" ritually attributed to each person in certain configurations, friendship would be nonsense between parents and children:

To demand goodness of one another is the Way of friends [朋友之道]. But for father and son to demand goodness of one another entails a great assault on affection [恩]. (Mengzi IV.B.30) Friendship, gathering similar people ideally motivated by the same goal, is subject to a double criteria: that of what is "beneficial" and, conversely, what is "harmful." Indeed, beside the hexagram of the Joyful (the doubling of the same trigram of the mouth or the lake as seen previously, that is to say the doubling of the same), the notion of friendship appears in the Book of Changes in the explanations given about two other hexagrams: hexagram 41 ("Decrease": Sun 損) and hexagram 42 ("Increase": Yi 益also often translated by "benefit" or "profit"). Friendship is understood as a process of true transformation. As an ethical practice, it must transform and change the person who practices it. But this change can either mean an "increase" or a "decrease" in terms of both quality and quantity: quality of the virtue of humaneness, and quantity of good behaviors. Quantity is important indeed, because ethical training is regarded as an accumulative process made of the repetition of good practices and good thinking that must become, step by step, "natural" in order to transform and improve the self of the practitioner. This is comparable with physical training, consisting in repeating regularly or even daily the same movements in order to improve physical capacities and even transform the whole body. This is the reason why friendship is also part of what is called the "gongfu"/kungfu of vital energy in Confucianism (and I would like to precise that the word meaning "learning" or "studying" in modern Korean is precisely "gongfu"):

If the blood humour is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony. If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity […] What is common and mediocre, worthless and undisciplined, overcome with the help of teachers and friends […] What is simpleminded but sincere, upright and diligent, consolidate with ritual and music […] In summary, of all the methods of controlling the vital breath and nourishing the mind, none is more direct than proceeding according to ritual principles, none more essential than obtaining a good teacher, and none more intelligent than unifying one's likes. (Xunzi 2.4)

In the Analects, the idea of increase and decrease (of profit and harm) appears in two sentences following one another and focusing on ternary rhythm and number three: Zigong asked how to practice humaneness. The Master said: "A craftsman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools. Whatever country you are in, be of service to the high officials who are worthy and become friends with the men of station who are humane." (Analects 15.10) The second metaphor is jade polishing:

The eighth rule [of school] concerns the selection of friends [ 擇友]. Its reads: Although transmitting the Way and dispelling doubts fall to the teacher, "linking together swamps" [cf. commentary on the hexagram "the Joyful"] and "assisting the practice of humanity" [= quotation from the Analects] depend on classmates and friends [朋友]. Whoever wants to really learn must select learned men who are loyal, faithful, filial with elders, affectionate to brothers, firm, upright, kind-hearted, and serious. They should befriend them, and then admonish each other for misbehaviors, encourage each other to support good, and polish one another by learning by interaction in order to go through to the end with the rule governing friendship. The metaphors of craftsmanship and jade polishing are interesting for they both point at the notion of temporality in ethical training and practice. A good craftsman acquires indeed his full talents through repeated practice with the help of a master and other companions. As I said previously, Confucian ethics are inscribed in a complex temporality coming from the cosmology of the Book of Changes. Ethical training, understood metaphorically as a walking on the Confucian Way conjures up very concrete visions of a walking on a path. The efficiency of walking is subject to many different conditions, among which regularity, rhythm, pace, breathing, etc. In order to attain constancy in the midst of changing conditions and in order to sustain the walking effort throughout the process of learning, endurance is crucial.

And endurance is enabled by accumulated effort on a daily basis; endurance has to be worked on and progressively developed. That effort is precisely what Confucian ritualized relationships (among which friendship) are concerned with. The "increase" and profit expected from friendship comes indeed from everyday ethical practice: Master Zeng said: "Each day I examine myself on three matters. In making plans for others, am I being loyal to them? In my dealings with friends, am I being trustworthy? Am I passing on to others what I have not carefully thought about myself?" (Analects 1.4) Whenever there is any doubt about moral principles, one should wipe out his old views so new ideas will come. Whenever one's mind penetrates something, he should note it down. If he does not think, his mind will be blocked again. Furthermore, he should seek the help of friends. Each day he discusses things with friends, each day his ideas will become different. One must discuss things and deliberate like this very day. In time he will naturally feel that he has advanced. (Jinsilu 2.21)

We want friends not for pleasure or comfort but to assist us in the practice of humanity. Nowadays when people make friends they choose to associate with those who know well how to be submissive. They walk shoulder to shoulder and hold hands, believing they feel as one person. But if one word goes wrong, they become angry at each other. It is desirable that friends be humble toward each other and never get tired of doing so. Therefore, if friends who regard reverence as fundamental intimately associate with each other every day, good results will soon be achieved. (Jinsilu 2.40) As can be noticed in these quotations, discussions and mutual criticisms or praises are what constitute the heart of the practice of friendship, which is made of mutual polishing, mutual discussion, mutual practice, etc. As we have seen before, speech/dialogue is crucial in friendship, even more than any emotional comfort and support that is commonly believed to be expected from friends and close people. I would like to add that it is certainly because the practice of friendship is also meant in Confucianism as a means to exercise one's own ethical judgment. A judgment on how people turn statements into deeds, how they are true to their words or not (信). Observing friends, who might be compared to concrete "case studies," is a good training in understanding the practice of Confucian humaneness, as can be seen in three quotations taken from the Analects where Confucius disciples make judgments about one another:

Master Zeng said: "Able but consulting those who lack ability, of many talents but consulting those with few, possessing but seeming to be without, full yet seeming to be empty, offended against but never retaliating -in the past I had a friend who always tried to be like that." (Analects 8.5) Ziyou said: "My friend Zizhang can do difficult things, but he has not yet mastered humaneness." (Analects 19.15) Master Zeng said: "Zizhang is imposing indeed, but side by side with one like that it's hard to achieve humaneness." (Analects 19.16) But because of the critical aspect of the mutual judgment implied by true practice of friendship, some limitations have to be taken into account: Ziyou said: "Be too censorious in serving the ruler, and you will end up in disgrace. Be that way with your friends, and you will lose them." (Analects 4.26) Zigong asked how to deal with friends. The Master said: "Advise them in a loyal manner; lead them with goodness. But if you get nowhere, then stop. No use to bring shame on yourself." (Analects 12.23) So the most important part of friendship is communication and "speech/talk" in general, but this characteristic may in turn be the cause of the loss of this privileged relationship based on trust and confidence.

