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Korean Confucianism and Ecology: Guest Editor’S Introduction

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Korean Confucianism and Ecology: Guest Editor’S Introduction ACTA KOR ANA VOL. 14, NO. 2, DECEMBER 2011: 1–13 KOREAN CONFUCIANISM AND ECOLOGY: GUEST EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION By EDWARD Y. J. CHUNG I am pleased to write a guest editor’s introduction to this issue of Acta Koreana on the special theme of Korean Confucianism and Ecology. Eight articles included in this journal issue are the revised and/or translated versions of those selected papers which were presented at the Fifth Keimyung International Conference on Korean Studies (KICKS 2011, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea, June 2–4) on the same theme. This international conference was a major success both scholarly and culturally, together with a large number of presenters (local and international), audience, colleagues, students, and conference organizers at a wonderful campus with beautiful natural surroundings.1 Let me first confess that when I was invited by the journal to write this introduction, I hesitated for some time because I thought it would be an enormously challenging task that would involve not only reading many articles on various topics and digesting all of them, but also developing a good com- prehensive introduction that would effectively represent the conference’s general scope and fairly summarize the uniqueness and depth of each article in a holistic way. In other words, it would not be wise to write simply a quick, sketchy intro- duction for such an extensive journal volume. After some contemplation on this matter, I was happy to have accepted the invitation to write this piece of work. I thought about the best way of handling this task: its outcome is a type of 1 I was glad to be there and participated in a very lively and engaging discussion of the conference theme. I previously participated in many conferences in my fields (including Korean studies), but this was one of the best I have ever attended, for which reason I eventually agreed to write this introduction. It was a great pleasure to do so. 2 Acta Koreana Vol. 14, No. 2, 2011 introduction that will serve well for a relatively new interdisciplinary theme for a potentially wider Korean and international audience in this quickly growing field of study. After introducing all of the articles, I shall make my comments and concluding remarks for our future discussion of the theme. As we know, the earth is getting more polluted and threatened these days, but the sense of reverence for nature around the world is seriously weakened by the exploitation of nature due to the various forces of materialism, industrialization, unrestricted urbanization, consumerism, and so on.2 So the ecological crisis of our time has already challenged the world’s great philosophical and spiritual traditions including Confucianism to critically re-examine and creatively re- interpret their doctrines about the relationship among nature, humanity, and the spiritual world. Of course, the environmental problems will continue to be debated locally and globally for many years to come. The ultimate goal of protecting our earth requires a “collective green shift” (Kearns and Keller 2007) with an international religious, ethical and intellectual intensity. With these points in mind, I now review the articles by first mentioning Tu Weiming, a dean of Confucian Studies, who has led the discussion of Con- fucianism and ecology since the 1990s.3 Tu’s keynote speech at the KICKS 2011 conference4 is meaningful for introducing or reading all articles included in this journal volume. As Tu said several times, Confucianism is a “comprehensive, spiritual humanism,” and its self-cultivation remains both “naturalistic and a spiritual project” (2011:18).5 And “…respect for other human beings, respect for nature. The sense of reverence is because…we are grateful for nature… (and) the cosmic order,” so the practice of self-cultivation is “deeply rooted in the ecological 2 I also note that the earth has been suffering from polluted water, species extinction, air pollution, massive oil leakage into ocean waters (e.g., Gulf of Mexico, 2010), dangerous nuclear radiation exposure (e.g., Fukushima, Japan in spring 2011), and so on. As reported most recently by the global media and press, we are also familiar with the ongoing protests by the so-called Occupy environmental activists and supporters against the proposed “Keystone XL” pipeline (from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast through six U.S. states); these protests occurred in majors cities in Canada, America, and elsewhere. This fight is expected to continue in 2012 until the project proposal is completely rejected or cancelled. 