The Study on Toegye Yi Hwang's Perspective on Divination(占筮) and Divinatory Methods

This study examines Yi Hwang's views on divination texts and methods to explore his perspective on divination. As widely recognized, Yi Hwang's research was rooted in Zhu Xi's Confucianism, with a focus on the I Ching a nd its divinatory interpretations. However, his interest in divination was deeply tied to his belief that divination manifested the divine (神), which he understood as the expression of li (理) carried by qi (氣). Thus, Yi Hwang perceived divination not merely as a tool for predicting the future but as a means of exploring moral practice and the fundamental principles of the universe. In line with this perspective, he incorporated various views on divinatory methods in his work Recording the Questions Regarding Introduction to the Study of the Changes (Gyemong jeonui, 啓蒙傳疑), where he also documented unique practices such as the coin divination method (cheokjeonbeop, 擲錢法). Nevertheless, he regarded the Bushi (卜筮), created by the ancient sages, as the most foundational method of divination. Although Yi Hwang did not engage in the practice of divination himself, he studied its methods to explore how Li (理) and Qi (氣) interact or are manifested.