To finish this review of the common conceptions of friendship in Confucianism, I would like to allude to a particular form of friendship: the friendship with deceased people: Mencius said to Wan Zhang: "That scholar, whose goodness is most outstanding in the village, will become friend to all the good scholars of the village. That scholar, whose goodness is most outstanding in the state, will become a friend to all the good scholars of the state. That scholar, whose goodness is the most outstanding in the world, will become a friend to all the good scholars of the world. When he feels that being a friend of all good scholars of the world is not enough, he will go back in time to consider the people of antiquity, repeating their poems and reading their books. Not knowing what they were like as persons, he considers what they were like in their own time. This is to go back in time and make friends." (Mengzi V.B.8) By friendship with the deceased, I was referring to the practice of "reading" in Confucianism that is considered as a way to "make friends" with worthy people who are no longer alive but have left testimonies of their lives and thoughts. But, it is important to underline that real friendship in true life remains superior to that friendship with the ancients and even to practicing rituals. As Xunzi said:

In learning, no method is of more advantage than to be near a man of learning. The Rituals and Music present models but do not offer explanation; the Odes and Documents present matters of antiquity but are not always apposite; the Annals are laconic, and their import is not quickly grasped. It is just on these occasions that the man of learning repeats the explanations of the gentleman. Thus, he is honored for his comprehensive and acquaintance with the affairs of the world. Therefore it is said: "In learning, no method is of more advantage than to be near a man of learning. […] Of the direct routes to learning, none is quicker than devotion to a man of learning. The next best route is exaltation of ritual principles. If you can neither be devoted to a man of learning nor exalt ritual principles, how will you do more than learn unordered facts or merely mechanically follow the Odes and Documents? In this case you will never, even to the end of your days, escape being nothing more than an untutored scholar. (Xunzi 1.11) By way of a conclusion, I would like to allude to the implications and the concrete application of these conceptions of friendship in Confucianism. For that, I will take the example of Yulgok Yi I, one icon of Korean Confucianism. China, especially from the 17 th century onwards. In most of Yulgok's remaining texts as well as the testimonies of his life and achievements in various historical sources, one can find many traces of the Confucian focus on friendship as a means to practice Learning. Most of the conceptions of Confucian friendship that I have just been detailing in this talk can be found in his philosophical treatises like the Sŏnghak chipyo, written for king Sŏnjo as a guide to sage ruling, in his primer of Neo-Confucian education (the Kyŏngmong yogyŏl), but also in various programmatic texts written for either local schools or community compacts. One might however wonder how friendship was actually practiced in real life by the man Yulgok. In order to try to answer to that question, the historian is left with a few sources that modern readers would be inclined to define as intimate or private writings, like for instance personal correspondence. Epistolary texts are indeed commonly viewed as the best testimonies to the self. However it is appropriate to remain vigilant as regards the modern distinction between private and public. Epistolary texts of pre-modern periods are indeed both public and private; they were circulated, copied, read in large circles, and finally compiled, edited and published.

The very notion of intimacy or privacy, and that of private writing is thus difficult to delineate clearly and even to conceptualize.

Yulgok had many friends, colleagues, siblings, and acquaintances. In his collected writings, one can read many testimonies of his exchanges with them. The available materials are mainly letters, memoirs, poems, farewell notes, tombstones inscriptions, eulogies, etc., which are, for most of them, edited (which means that they are not hand-written manuscripts and were certainly altered). A brief survey of these texts reveals that Confucian sociability used many different modes of expression and communication with diverse stylistic features, especially when traces of that sociability have to be found out today in written pieces.

Because of the open-ness of letters and other "personal" writings of any influent scholarofficial of pre-modern time, writing style often denotes self-fashioning accompanying the solemnity of writing, contrary to oral and direct expression. Considering this framework, as well as the proper rules of politeness and written genres (prose or poetry don't imply the same writing style for example), expressions of friendship is sometimes difficult to analyze. In Yulgok's case, letter-writing understood as a practice of friendship seems to grant two main desires: firstly, exchanging about Confucian learning (that is say, talking about progress made, doubts, technical philosophical problems); secondly, finding consolation and solace.

Compared to others texts of the same kind addressed to more distant acquaintances and even to his own siblings, the letters and poems given to friends and fellow Confucians are indeed strongly emotional. This feature leaves the modern reader with the impression that friendship might have been the privileged, not to say the single one, relationship bringing Joy and true pleasure. To say in other words and to stay more cautious perhaps, I would like to argue that in spite of the many constraints imposed by its ideal practice, friendship may have played a very specific and remarkable role in the life of any literatus hoping to live as a true Confucian: that of the only channel for the expression of emotions. One should thus remember that, among the Five Bonds, only friendship is subject to deliberate choice and some sort of freedom, depending on chance and human encounters. Contrary to one's family or ruler, friends can be chosen, even thought that choice could lead to disillusions. But precisely because of the very possibility and openness to either "increase" or "decrease," that is to say positive or negative outcomes, friendship seems to have been both the most difficult and the most rewarding human relationship within the social and intellectual framework of ritualized ethics of Confucianism.

