Characteristics of the Neo-Confucian Cultivation Theory in Dabu Written by Hanjae

Han Jae’s Dabu (Rhapsody of tea) was evaluated as the first and best tea-related record in Korea, and as a tea ceremony philosophy book that emphasizes the spiritual aspect of tea. In particular, it was evaluated as a writing that expresses the philosophy and, spirit of the tea ceremony or the idea of mind tea based on the phrase “tea of my heart”. On the other hand, this evaluation overlooked that he emphasized discipline as a thorough Neo-Confucianist. Therefore, this study attempted to reconstruct Han Jae's tea ceremony philosophy by analyzing the context before and after “tea of my heart” and examining the ideological foundations of the early Joseon Dynasty when Dabu was built. Han Jae and the literati of the early Joseon Dynasty began to accept and believe the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi, and they were anti Buddhism. Han Jae accepted the view of Zhu Xi emphasizing the discipline of “magnanimousness” as his cultivation theory, and mentioned it in Dabu. Han Jae assumed tea had its “own nature” and sang it in Dabu. From this, it could be seen that Han Jae built Dabu in the sense of encouraging tea as an expedient of Neo-Confucianism. Nevertheless, Hanjae emphasized the importance of cultivating or curing by tea alone, and cultivating the tea person’s natural intelligence.