A Study on the Aesthetic Thought of Confucian Landscape and Garden Philosophy : Focusing on Woljeongsa Temple on Mt. Odaesan

During the Joseon period, as travel culture flourished, numerous Confucian literati visited Woljeongsa Temple on Mt. Odaesan, renowned as a sacred site of Mañjuśrī, and composed literary works in its honor. Among these, travelogues (遊記文, yugimun) depicting the scenic spots and surrounding landscapes of Woljeongsa align with the fundamental nature of travel literature as records of firsthand experience. Meanwhile, poetic works, which emphasize conciseness and aesthetic depth through imagery (意象, yixiang) and artistic conception (意境, yijing), reflect the fusion of subject and object in the literati's emotions (性情, xingqing) and responses to external stimuli (感物, ganwu). For Confucian scholars, Woljeongsa Temple was not merely a Buddhist monastery but a space for self-cultivation and the refinement of one’s moral character. This process, analyzed through the dual aspects of essence (體, ti) and function (用, yong) in relation to emotions and sensory perception, ultimately led to the attainment of a state of unity with nature (自然合一, ziran heyi).