Neo-Confucianism in Korea
In Joseon Korea, neo-Confucianism was established as the state ideology. Neo-Confucianism was introduced to Korea by An Hyang during Goryeo dynasty (Buddhism was the dominant religion and affected most ideologies of that era). At the time that An Hyang introduced neo-Confucianism, the Goryeo dynasty was in the last century of its existence and influenced by the Mongol Yuan dynasty.
Many Korean scholars visited China during the Yuan dynasty and An Hyang was among them. In 1286, he happened to read a book of Zhu Xi in Yanjing. He was so moved by this book that he transcribed this book in its entirety and came back to Korea with his transcribed copy. It greatly inspired Korean intellectuals at the time and many, predominantly from the middle class and disillusioned with the excesses of organized religion (in the form of Buddhism) and the old nobility, embraced neo-Confucianism. The newly rising neo-Confucian intellectuals were leading groups aimed at the overthrow of the old (and increasingly foreign-influenced) Goryeo dynasty.
After the fall of the Goryeo dynasty and the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty by Yi Song-gye in 1392 AD, neo-Confucianism was installed as the new dynasty's state ideology. Buddhism, and organized religion in general was considered poisonous to the neo-Confucian order. Buddhism was accordingly restricted and occasionally persecuted by the new dynasty. As neo-Confucianism encouraged education, there were a number of neo-Confucian schools (서원 seowon and 향교 hyanggyo) founded throughout the country. Such schools produced many neo-Confucian scholars, including individuals such as Jo Gwang-jo, Yi Hwang, and Yi I.
In the early 16th century, Jo Gwang-jo attempted to transform Joseon into the ideal neo-Confucian society with a series of radical reforms until he was executed in 1519. Despite the failure of his attempted reforms, neo-Confucianism soon assumed an even greater role in the Joseon Dynasty. Soon Korean neo-Confucian scholars, no longer content to only to read and remember the Chinese original precepts, began to develop new neo-Confucian theories. Yi Hwang and Yi I were the most prominent of these new theorists.
But neo-Confucianism in the Joseon Dynasty became so dogmatic in a relatively rapid time that it prevented much needed socio-economic development and change, and led to internal divisions and criticism of many new theories, regardless of their popular appeal. For instance, Wang Yangming's theories, which were popular in the Chinese Ming Dynasty, were regarded as heresy and severely condemned by Korean neo-Confucianists. Furthermore, any annotations on Confucian canon which are different from Zhu Xi were excluded. During the Joseon Dynasty, the newly-emerging ruling class, called Sarim(사림, 士林), also became divided into political factions according to their diversity of neo-Confucian views on politics. There were two large factions and many subfactions.
During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), many Korean neo-Confucian books and scholars were taken to Japan. They influenced Japanese scholars such as Fujiwara Seika and affected the development of Japanese neo-Confucianism.
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