The Dynasty of Choson - Essay Example

Introduction Confucianism is the philosophy that involves ethics and social ways of life. Confucianism is based on religion which provides and establishes institutions, social values, and the ideals practiced in the society. There are different contexts at which the history of early Korea is studied. These include the era of the Three Kingdoms, the Dynasty of Silla, the dynasty of Koryo, and the Dynasty of the Choson. This paper majorly outlines the dynasty of Choson. The members of the Confucius dominated the elites since the rise of Choson led to the collapse of Buddhism. Buddhism had tough rules and traditions that made most of the Confucius uncomfortable since, initially in Buddhism, the members of the monarchy enjoyed privileges such as they were exempted from paying taxes and also they had control over large tracts of land. The officials of Buddhism also did not marry and this was against the Confucius. In the discussion below, there are three documents which aid in giving evidence to the concepts discussed in the this paper. Yi Songkye founded the Choson dynasty and he sorted help from the civilians and officials who formerly led the Neo-Confucius dynasty and he avoided sorting out assistance from the military. The former experience that the Koryo dynasty suffered when the military wanted to take over the rule made Yi Songkye seek support from the civilians who he believed would help him make the new dynasty. Chong, a member of the Choson dynasty, died but left a poem which he had written and now has made him famous and remembered. The new dynasty did everything according to the law and tradition of Confucius. They copied the institutions of China in the begging of the era which included the rituals of the state, the Chinese structure of government and recruited people through examination of their reliance. Ancestral ceremonies became a requirement of the new dynasty. Although some of the members of the dynasty were against the ancestral ceremonies but the major officials appreciated giving sacrifices to their ancestors because they wanted to be part of the aristocratic government. The sacrifices were only offered by the elites and soon after it no longer became force but rather it became a practice that the non-elites looked forward to do in their lifetime (Deuchler, and JaHyun 111). During the period of confucianization, the new dynasty, the Choson dynasty, incorporated the ideology of the New-Confucius and thus the debate on marriage arose over the marrying several wives. This law was practiced during the period of Koryo dynasty and several other people practiced it in during the early times in the Choson dynasty. In the kingdoms in the previous eras such as the Koryon era, Buddhism was highly practiced and the kingdoms drew their institutions from Buddhism hence a primary document from Peter Lee stated that he had brought together the three kingdoms of Korea under the rule of Buddhism and the fact that he was leaving to rule scared him since he thought that other leaders would destroy the unity of the kingdoms by emulating other institutions such as Confucius rules and traditions of the government. As a result, he left injunctions that he advised that every ruler should read day and night (Deuchler, and JaHyun, 153). Lee encouraged meditation temples and schools of doctrines should be constructed and ministering of Buddha should be done by the monks since success prevails from Buddha who gives protection and favor. Secondly, he stated that all the aristocrats, the members of the royal family and all other people would construct several other temples that would be in praise of Buddha. The Koreans thus was dominated with Buddhism until Yi Songkye came up with the new dynasty of Choson which deliberately did away with the practices of Buddhism. The Choson dynasty did away with practices such as polygamy; they did away with the Buddha tradition and incorporated the traditional systems and structure of government of the Chinese and also the change of the structure and the way of handling issues in the court. In the case of polygamy, Hwang Hyowon’s case is used as an example for the analysis of the issue. Being one of the officials in the courts and the king, he was wise since he was also older than the king. He took a second wife and accorded him a yangban status which only belonged to the first wife and he also did not allow his children to be treated as soja, those who were restricted from doing the interviews so that they could serve in the government. Hwang married a third wife whom he was given as a slave and he wanted to raise her status to a yangban when the court raised the issued several times and the king sided with Hwang until his death when the case was put aside. Hwangs grandson applied for a position to serve in the government and he officials were against the idea since he was a soja. It was not until when Hwangs son in-law was supposed to take over the throne that he was executed since he had married a soja, Hwang’s daughter. It also followed the execution of the grandson and this marked the end of polygamy up to the end of Confucianism (Deuchler, and JaHyun 79). In the patterns during this period changed and a new pattern of marriage acquired and hence people settled in the villages of aristocracy. Before the aristocratic transformation, marriage constituted of a woman moving into the house of her husband and also a man could also move into the house of the woman in the early period of Choson. In a patricidal marriage, practiced in the late period