English abstract of an article published in Korean. The full text is available in Korean only.
Abstract
Objectives This study reinterprets the eight trigrams (palgwae, 八卦) of the "Banseongjam" (反誠箴) in the Gyeokchigo (格致藁). The dominant yi-xue (易學, Book-of-Changes) reading maps these trigrams onto the Fuxi/King-Wen trigram diagrams and the four cardinal virtues (仁義禮智). Against this, the study argues that the trigrams are not divinatory positional symbols but gisetwisang (機勢取象)—the image-taking of the momentum (gise, 機勢) of jeongwi (情僞, false or exploitative relational disposition, of which deception, gisa 欺詐, is one representative subtype) arising at the contact surface (the taegeuk) between the self (guk, at the left pole) and others (at the right pole) within a relational field (jang).
Methods A documentary-theoretical study. The Gyeokchigo (1940 Han Du-jeong first edition) was collated with the annotated translations of Ji Gyu-yong (2001) and Yi Chang-il (1999), and cross-referenced with the Sasang-yomok-juhae (四象要目註解) of the Donmu-yugo. Analysis proceeded by a four-stage method (collation–literal translation–annotation–interpretation) and a comparison with the trigram attributes (卦德) of the Shuogua-zhuan (說卦傳) and the generative schema ("Yi you taiji…", 易有太極) of the Xicí Shangzhuan (繫辭上傳).
Results (1) The trigrams are outcomes, not inputs, instantiating a four-axis-by-two-pole matrix: the four domains generated by the Xicí's affairs–things–mind–body (事·物·心·身) schema—corresponding respectively to the Zhongyong, the Daxue, Liuxiahui, and Boyi pairings named at the outset of the "Banseongjam"—each split into a self-initiating pole (jonsim, 存心) and a self-guarding pole (susin, 守身), yielding the eight trigrams as the eight resulting intersections. (2) The momentum is explicitly a product of contact ("the nature of mutual contact in coming-going-standing-facing" vs. "the nature attained alone"). (3) No divinatory procedure exists; Yi himself called his image-taking "merely conjecture" (eokgyeon, 臆見), subordinating the borrowed trigram form to its purpose. (4) Directional-trigram assignment exists only in the "Seongmyeongnon" register and is absent from the "Banseongjam," establishing a dual register use. (5) The trigram form rests on a double borrowing from the Yijing: the Shuogua-zhuan's trigram attributes (卦德) supply the eight qualitative profiles, while the Xicí Shangzhuan's generative schema supplies the structure by which a single mind (太極) differentiates into eight positions; both are borrowed forms that Yi himself subordinated to the purpose of imaging jeongwi's momentum.
Conclusions Image-taking (取象, diagnosis) and self-rectification (反誠, self-warning) are two phases of one self-cultivation structure. The yi-xue reading establishes the cosmological structure; this study restores, on that foundation, the relational-diagnostic operation of the trigrams that a structural reading leaves unaddressed.
Key words Medicine, Korean Traditional; Philosophy, Medical; Interpersonal Relations; Deception; Self-Control
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Choi Jang-hyuk | Doctor of Korean Medicine · Director, Dongjedang Korean Medicine Clinic