A Study on the Interpretation of the Analects by Choi Sook-min

The main focus of this paper is the analysis of “the Analects” in Volume 7 of the Dapmunyupeon(答問類編). The Dapmunyupeon is a question-and-answer text included as an appendix in the Nosajip(蘆沙集). After the death of Ki Jeong-jin (奇正鎭), his disciples compiled the questions and answers exchanged between the teacher and his students from their correspondences, categorizing them by subject. “The Analects” from Volume 7 of the Dapmunyupeon (答問類 編) were analyzed in this paper because I determined that the questions and answers between Ki Jeong-jin and his disciple Choi Sook-min reveal a distinctive tendencies in interpreting the scriptures of Confucianism. Ki Jeong-jin recommended that Choi Sook-min, who was focused on gaining a conceptual understanding of Neo-Confucianism, begin his studies with the Analects. Ki Jeong-jin believed that the spirit of “learning from below and mastering above”(下學而上達), which runs through the Analects, would help alleviate Choi Sook-min’s impatience to jump straight to abstract truths. According to Ki Jeong-jin, the proper way to interpret the Analects was not merely to understand the meaning of each verse objectively, but to immerse oneself in the context in which Confucius’ remarks were made and experience them anew. However, experiential understanding can lead to a subjective error, where premature experiences are mistaken for complete or fully formed ones. Ki Jeong-jin emphasized that you should be always conscious of the relativity and imperfection inherent in his own experiences, and believe that the experiences of others could often surpass his own. Choi Sook-min embraced Ki Jeong-jin’s teachings, placing greater emphasis on experiential understanding and self-reflection in his interpretation of the Analects. As a result of these efforts, he revisited Zhu Xi’s commentary on the Analects, which had long been regarded as orthodox, and offered his own original interpretation. However, in reinforcing the experiential approach, he began to overemphasize subjectivity, which led to criticism from his teacher. Drawing from Ki Jeong-jin’s guidance and critique, Choi Sook-min, when teaching the Analects to his younger students, emphasized experiential understanding while maintaining a balanced approach by also stressing the importance of objective interpretation.