  […] Putting oneself in the place of others and doing one's best on their behalf does not stray far from the proper way. Do not treat others as you yourself would not wish to be treated. [cf. Golden rule] Of the four requirements of the exemplary person's proper path, I am not yet able to satisfy one. I am not yet able to serve my father as I would expect a son to serve me. I am not yet able to serve my lord as I would expect a minister to serve me. I am not yet able to serve my older brother as I would expect a younger brother to serve me. I am not yet able to first treat my friends as I myself would wish them to treat me.

  Confucius said: "Three kinds of friends are beneficial[益]; three kinds are harmful[ 損 ]. Straightforward friends, sincere friends, well-informed friends -these are beneficial. Hypocritical friends, sycophantic friends, glib-talking friends -these are harmful." (Analects 16.4) Confucius said: "Three kinds of delight [樂] are beneficial; three kinds are harmful. The delight of regulating oneself with rites and music, the delight of speaking of others' good points, the delight of having many worthy friends -these are beneficial. Delight in extravagant pleasures, delight in idle wanderings, delight in the joys of the feast -these are harmful." (Analects 16.5) Please note that number 3 means in the cosmology of the Book of Changes the opening to diversity and multiplicity, and thus to endless creative transformations. For example, trigrams that form the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes are made out of 3 monograms or 3 lines.Besides, Heaven, Earth and Man form a triad that represents the full potency enabling cosmic change as well as the implementation of an ideal humanity. But as an opening to multiplicity, number 3 is also the metaphor of an opening to the possibilities of failures, dangers, dissensions, etc.Talking about metaphors, I would like to present two other interesting metaphors related to friendship in Confucianism. The first one is craftsmanship:

  […] (Yulgok, Hakkyo mobŏm 8) This passage from the Rules of schools by Yulgok, taken after the rules enacted and written by Zhu Xi at the Academy of the White Deer Cavern (Bailudong shuyuan 白鹿洞書院), one of the greatest educational institutions in pre-modern China, reminds of a famous idea of the Xunzi: Learning and culture are to men what polishing and grinding are to jade. An Ode says: "Like bone cut, like horn polished, like jade carved, like stone ground." This refers to studying and questioning. (Xunzi 27.87)

  Yulgok was a very talented Confucian scholar who also achieved a brilliant career as a high official in the 16 th century. He is one of the few Chosŏn scholars enshrined and revered at the Munmyo (Confucian Shrine) and his collected works (the Yulgok chŏnsŏ) had been extensively studied past and present as representing an outstanding example of the Koreanisation of Neo-Confucianism, or to say it more simply an example of the specifically Korean reappraisal of Confucianism. As you may certainly know, the history of Chosŏn dynasty is heavily tributary to what has been called the Confucianisation of Korean society, starting from the broad dissemination of Neo-Confucian ideas received from Song and Yuan


1 Dr Isabelle Sancho (EHESS, Paris) "Does Confucianism matter in the study of Korea?" When Andrew Jackson invited me for this talk, he asked me to present, as an introduction, the basic ideas, texts, and history of Neo-Confucianism in Korea in order to give you a more precise idea of what Confucianism means in a philosophical and textual level. I first agreed with the proposal, thinking: "Oh that will be an easy job!" But as the talk was approaching and I started to think more about what I wanted to discuss with you, I changed my mind. I believe that one straightforward question may be asked before talking in detail about Confucianism: "Does Confucianism matters? Does it matter in the study of Korea, especially modern and contemporary Korea?" Recently, I have been struck by the increasing demands and questions about the nature, features, and history of Confucianism coming from a wide range of people around me: students, colleagues in KS, but also general audience (French press, etc.). The reason is that Confucianism is a catch-all word, assumed to explain almost everything and its opposite in Korean culture, mindsets, social practices, politics, economy, legal provisions, etc, past and present and even on both sides of the 38 th parallel.

Confucianism is indeed often summoned to account for diverse and sometimes totally antagonistic standpoints on modern Korean history and society.

To start with North Korea, Confucianism is sometimes mentionned by scholars as an explanation for the juch'e ideology in DPRK as well as the dynastic nature of the North Korean regime. This standpoint is generally adopted by Russian scholars who tend to underline the focus placed on filial piety and loyalty in North Korean's official propaganda.

The reason may be that for these scholars from post-soviet era, the main difference of North Korean ideology with Marxism-Leninism lies in the Confucian legacy of premodern Korea, i.e. from the Chosŏn period. For North Korean scholars however, Confucianism of the Ri dynasty (in North Korea, Chosŏn period and state is designated by the Ri Dynasty, Rijo) is identified as one obvious sign of the degenerate feudalistic state of Korea before the advent of communism. Confucianism is hence the ideology of oppressive elites and illustrates the backwardness of premodern Korea that did not take the path of historical progress driven by the masses of the people. Only a very few Confucian scholars received positive evalutation, but they are slightly different from the icons put forward by South Korea. For example, the emblematic Confucian class ennemy in North Korea is T'oegye Yi Hwang and the best of all is Hwadam Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk who is qualified as a materialist thinker. This North-Korean view takes root in the intellectual reflections and heated debates of the late 19 th century and early 20 th centuries Korea, examplified by the revolutionary scholar and nationalist Sin Ch'aeho who was the most famous of the early anti-Confucianists (see his 1925 article, "The Biggest Event in the Last 1,000 Years of Korean History").

Contrary to the premodern and "Confucian" view of history, which considered that what is ancient is better (the model of civilization dates back to old antiquity), our modern vision of history sees the present and future as better than the past. These two contrary views of history are both ideological and normative, and the change of view between premodern and modern cultures lies in this significant paradigm shift.

