Transforming the Confucian Canon in the Processual World: T'onggyŏng 通經, A Newly Discovered Text of the Korean Confucian Ch'oe Han-ki

In this article, I first introduce a newly rediscovered text authored by the Korean Confucian scholar Ch'oe Han-ki (1803–1877), T'onggyŏng 通經 (Penetration of the Confucian canons), which until its rediscovery had been known solely by its title. The complete text was recently discovered in the Park Seyoung family collection of books. Here I will articulate the story of how the text was rediscovered, the content of the work, the date of its composition, and its place in Ch'oe's prolific corpus. Second, I will interpret this text from the standpoint of Ch'oe Han-ki's hermeneutical philosophy, focusing on his preface to the T'onggyŏng. I will explain how his philosophy of processual reality and language and heart-mind makes possible his ambitious reorganization of the Confucian canon. His significant distinction between the enduring canons of the heavens and the temporary canons of the sages will be explained. As a corollary, the Confucian canon is reliable but to a limited degree. Derived from the order of the heavens, it is valid yet fallible. In this regard, Ch'oe's notion of the unknowable heavens and fallibility will be explored. Third, I argue that the discovery of the T'onggyŏng raises a challenging question as to whether Ch'oe Han-ki is a precursor to Korea's modern intellectuals. While traditionalists adhered to Neo-Confucian classics and modernists rejected the entire Confucian tradition, Ch'oe argues from the standpoint of cumulative experience, from the idea of the Confucian classics being in the making rather than completed, and thus capable of being reformed so as to be efficacious in novel environs. In the appendix, I translate classifying topics that Ch'oe used for the reorganization of the Confucian canon.