• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.35
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• pp.387-414
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• 2009

This paper looks into the Confucius customs of Yiphu and Seungjung, that is respectively a problem of deciding the successor of the family and a matter of establishing Jongtong (宗統: the proper inheritance line of the family), especially concerning the funerary and ancestor memorial services through Seongho Lee Ik's discussion on proprieties, whose Yeahak (禮學: Studies on Proprieties) is representative of the eighteenth century Yeahak. Seongho Lee Ik sees that there is one penetrating principle that should apply the same concerning Jongtong, regardless whether it is for the state or for a family or whether it is for the royal family or for the gentry in or out of the state service. To establish this one penetrating principle, he emphasizes the manners that fit one's circumstance and social standing, proposed as the theory and practice of 'Seoin-garyea (庶人家禮: Proper customs that even common people with no official titles can practice in marking their important life events like coming-of-age, marriage, and death)'. These two aspects of Seongho seem at odds with each other at a glance. Yet given that he considers that keeping proprietary manners for their own social standings would help secure the fundamental social order, which is of supreme importance to him, it makes sense. Next, the most problematic issues about Seongjung and Yiphu are the timing when one can declare the 'absence of the patriarch' and the manner how one substitutes oneself for the absent patriarch. Seongho sees that it is one thing to 'inherit the Jongtong' and it is another to 'become a next patriarch'. Basically, he does not separate the problem of Jongtong by one's social standings. The real situation involved can be different based on one's social standing, he readily acknowledges. Yet, 'the unchangeable ethical principle between the father and the son' would prevail over the same regardless of classes, he insists. This attitude of his is in line with his philosophy of proprieties and his practical guidance that proposes 'Seoin-Garyea' with an appeal to establish fundamental social order based on the practice of proper manners in accordance of one's social standing as he philosophizes the rules of Jongtong on the base of the one penetrating principle.