Thinking Confucianism in contemporary society basically means thinking about the problematic of "modernity":

-For more than a century now, Confucianism has mainly been used to explain the "missed modernity" of Korea, providing an easy narrative for the tragic fate of the country in the 20 th century that successively led to the loss of national sovereignty, colonization, civil war, and finally the division into two nations that are technically still at war. This belated entry into modernity has often been attributed to a missed encounter with European industrial revolution, resulting from the supposed Confucian despise for economy, wealth, technical and scientific progress and the so-called "isolationist" position of the "orthodox" Neo-Confucian state of Chosŏn.

-However, this view has been challenged in Korea during colonization and after liberation by many historians who, paradoxically resorting to Confucianism as well, rejected it, considering that it was a eurocentric viewpoint relayed by the Japanese colonial discourse. It is worth noticing that the creation of the Hangukhak ("Korean studies") or "National Studies" . This scholarlship is highly debatable and criticized today, for it was mostly driven by a colonialist agenda. To go back to the South Korean historians who developped the naejaejŏk paljŏllon 內在的發展論 or "internal development theory," in the 1960's, they ironically took model on the post-colonial, Marxist Japanese scholarship. They identified the "seeds" of korean "lost modernity" in the "sirhak" Confucian school. (By "lost modernity," I am refering here to the book by Alexander Woodside: Lost Modernities. China, Vietnam, Korea, and the Hazards of World History. 2006. Cambridge: Harvard University Press) These South Korean historians were looking for the sprouts of what they call the theory of "the capitalism in gestation" (an unborn capitalism that already existed inchoately though) (Chabon chuŭi maeng'a ron 資本主義萌芽論). It is important to note here that the term "sirhak" is a byproduct of the "invention of tradition" in Korea (to use the fashionable expression of Eric Hobsbawm et Terence Ranger). This invented tradition has been leading, in recent decades, to fetishise the 18 th century for instance and some of its prominent historical figures like Tasan Chŏng Yagyong or King Chŏngjo. It also led to dichotomize an orthodox/bad/conservative Neo-Confucianism on the one hand, and a good "sirhak" school on the other hand. Although this "sirhak school" is certainly of Confucian obedience, it is generally considered as a subversive trend. As such, it is hence believed to provide today a sort of moral backing to the original, pure and "genuine" Confucianism, unsoiled by any compromission with governement and real exercize of power. This moral backing provided by the sirhak school also saves the Chosŏn dynasty from the historical shame in which it was relegated and it is expected to prove the Korean native developmental capability, without resorting to any foreign involvement.

In the economic level of contemporary South Korea (i.e. from the 1960's onwards; according to the mainstream historical periodization dividing the modern and the contemporary periods in South Korea, contemporary history starts in 1961 with Pak Chŏnghŭi's military coup d'etat):

-the so-called "Confucian capitalism" (the expression was notably used by Samuel Huntington, the author of the best-seller Clash of civilization) and then the "Asian economic development model" have been used, again and again, to explain the economical success of the Four Asian dragons (SK, Taiwan, HK, Singapore). This concept of Confucian capitalism was based upon the strong rejection of Max Weber's assumption that Confucianism and capitalism were incompatible -Cf. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism and The religion of China: Confucianim and Taoism-. The concept has been widely spread in journals of international policy and economy by journalists and scholars after the theories proposed by US based intellectuals, among which influential Chinese American academics like Tu Weiming, professor at Harvard University and one ideologue of the "New Confucianism movement" (also called Boston Confucianism). The Confucian capitalism, together with its paired notion of "Confucian democracy," were then turned into the controversial issue of the "Asian values" in the US but also in Asia.

After what South-Koreans usually call the "IMF crisis" in the late 1990's, these same "Asian values" (i.e. respect for authority and self-developement through education) were also paradoxically used to explain the economical crisis in South Korea. This took place in the context of scholarly debate about the theory of the "Capitalist Development State," first applied to Japan and then extended to South Korea and Taiwan. This theory of Asian development state focus on state interventionism into business and is interested in the role of culture in economy. Today, after economic recovery, these Asian values are seen in a positive light again. They are put in the forefront of the "Korean economical development path" by some influential New Right people in South Korea [like Yu Sŏkch'un (Lew Seokchoon) and

Hahm Chaibong] who advocate for the Korean "affective networks" or "ascriptive associations" (yŏn'go chiptan 연고집단) and state interventionism that, they believe, are subsumed under the Confucian ethos.

In the level of society,

-Confucianism is often blamed for producing and maintaining rigid social hierarchy, gender inequality, and oppressive corporate culture in South Korea. To sum up roughly, Confucianism is seen as a Korean avatar of patriarchy mixed with authoritarian regime, social discrimination, male chauvinism, and military culture plaging South Korean society and culture -no less!

The serious issue of gender inequality has always been associated with Confucianism by Korean feminists who have been arguing that Confucianism advocates patriarchy.

