Exemplifying the Virtues of Substance and Function — Chung Chedu's Views on the Great Learning

Abstract

Chung Chedu 郑é½æ–— (Hagok 霞谷, 1649-1736) was an eminent Korean Confucian scholar recognized as a leading proponent of the Chosen Wang Yangming school of thought and a key founder of the Kanghwa Yangming School.

In his annotations to the Great Learning, Chung explained the meaning of "investigation of things" in term of sincerity of the will and suggested that the process of adult learning starts with the sincerity of the will. His understanding of the doctrine of substance and function is also very different from scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties. Chung Chedu followed the Yang-ming school that self-cultivation is of utmost importance. However, he did not ignore the functioning of the Confucian ideology and proposed that substance and function should not be separated and they belong to one thing.

This paper examines Cheng Chedu's views and interpretations of the Great Learning and his departure from Zhu Xi and Song-Ming Cheng-Zhu scholars' annotations of the classic.