in the Choson dynasty, the woman often moved to her husband’s house. Before the period of Confucius, the Koreans in the Choson dynasty practiced matrilineal marriage. They also practiced bilateralism in their society whereby marriage was equal in both the family of the wife and the family of the husband (Chŏng, 32). Wedding could either occur in the one of the homesteads either the husbands homestead or the wives homestead. All these traditions that the Choson dynasty practiced before confucianization emanated from the Buddhist traditions. The Choson dynasty incorporated the Chinese traditions and structure of government since before, the Koreans had entered into an agreement with the emperor of china where they took gifts to the emperor and exchange of practice of their supremacy. According to the Jerry Bentley’s document on Traditions and Encounters, 3rd Edition, 2006, the Koreans got into an agreement with China whereby the Kings from Choson dynasty frequented with gifts for the emperors in China. This act opened their way in that they got more precious gifts from China and also they benefited a lot from them in that they were able to trade with the Chinese trade merchants (Chŏng, 86). On the other hand, the tributary relationship also spread the supremacy especially cultural and political traditions to Korea. However, the Chinese helped the Choson dynasty to develop the Confucius traditions as they held the aristocrats and the elites who helped to spread Confucius. On the other hand, the common people and the peasants fell into the trap of Buddhism since they had the promise that they would spread salvation of the individual. This is the way that the Choson adopted Buddhism. The previous dynasties especially the Koryon tried to change from Buddhism as in the ten injunctions in the document of Koryo Emperor Taejo who stated that Korea is very different from China since it occupies different location and a different geographical position as well and thus there no point of Korea copying the government structure, the political structure and the cultural set up of China (Yi, 47). He claims that over the years they have been able to live without the Chinese rules and he thus advocated for the rules of China to be done away with. Choson dynasty thus changed the structure of the villages in its late period where by all members of the villages were known with only one surname and thus all members of the village belonged to one relation. The people who bore single surnames became the identity of the yangbans and the people who had several surnames were known to come from an inferior lineage. This resulted as a transformation from Confucius (Yi, 56). The Confucius influenced a wide area of Korea. Confucius first begun in the three kingdoms and later on the latest phase took over and brought a complete change to Korea. Examining the members as a method of recruiting members to serve in the government helped the spread of Confucius in Korea and the fact that the Choson dynasty decided to implement the principles regarding the Confucius in the practice of the law in the court resulted into change in families, lineages, inheritance, marriage and the patterns in the village regarding the settlement of people. According to Peter Lee document From Early Times through the sixteenth century of 1997on the Sources of Korean Tradition. It states that military and economic states which Buddhism did not provide made it less valid since it did not incorporate such in its tradition and thus Buddhism was not to the standard. Therefore, this required change of the system of rule. The Choson dynasty thus rose to power because of the inefficiency of Buddhism. Conclusion In conclusion Choson dynasty brought changes into the Korean history and especially during the confucianization. The changes made majorly favored the people and it also became the identity of the Choson dynasty. The people of Korea were enslaved by the traditions of the Chinese which spread Budhism. On the other hand, some of the Koreans including Hwang still practiced and continued the traditions of the Chinese especially on the law of marriage. There documents mentioned in the discussion above which give evidence to the period and phases of Confucianization and thus give a clear record of how the Choson dynasty struggled to reinstate their tradition of Confucius. The previous kingdom s had been joined and united under the traditions of the Chinese. The Confucius therefore wanted to break loose of the Chinese traditions, political structure and the cultural structure and spread the Confucianism throughout Korea. The weak class who involved the peasants and the common people were the first to accept and bring Buddhism into Korea since the Chinese promised them that Buddhism was for an individual salvation. Despite the fact that the tributary between the Chinese Emperor and the Kings of Choson dynasty benefited Korea, the Koreans also suffered in that Buddhism came into Korea. Work Cited Chŏng, Edward Y. J. The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi Toegye and Yi Yulgok: A Reappraisal of the "four-Seven Thesis" and Its Practical Implications for Self-Cultivation. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press, 1995. Print. Deuchler, Martina, and JaHyun K. Haboush. Culture and the State in Late Chosŏn Korea. Cambridge, Mass. ;London: Harvard University Press, 2001. Print. Yi, Tʻae-jin. The Dynamics of Confucianism and Modernization in Korean History. Ithaca, New York: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2007. Print. Read More