Confucianism became a true pet peeve during the societal debates about the abolition of the hoju system. This family registration system was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2005 and finally abolished in 2008 after the concerted effort made by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and non-governmental organizations such as Korea Women's Associations United. According to hoju system, created in 1953 under Civil Law, all members of a family had to be registered under the hoju or "family head" who were generally male members of family. When a father died, the eldest son inherited the position of hoju and younger sons established separate families on marriage. As for daughters, they became members of their husbands' families when they married and women only inherited the position of family head when there were no surviving males. During the public debates about the hojuje in 2003 and 2004, most of the religious leaders (Christians -Catholic Church and Protestants denominations-as well as Buddhists -chogye and wŏn orders-) crafted a common official statement for the abolition of this system. The only social group annoucing a position against the abolition was the Association of Korean Confucians, named Sunggyungwan, arguing that this would be a threat to the Korean family system and traditional values. But the confrontation between feminists and Confucianists existed long before the debate about the hojuje. Under the attack of feminists, the issue of gender inequality was directly addressed in the late 1990's by specialists of Confucianism in academic circles. First attempts at dialogue were made through a series of conferences in which the possible coexistence of Confucianism and feminism was debated. Ch'oe Yŏngjin, a male professor at SKK Univ., notably defended the idea of a "Confucian feminism," arguing that Confucianism was not incompatible with modern society and feminist claims. He advocated removing all elements of gender discrimination in order to create a new philosophy based on both Confucian texts and gender equality. Many discussions followed and feminists were even divided among themselves. norms are still influential to the Korean legal system. One interesting feature is the political culture of petition that we might be tempted to see revived in the very recent protests of the Sewŏl families and their supporters at the first anniversary of the ferry sinking. Indeed, in Chosŏn period, the government sought for its legitimacy within the Confucian ideal of "virtuous government." Thus various forms of petition and litigation for wronged commoner people were established and implemented by the state as a governmental attempt to institutionalize "rule by virtue." One of the various forms of petition operated by the state was "direct petition" or chikso, by which aggrieved people could make a direct appeal to the king. There were three different forms of direct petition: beating the drum, stopping the royal cart in the official procession, and submitting a petition to the royal court. The Chosŏn government tended to accept direct petitions, in particular stopping the royal procession, very leniently in contrast with China and Japan. Despite some institutional barriers, the people could find a way to reflect popular interest on government policies, for instance, by making the own previous research, demonstrating, if need be, that she is a great scholar. The book makes the point that the "descent group" is the constituent part of Korean society and traces the history of descent groups from Silla to the late 19th century. In short, the "social" (i.e., birth and decent from certified ancestry) determined the degree of "political participation" from the Silla kolp'um system to late Chosŏn, dividing society into elite and nonelite. The book also deals with the impact of Neo-Confucianism and the emergence of the lineage system, but argues that it was not Neo-Confucianism but the native kinship system that gave Korean society continuity over centuries. It was also the native Korean kinship system that contributed to the inflexibility of Neo-Confucianism, which finally led to its own breakdown in the 1890s. This idea of the unchanging and constant feature of Korean society that would be driven by native, pre-Confucian kinship system, as well as social discrimination through social statuses has also been very well demonstrated by Hwang Kyŏngmun for example, for the modern period, in his book Beyond Birth. Social Status in the Emergence of Modern Korea (2004. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press).

To sum up, everybody seem to have their own idea of what Confucianism is, means, does, but at the very same time nobody would like to or could define it in plain wording.

Generally speaking, Confucianism lies between two extremes, two clichés (between "oriental despotism" and "Asian wisdom"). But in the Korean case especially, Confucianism is overwhelmingly perceived as something negative and retrograde, causing more trouble than good, for good and bad reasons. So Confucianism basically appears as a controversial topic. It

But what is Confucianism?

Some may ask, is that a religion? A philosophy? An ideology? This is a huge topic and I would just like to precise that "religion" (chonggyo) and "philosophy" (chŏrhak) are Western categories that did not exist in their modern sense in East-Asia in the past. "Religion" for instance was invented in Japan in the late 19th century, as has been explained by Joseph Ananda Josephson (The invention of Religion in Japan. 2012.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

As for "philosophy," it is also a modern term that is much indebted to the rise of the "philosophy of professors" in Europe. Philosophy, taken as an institutionalized field of study, is illustrated by Kant or Hegel who were university professors and who both denied that China ever had a philosophy or even history, turning their backs to the pronounced infatuation of previous philosophers such as Voltaire or Leibniz who saw on the contrary in Confucianism a laudable moral and political philosophy. On this topic see, in French, Y a-t-il une philosophie chinoise? Un état de la question ("Is there a Chinese Philosophy? A state of the issue") edited by Anne Cheng (2005. Saint-Denis: Extreme-Orient, Extrême-Occident, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, vol.27; there are two articles in English though). These two invented categories of "religion" and "philosophy" were originally ideologically and politically driven, but they still have long-lasting effects in Asia but also in the Western representation of Asian cuture. Today, these categories tend to obscure rather than enlighten what they are supposed to define. That is the reason why specialists of humanities and social sciences tend to prefer using other terms and notions such as "thought" instead of "philosophy" and "religious facts" instead of "religion."

To discuss a little bit more about the case of "philosophy," I would like to remind you that one distinct feature of East-Asian scholars and intellectuals in the 20th century has been the repeated effort to gain, for their native intellectual, religious, or cultural traditions, the international acknowledgment of the status of "philosophy," in a gesture of recognition policy. But there is still some ambiguity today. In South Korean academia for example, Confucianism (Confucian texts, notions, thinkers) is studied in diverse university departments: chonggyo hakkwa (religious studies), chŏrhakkwa, tongyang chŏrhakkwa (philosophical studies, and East-asian philosophy), tongyang hakkwa (East-asian studies) and kungmun hakkwa (national -Koreanliterature), which means that the institutional categories under which "Confucian studies" are carried out are blurred, but open. On the contrary, most of Western specialists of Confucianism are working in the field of area studies, not disciplines. Indeed, flirting in their practices with diverse methodological approaches such as history, philology, philosophy, anthropology, religious study or sociology of religion, specialists working on Confucianism usually end up being hired in East-Asian area studies in European countries. Confucianism, as well as Buddhism, Shamanism, Daoism, etc. are not taught in Philosophy departments, except in very rare cases and in limited circumstances. So the battle to gain the label of philosophy for Confucianism is still going on and one might even wonder whether it is worth -or not-the trouble.

As for the people that might be qualified as proper "Confucians" in Korea, they consist of the confucian community (yurim) and sympathizers. They are usually organised in many associations and various semi-private organizations without forming a real religious clergy.

