Korean Neo-Confucian Perspectives on Laozi and Zhuangzi

This book offers the first complete English study and translations of two landmark Chosŏn commentaries to Daoist classics: Yi I's Sunŏn (Purified Words) on the Laozi and Han Wŏnjin's Changja pyŏnhae (Analytic Interpretation of the Zhuangzi). Yi I (1536-1584), one of Chosŏn's most influential thinkers, defied prevailing Neo-Confucian orthodoxy by treating the Laozi as a sage's text, reorganizing it into forty sections and demonstrating how Daoist insights harmonize with Confucian ideals of self-cultivation and governance. Han Wŏnjin (1682-1751) interprets the Zhuangzi as heretical and seeks to refute it as he defends the Neo-Confucian worldview. His work represents one of the most rigorous Neo-Confucian engagements with the Zhuangzi in East Asia. By making these works accessible in English for the first time, this book opens critical resources for the study of Daoist-Confucian dialogue, offers fresh perspectives on Korean philosophy and religion, and enriches East Asian intellectual history.