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Chŏng Tojŏn 정도전 | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | October 6, 1342 Danyang County,Goryeo |
| Died | October 6, 1398(1398-10-06) (aged 56) Hanseong-bu,Joseon |
| Spouse | Princess Gyeongsuk |
| Children | Chŏng Chin Chŏng Yŏng Chŏng Yu |
| Parent(s) | Chŏng Un-gyŏng (Father) Lady U of Yeongju U clan (Mother) |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 정도전 |
| Hanja | 鄭道傳 |
| Revised Romanization | Jeong Dojeon |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chŏng Tojŏn |
| Art name | |
| Hangul | 삼봉 |
| Hanja | 三峰 |
| Revised Romanization | Sambong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Sambong |
| Courtesy name | |
| Hangul | 종지 |
| Hanja | 宗之 |
| Revised Romanization | Jongji |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chongji |
| Posthumous name | |
| Hangul | 문헌 |
| Hanja | 文憲 |
| Revised Romanization | Munheon |
| McCune–Reischauer | Munhŏn |
Chŏng Tojŏn (Korean: 정도전;Hanja: 鄭道傳; October 6, 1342 – October 6, 1398), also known by hisart nameSambong (삼봉), was a prominent Korean scholar-official during the lateGoryeo to the earlyJoseon periods. Chŏng Tojŏn was an adviser to the Joseon founder Yi Sŏnggye and also the principal architect of the Joseon dynasty's policies, laying down the kingdom's ideological, institutional, and legal frameworks which would govern it for five centuries.[1] He was killed by princeYi Pangwŏn in 1398 over a conflict regarding the succession ofTaejo.
Chŏng Tojŏn was born from a noble family, the Bonghwa Chŏng clan (봉화 정씨;奉化 鄭氏), inYeongju,Goryeo. His maternal grandmother was a slave according to theVeritable Records, though the credibility of this account is called into question. His family had emerged from commoner status some four generations before, and slowly climbed up the ladder of government service.[citation needed] His father was the first in the family to obtain a high post. Despite all his difficulties, he became a student ofYi Che-hyŏn and along with other leading thinkers of the time, such asChŏng Mong-ju, his penetrating intelligence started to affect the Korean politics.
Chŏng Tojŏn's ties withYi Sŏnggye and the foundation of Joseon were extremely close. He is said to have compared his relationship to Yi Sŏnggye, to that betweenZhang Liang andEmperor Gaozu of Han. Chŏng Tojŏn's political ideas had a lasting impact onJoseon Dynasty politics and laws.The two first became acquainted in 1383, when Chŏng Tojŏn visited Yi Sŏnggye at his quarters inHamgyong province. After Yi Sŏnggye (Taejo of Joseon) founded Joseon in July 1392, he appointed Chŏng Tojŏn to the highest civilian and military office simultaneously, entrusting him with all necessary power to establish the new dynasty. Deciding all policies from military affairs, diplomacy, and down to education, he laid down Joseon's political system and tax laws, replacedBuddhism withConfucianism as national religion, moved the capital fromKaesong to Hanyang (present-daySeoul), changed the kingdom's political system from feudalism to highly centralized bureaucracy, and wrote a code of laws that eventually becameJoseon's constitution. He even decided the names of each palace, eight provinces, and districts in the capital. He also worked to free many slaves and reformed land policy.
After Joseon was established in July 1392, Chŏng Tojŏn soon collided withYi Pangwŏn over the question of choosing the crown prince, the future successor to Yi Sŏng-gye (Taejo of Joseon). Of all princes, Yi Pangwŏn contributed most to his father's rise to power and expected to be appointed as the crown prince even though he was Taejo's fifth son. However, Chŏng Tojŏn persuaded Taejo to appoint his young eighth sonYi Pangsŏk (Yi Pangwŏn's half-brother) as the crown prince. Their conflict arose because Chŏng Tojŏn saw Joseon as a kingdom led by ministers while the king was to be largely symbolic figure, whereas Yi Pangwŏn wanted to establish the absolute monarchy ruled directly by the king. Both sides were well aware of each other's great animosity and were getting ready to strike first. After the sudden death of Queen Sindeok in 1398, while King Taejo was still in mourning for her (his second wife and mother of Yi Bang-sŏk), Yi Bang-wŏn struck first by raiding the palace and killed Chŏng Tojŏn and his supporters as well as Queen Sindeok's two sons including the crown prince, in a coup that came to be known as the First Strife of the Princes. Taejo, who helplessly watched his favorite sons and ministers being killed by Yi Pangwŏn's forces, abdicated in disgust and remained angry with Yi Bang-wŏn well after Yi Bang-wŏn became the third king of Joseon,Taejong of Joseon.