These associations either organize the performance of Confucian rituals or promote one or other past Confucian scholar-official, especially in the case of "learned societies" (hakhoe) that publish journals or books, and organize festivals, academic conferences in Korea and abroad. The three main hakhoe of this kind are, in order of importance, the Tasan hakhoe, the T'oegye hakhoe, and the Yulgok hakhoe. The people gathered in these associations and learned societies are composed of descendants of yangban lineages, university professors, but also (and this is important) local, municipal officials in charge of promoting Confucian heritage throughout the peninsula (ritual shrines, Confucian academies called sŏwŏn). "sowŏn stay," after the model of the successful Buddhist "temple stay." The main difference with the "temple stay" however is that the "sowŏn stay" targets school boys and girls and the goal is to inculcate them with traditional ethics that are said to be critically needed in this time of desenchanted modern society that hungers for moral values.

Cultural geographers and South

★★★

There are many more things that could be said about Confucianism in Korea today, but I am afraid that I am running out of time. Since my field of study is intellectual history and textual approaches (after all, I am a specialist of the first three centuries of the Chosŏn dynasty, before the imjin Japanese invasions and long before the rise of the problematic of modernity on Korean soil), I would like to turn now, before concluding, to a very brief introduction to Confucianism, and more precisely Neo-Confucianism.

Let me first precise what is the difference between these two English labels.

Confucianism is a Western neologism created after the name of Master Kong, Kongja or Kongbuja, that is to say Confucius, according to the Western pronounciation given by European Jesuits sent in mission into China. Some sinologists have recently proposed to rename Confucianism by ru-ism or the ru school to go beyond the figure of Confucius and underline the pre-Confucius Confucianism. Ru-ism designates the ideology and ethics of the Ru/Yu 儒 (literati/scholar-officials) that Confucius and his followers had been advocating for throughout the centuries. This new label, yu-ism (from "yuhak" in Sino-Korean) has not been adopted by academic circles in Korean Studies; it does not even have unanimous support within the circles of sinologists.

As for Neo-Confucianism, it is also a neologism created after a tempting comparison made with European Renaissance and neo-Latin studies. Just like the Renaissance period, Song China was indeed the stage of deep social, political, economical, technical, and intellectual changes that led to a renewal of Confucianism stimulated by Buddhism and Daoism but also by its own developments. This rejuvenated Confucianism was characterized by a call to "get back to the source," that is to say to the Confucian Way/Dao. Neo-Confucianism hence designates the new version of Confucianism that developed starting from the 9th in China and spread throughout East-Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan). Qualified as heterodox and banned at its beginning in Song China, this Neo-Confucianism finally gained the status of the orthodox Learning under the mongol rule of Yuan dynasty over China and Korea, and was associated until the dawn of the 20th century with the well-known state examinations and institutions of pre-modern East-Asian states. Neo-Confucianism is precisely the Confucianism that has been commonly regarded as the "dominant ideology" of Chosŏn period in a Marxist sense (= a mechanism of state control).

However, this Western term of Neo-Confucianism embraces in fact a wide range of schools, tendencies, and phenomena that are designated by many different terms in East-Asian languages. The most common ones in Korean are sŏngnihak (the Learning of Human nature and Principle) and Tohak (The Learning of the Way) but there are also simhak (Learning of the heart/mind), chehak (Learning for the ruler), kihak (Learning of Vital Energy) and even sirhak ("pratice-oriented Learning"). The term "Chŏngjuhak" or "Chujahak" are also often used in Korea, but they specifically refer to the orthodox teachings of either the Cheng of human society and human life, ranging from existential questionings, moral anthropology, to political wisdom. But it is above all an ethic to live by, it is a commitment. This is something often forgotten or easily overlooked in modern and contemporary evaluations of the non identified and question-begging object "Confucianism." There is a Confucian message that crosses boundaries and that explains why, beyond the obsessive and wellunderstantable focus on contextualization in historical approach, generations of men -and sometimes women as well-have dedicated their lives studying and trying to practice it.

Confucianism might appear as paradoxical at first sight: it implies some extensive book knowledge, but all the books/Classics and commentaries that are needed to understand it deal in fact with one idea, summarized by Yulgok Yi I in the following formula in his Kyŏngmong yogyŏl (the Confucian primer for the youth): "If the heart does not exercize and the body does not act according to what the mouth is reciting, what would be the benefit of a book remaining a book, and me remaining myself ?" (若口讀而心不體身不行, 則書自書我自我. 何益之有。KMYG 4). Confucian Learning is indeed grounded on praxis, which means that it needs social interaction, duration, effort, self-reflection, commitment, and action. The Confucian motto could even be summerized by "just do it." Here, "Action" has to be understood as a progressive and repeated practice, almost in the sense of practising in physical training.

One of the most difficult part of Confucianism is certainly the rites or rituals, and it is precisely on its related topic -such as filial piety, ancestral rites, or gender and age differentiation-that Confucianism appears as a controversial ethics in modern eyes. The Confucian ritualism may be summarized by the "Five Bonds" or "Five Humans Relationships" (prince/minister, father/son, elder brother/younger brother, husband/wife, friend/friend). These Five Bonds are metonymical of all possible human interactions and should not be understood in a very narrow sense. Confucian ethics has been described by some Western scholars (Roger Ames, Henry Rosemont) as "role-ethics," in the sense that it basically stresses the different roles that any individual, within a society, has to live in a lifetime.

The word "role" is to be understood here as a role to be "lived" or "experienced" personally and not simply as a role to be "played" outwardly without any personal commitment. It is crucial to understand that rituals are not simple decorum or etiquette coming from exotic old ages, interesting only antiquity lovers. They are not authoritarian and prescriptive rules solely meant to assign rigid tasks and constraints to some segments of society. Contrary to what is sometimes believed, Confucian rites are not meant to be tools of oppression for women, young people, and lower classes in general. I am not saying that Confucianism is an egalitarian ideology -far from it!-but such a questioning would be somehow anachronistic.

