Mystical Understanding of Yulgok’s‘Mysterious Unity of Li and Gi (理氣之妙)’

This article examines Yulgok Yi Yi’s theory of li and gi, in particular his ‘mysterious unity of li and gi (理氣之妙).’ The use of the ‘mysterious unity’ of li and gi is itself highly controversial. Scholars who support its use see it as a representative axiom of Yulgok’s philosophy, while those who oppose its use argue that it is just a meaningless, rhetorical expression that has no philosophical me aning. I be lie ve this is be cause the characte r ‘myo (the myste rious unity)’ has a meaning that is difficult to analyze logically.<br/> In fact, Yulgok’s theory of mysterious unity contains paradoxical and mutually contradictory propositions. However, contrary to the view that it is not philosophically rigorous and is better left unmentioned, I propose that we can enrich the discussion of its meaning by introducing a mystical point of view. Just as Confucianism can be approached from the perspective of mysticism—especially Chinese Neo-Confucianism and Joseon Confucian scholars such as Toegye and Dasan—Yulgok philosophy also contains the core features of mysticism, namely the aspect of the ineffable and noetic quality that leads one to the pure realization of the greater dimension of the world. By adopting such a perspective, Yulgok’s Confucianism can be succe ssfully analyze d within the study of re ligion.