Oksanseowon
Confucian Academy was constructed in 1572,
the fifth year of King Seonjo of the Chosun Dynasty, in honor of
Lee Eon-Jeok,
one of the great Confucian scholars of the Chosun Dynasty and one
of the Five Great Wise Men of the East (his pen name was Hoejae). Neo-Confucians divide
all existence into two inseparable components, i and ki(li and chi
in Chinese) The one, i, is a patterning of a formative element that
accounts for what things are and how they behave or normatively
should behave, while the other , ki, is the concretizing and energizing
element. The pioneering thinker in the school that stressed the
primacy of i was Lee Eon-Jeok. The academy is set against
a backdrop of Mt. Jaoksan, Mt. Dodeoksan, Mt. Hwagaesan, Mt. Muhaksan
and five rocks including Jeungsimdae, Gwaneodae and Sesimdae. This
famous institute is larger than 100 kan (kan is a traditional unit
of measure referring to the space between two columns). Amsujae
Library at Oksanseowon houses a total of 4,111 volumes of 866 different titles,
including Samguk -sagi (The History of the Three Kingdoms), designated
as Treasure No. 525.
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