Rituals are in fact thought in Confucianism as performative acts meant to truly transform the people who perform different ritual roles in different ritual situations. To understand correctly this point, let me remind you that rituals are fundamentally related to music in Confucianism.

An analogy with musical performance is indeed rather enlightening. Performing rituals or having proper ritual behaviors is just like playing and interpreting a score within a musical ensemble. Each performer plays according to his own capacities, talents, and emotions, but he has to be always in tune with the other performers playing their own scores at the same moment. The general score that they are all playing together is not written in advance. Ritual rules might be described as rough sketches, rules and guidelines for that still unwritten score, a score that remains to be played to really exist. The score is in fact created on the spot by the magic of the performance itself, and each musical performance is in that sense unique. Each human interaction is unique and participates at the same time in the common building of a properly human society.

Before concluding, I would like you to keep in mind four fundamental ideas about Confucian ritualism and role-ethics. Firstly, leading a human life in a Confucian sense means that there are different roles to be experienced in a life-time: being a subject of a ruler, being a father, a spouse, a brother, a friend, etc. These roles are not fixed once for all, and one single person lives in fact different roles, depending on circumstances of his personal situation.

Circumstances are indeed always evolving and changing.

Secondly, the idea of the Five Bonds cannot be understood correctly without taking into account the Golden rule (or the ethics of reciprocity), common to many intellectual and religious traditions and known in Confucianism as the virtue of shu/sŏ 恕 (the pictogram of the "heart" topped by the character meaning "reciprocity," or "similarity," in the sense of "putting oneself in the place of others"). This golden rule was expressed by Confucius in the Analects: "What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others" (Analects 12.2 and 15.24).

Thirdly, Confucian ritualism is intimately connected to the cosmology of the Book of Changes, one Confucian Classic. This means that ritualism is not synonymous with rigidity or fixity.

On the contrary, it is related to a philosophy that is basically preoccupied with the question: "how to bring and maintain "constancy" in a world regarded as ceaseless changes"? The cosmology of the Changes involves in turn different temporalities in ethical practice and points at the tension between "duration" and "moment." This means that the outward conduct of an exemplary person might change under different circumstances, but his character should remain constant; which implies repeated practice. The state of constant balance that the Confucians seek to achieve is comparable with that of a tightrope walker: it is only when he keeps walking on the rope that he can keep the balance and stay on the rope. So duration, constancy, and active practice are intimately linked one another.

Lastly, this long-lasting and repeated ethical practice is precisely what is meant by the word "Learning" (hak) in Confucianism. Learning is learning to walk on the Confucian Way. The Confucian way expresses the unwillingness to separate theory and practice, but also privilege and responsibility. So there is no distinction between end and means, speech and act. The goal to attain is an everyday "practice," to be performed until death, a constant walking on the right path. Moreover, this path lies in ordinary life, in "things near at hands," in daily routines and thus in basic human relationships. The purpose is to live a proper human life and to perform common human destiny according to natural orderor in other words according to natural, cosmological "patterns."

CONCLUSION

So, does Confucianism matters in the study of Korea? I think that you have now understood that this question needs to be answered by a "yes and no" answer. No, Confucianism does not matter if you are interested in studying modern and contemporary Korea, except if are interested in contemporary Confucianists. I mean that Confucianism cannot give you any useful clue about the main characteristics of contemporary societies in both North and South Korea, and even in their respective diasporas. Confucianims is not a magic answer to your questionings. You must make an effort to find other explanations, be they sociological, economical, anthropological, etc. But, yes, Confucianism still matters to some extant, because to really understand why Confucianism cannot explain everything, you must know basic features of Confucian thought and you must know about the common trajectory of Confucianism with the institutions, practices, and mindsets of Chosŏn Korea. And of course, if you are interested in pre-modern Korea (literature, history, art history, religious studies, architecture, legal and institutional history, social history, intellectual history), you absolutely must be knowledgeable about Confucian core notions, thinkers, and texts. In this particular case, let me assure you that studying Confucianism can be a very rewarding journey -I can attest to that.

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  Kukhak) dates back to the colonial period. It was mainly initiated by Japanese scholars taking part in the Bunmei kaika movement 文明開化 (= Westernization) from the Meiji era. These scholars were inspired by the German -Prussianmodel. They explained Korean essential "backwardness" by the adherence to Confucianism and the subsequent servility towards China that Confucianism is supposed to imply. The still dominant historiography of Confucianism, reducing Korean Neo-Confucianism to opposing schools (or factions) and endless Byzantine debates, is also heavily tributary to the colonial scholarship, especially the works written in the 1920's by Japanese scholars like Takahashi Tooru 高橋亨