3 Thanks to Professor Tu’s leading role and others’ contribution, the first international conference on Confucianism and Ecology was held at Harvard University in 1996. This was one of The Religions of the World and Ecology Conference series hosted by the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions over a 3–year period (1996–98). It concluded that the ecological crisis requires a fresh review of Confucianism in the context of ecological thinking; other groups of this series including Taoist studies and Buddhist studies made similar conclusions. See Girardot, Miller, and Liu 2001 (Taoism and Ecology) as well as Tucker and Williams 1998 (Buddhism and Ecology). 4 This speech may be found in the conference program of the KICKS 2011, 15–22. 5 For this and related perspectives, see also Tu 1998 and 2004 in References. Chung: Guest Editor’s Introduction 3 thinking of why human beings are...participants and co-creators” of the cosmic transformation. Furthermore, I agree with Tu’s general-yet-penetrating overview of Korean Confucianism and its ecological aspects as follows: …in Korean Confucianism…there is a great deal of emphasis on holism. All kinds of diagrams, most of these diagrams about human flourishing, how human self-cultivation, not only with society but with community and with heaven and earth (,) is to be visualized, and this holism on the one hand and this understanding of nature as an integral part of human self-reflection make Korean Confucianism not only ecologically sound, ecologically significant, but also in itself a kind of deep ecological vision. The vision is often related to another very important feature of Korean Confucianism, that is this emphasis on feeling, on emotion, on the human responses to not only other human beings but to the world beyond…. And this close interaction between the human on the one hand and nature on the other hand helps us to understand the holistic interactive mode of Korean humanistic thinking. A distinctive feature of Korean Confucianism is its emphasis on human sensitivity and of course human sensitivity is often understood in terms of human interactions or social communication… but I think in the Korean sense that sensitivity is not only sociologically significant but also aesthetically significant. How nature, how mountains, rivers, trees, and the whole naturalistic world can be meaningfully relate to one’s self-cultivation and self- understanding.6 (italicized words are my emphasis) Tu’s observation concurs with the nature of Korean Confucian thought and culture. It is encouraging also because the “holistic” and related ecological elements of Korean Confucian thought–which Tu has in mind (indicated in the italic font)–are more or less discussed in many of this journal articles. Overall, these articles are carefully researched, clearly organized, and thoughtfully discussed. They all recognize the traditional as well as contemporary significance of the journal theme, “Korean Confucianism and Ecology,” from various perspectives: conceptual, textual, historical, social-scientific, philosophical, religious, and comparative. I’m also delighted to see that these kinds of methodological frameworks are presented here according to our expected international standards. Hong Wŏn-sik’s article (“Confucianism, Korean Confucianism and Ecological Discourse”) was the second keynote speech delivered in Korean immediately following Tu Weiming’s first keynote speech at the conference. It first 6 Tu, Weiming, “Keynote Speech,” Program of the 5th Keimyung International Conference on Korean Studies, June 2–4, 2011 (Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea), p. 21. 4 Acta Koreana Vol. 14, No. 2, 2011 emphasizes that all life forms on earth are equal from the standpoint that they all share life. It consults some Western works and existing Korean articles in the field. The dilemma of reading Confucianism ecologically is that the tradition affirms humankind as the most intelligent of all beings. This points to some “anthropo- centricism” in Confucian thought which is a type of humanism (p. 24); Hong quotes Tu’s view that the true spirit of Confucianism is its “anthropocosmic worldview.”7 This article gives an overview of Korean sources by discussing conceptual labels for the ecological nature of Neo-Confucianism; e.g., “humanistic ecologism” and “anthropocentric” cosmology. Other works (e.g., Han 2009, Lee 2000) also appropriated the discussion of Confucian ecological ideas in terms of “organicism,” “ecologism,” “cosmological ecologism,” “human- centricism,” and so on.8 In the final section, the author keenly argues that “Confucianism does contain such philosophical contents and characteristics” but “it is originally not a philosophy that was established on an ecological foundation” (p. 33). Although Confucianism has an “abundance of organic and ecological characteristics,” its moral humanism has remained at the heart of the tradition for thousands of years (p. 35). Quoting a Korean scholar, Hong
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