For much of Joseon history, Chŏng Tojŏn was vilified or ignored despite his contribution to its founding. He was finally rehabilitated in 1865 in recognition of his role in designingGyeongbokgung (main palace). EarlierChŏngjo published a collection of Chŏng Tojŏn's writings in 1791. Chŏng Tojŏn's once-close friend and rivalChŏng Mong-ju, who was assassinated by Yi Pangwŏn for remaining loyal to theGoryeo Dynasty, was honored by Yi Bang-wŏn posthumously and was remembered as symbol of loyalty throughout the Joseon Dynasty despite being its most determined foe.
Two ideas set forth by Chŏng Tojŏn strained his relationship withYi Pangwŏn. Chŏng believed that the new dynasty,Joseon, should be governed primarily by theneo-Confucianist officialdom and not by absolute monarchy. Such thinking of Chŏng is detailed in his bookJoseon Gyeonggukjeon (Korean: 조선경국전;Hanja: 朝鮮經國典), on which the official state legal code,Gyeongguk daejeon, is based. A scene in the Veritable Records describesYi Sŏnggye praising Chŏng forJoseon Gyeonggukjeon, but it is speculated thatYi Sŏng-gye was not fully literate and did not comprehend the extent of what Chŏng was suggesting. However,Yi Pangwŏn, who had passed thecivil service examination ofGoryeo, would have understood the implications of Chŏng's thinking.
Chŏng also pushed for the abolishment of private armies. Shortly after Joseon's founding, Chŏng and other prominent scholar-officials set out to identify the trappings ofGoryeo that precipitated its demise and put forth reform ideas. Unequal land ownership and private armies were generally agreed to have contributed to rampant corruption. Chŏng argued that land should be returned to the central government (and distributed to small farmers) and that private armies should be abolished, including those of the princes.Yi Pangwŏn was not pleased according to the records where Chŏng demanded that all private armies be sent to the central government to be trained for the military campaign intoLiaodong that Chŏng claimed was necessary. None of the princes complied.
In 1398, Chŏng Tojŏn was slain byYi Pangwŏn in the First Strife of the Princes. It is unclear exactly how he died, and the accounts in theVeritable Records andSambong chip do not agree on the precise way in which he died. TheVeritable Records depict that Chŏng Tojŏn beggedYi Pangwŏn for his life, whereasSambong chip portrays a more dignified last moment in which Chŏng left adeath poem lamenting his poor judgment and gracefully accepted his death. The credibility of either account is questioned. The story conveyed in theVeritable Records could be a result of the vilification of Chŏng throughout Joseon history. It is also argued thatYi Pangwŏn could not have afforded to allow Chŏng the time to compose a poem in the midst of a full-blown coup.
Chŏng Tojŏn was a major opponent ofBuddhism at the end of theGoryeo period. He was a student ofZhu Xi's thought. UsingCheng-Zhu school'sNeo-Confucian philosophy as the basis of his anti-Buddhist polemic, he criticized Buddhism in a number of treatises as being corrupt in its practices, and nihilistic and antinomian in its doctrines. One of the more famous of these treatises was theBulssi Japbyeon ("Array of Critiques Against Buddhism"). He was a founding member of theSungkyunkwan, the royal Confucian academy, and one of its early faculty members.
Chŏng Tojŏn was among the first Korean scholars to refer to his thought asSilhak, or "practical learning." However, he is not usually numbered among the members of the silhak tradition, which arose much later in the Joseon period.
Chŏng Tojŏn argued that the government, including the king himself, exists for the sake of the people. Itslegitimacy could only come from benevolent public service. It was largely on this basis that he legitimized the overthrow of theGoryeo dynasty, arguing that the Goryeo rulers had given up their right to rule.
Chŏng Tojŏn divided society into three classes: (a) a large lower class of agricultural laborers and craftsmen, (b) a middle class ofliterati, and (c) a small upper class ofbureaucrats. Anyone outside this system, includingBuddhist monks,shamans, and entertainers, he considered a "vicious" threat to the social fabric.
Immediatedly following his death, he was criticized as a betrayer of the Goryeo dynasty and a greedy politician who had attempted to take power from his king. For the next 300 years, he was regarded as a treacherous villain. For example,Song Si-yŏl, the most reputable philosopher of the 15th century Joseon dynasty, always included a word "insidious" when he mentioned about Chŏng Tojŏn.[2]Yi Ik, also a renowned Korean philosopher of the Middle Age of the dynasty, referred to him as "a figure who deserved to be killed" in his book,Seong Ho Sa Seol.
However, with the surge of revisionism in the 18th century, his work started to be assessed with a different angle.Chŏngjo, 22nd King of Joseon, republishedSambong chip, recognizing his work building the political systems and intellectual foundations of the dynasty.[3]
In addition, the translation of his Chinese poemPlum is included inLee, Peter H (1981).Anthology of Korean Literature: From Early Times to The Nineteenth Century.University of Hawai'i Press.ISBN 9780824807399.
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