  Today, the issue remains open. However, as underlined by Koh Eunkang in her article "Gender Issues and Confucian scriptures: Is Confucianism Incompatible with Gender Equality in South Korea" (Bulletin of the SOAS, University of London, Vol. 71), because of the increasing feminization of Confucian students in universities, the topic will certainly be further discussed in South Korea in the future.In academic literature, the issue of women and Confucianism in history has been discussed in some reference books, such as Women and Confucian Cultures in premodern China, Korea, and Japan (edited by Dorothy Ko, Jahyun Kim Haboush and Joan R. Piggott. 2003. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press). In this book, Jahyun Kim Haboush and Martina Deuchler, two leading female figures of Korean Studies and Confucian studies, have given enlightening descriptions of the way in which Chosŏn women used to negotiate their own space of empowerment within a Confucian social and ideological framework. Recently, a few Koreanists also issued in a collective book the papers of a conference: Women and Confucianism in Chosŏn Korea. New Perspectives (edited by Yougmin Kim and Michael J. Pettid. 2011. New York: Suny). These two works both give a more nuanced and balanced view on the issue of gender and Confucianism and they are really worth reading for anybody interested in the topic. Another issue related to modern Korean society and Confucianism is the question of the "Confucian democracy." John Duncan has given a useful summary of the topic in the chapter he wrote in the book edited by Charles Armstrong Korean society: Civil society, Democracy and the State" (2002, 2006. Oxon & New York: Routledge). As the title of the chapter suggests, "The question of civil society in Chosŏn dynasty Korea," Duncan summarizes the debate that opposed Cho Hein and David Steinberg in 1997 about Confucianism, democracy, and civil society. He deals notably with the significant divergences between Western notion of public versus private and kong versus sa in Chosŏn dynasty, especially in the realms of family organization and political party system. One last field arousing growing interest from scholars and society at large is the Confucian legacy in Korean legal history. Korean traditional laws were founded on Confucian doctrines. Since the adoption of the Chinese law codes in the Chosŏn dynasty, Confucian moral principles were even more stressed in Korean legislation than they were in their Chinese counterpart. However, the Westernization of East Asian laws at the end of the 19th century greatly undermined the consistent Confucian legal tradition, which cultural significance has been overlooked by modern jurists. Though it seems nearly impossible to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity in Korean legal culture, Confucian values and

  government dismiss corrupt officials through direct petition. President Pak Kŭnhae used to be placed in the 1970's at the head of the New Spirit movement (saemaŭm) by her father Pak Chŏnhŭi, who after having harshly criticized Confucianism at the time of his coup had radically changed his outlook. So she was sent around the country to address mass rallies on the importance of Confucian virtues such as loyalty and filial piety. But today, when we see how much she care about the petition of the citizen, she does not seem to be an actual follower of the Confucian rule by virtue… All of the above-mentionned social phenomena, often linked to Confucianism by modern and contemporary observers of Korean societies, could be certainly better explained by the very evolutions of the socio-economical structures and mindsets of modern Korea (by which, I mean, from the late 19 th century through the colonial period and up to the years following the end of WWII). These evolutions are specific to modernity and don't have much in fact to do with the Neo-Confucian ideas and practices of the pre-modern Chosŏn dynasty. If one must have to pinpoint one constant feature of Korean culture and society, it certainly would not be Confucianism, but rather the kinship-based social hierarchy and the importance of social status. Even the idea of "Confucianization" of Korean society and culture, systematized by Martina Deuchler in her reference book The Confucian Transformation of Korea and repeated again and again like a mantra, has been recently criticized by professor Deuchler herself. In her new book to be launched this summer (Under the Ancestors' Eyes: Kinship, Status, and Locality in Premodern Korea; Harvard Asia Center), she is indeed criticizing her

  is a "trouble," to use the famous title of Wm. Theodore de Bary's book, The Trouble with Confucianism (1991, reissue 1996. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press).

  Korean politicians use to locating the priviledged and "natural" Confucian region of Korea in the Northern Kyŏngsang in the Andong area, which is debatable in many ways. Anyway, in the effort to promote tourism and maybe also for proselytism, politicians and some Confucianists of the Andong region have been working hard together to create in June 2013 a very incongruous thing: the Culture Theme Park called Yugyoland (Confucian Land)… To go back to more authentic experience if I may say so, let me allude now to the major Confucian rituals: the bi-annual sacrifice at the Confucian Shrine, Munmyo, at Sŏnggyungwan (the former Royal Academy that is now part of the campus of SKK University). The performers of these sacrifices are Confucianists and also professional musicians and dancers. That is precisely the reason why you can see female musicians at these modern performances for instance. These official rituals, that are sacrifices, are called taesŏkchŏn. They are organized since 1986 by the Association for the preservation of the Sŏkchŏn taeje 釋奠大祭 (석전대제보존회). This association is related in turn to the Sung Kyun Kwan Seok Jeon Academy which main goal is to "educate society" and which is placed under the authority of the Cultural Heritage Administration (Munhwa chaech'ŏng), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, The Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the Korea Tourism Organization. The Sŏkchŏn taeje is indeed part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (중요무형문화재 重要無形文化財 제 85 호) since 1975. In the same way, let me remind that the very first item of South Korea's Intangible Cultural Heritage registered in 1964 was "The Royal Ancestral Ritual in the Jongmyo Shrine… and its Music" 宗廟祭禮樂 종묘제례악 (the ritual performed at the Chongmyo, the Royal Shrine of the Yi dynasty). This means that Confucianism has been valued since the mid-sixties mainly as an artistic performance of the past, consubstantial with a dead monarchy and premodern Confucian state. Lastly, after having been labelled as one item of the Cultural heritage of South Korea for decades, Confucianism is now relegated to a new fate. It is used to give moral approval to youth training camps in "traditional ethics." These programs are organized by the Association for Korean Confucian academies 한국서원연합회 established in 2005. They are called

  brothers and Zhu Xi taken together, or that of Zhu Xi, the great Neo-Confucian master who systematized the Confucian Way of Song China. In Korea, Confucianism started to really play a crucial role in all aspects of society, culture, and mindset after the rather long-lasting reception of the Neo-Confucianism transmitted from Song dynasty China but mostly during the Yuan dynasty. This means that the Korean reception was much tributary to the features of that Song Neo-Confucianism "digested" and summarized under the mongol dynasty. The version of Neo-Confucianism received in Korea was strongly didactical and explains many characteristics of the Korean actual practice and understanding of Neo-Confucianism. Since it is neither the time nor the place to present a complete history of Korean Neo-Confucianism, I would like to simply remind you of the core ideas of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. Basically Confucianism is humanism, to paraphrase Jean-Paul Sartre about existentialism as my former supervisor and friend Anne Cheng did in her French translation of the Analects of Confucius. It is a holist worldview that encompasses almost every aspects