To become a sage : the Ten diagrams on sage learning /

This is the first study in a Western language of the last work of the Korean Confucianist thinker Yi Hwang (T'Oegye, 1501-1570). It includes an authoritative translation and commentary that reveals the context and historical background of the work. It is a synthesis of the New-Confucian metaphysics, psychology, and philosophy of the Ch'eng Chu tradition in typically Korean diagrammatic form with explanations by Chu Hsi, T'Oegye, and others. The book provides a method of cultivation of "mind and heart" through mental concentration complemented by self possession and reverential seriousness. The ten diagrams referred to in the book's title are meant not only for the education of the ruler but for all followers of the Confucian way of life. T'Oegye's teaching gives balance to traditional Confucian preparation for public life by its emphasis on a rigorous course of moral self-cultivation and commitment to asceticism and meditativeness. To Become a Sage adds another contribution to the systematic foundation of meditation (see also Rodney L. Taylor's The Confucian Way of Contemplation, CH, Nov '88). Extensive references to Korean and Chinese sources attest to the author's scholarship as does a brief but incisive glossary. Accessible to readers interested in Eastern studies and practices, although intended for a scholarly community. -J. M. Boyle, Dowling College