A Study on the Thoughts of Ungok Won cheon-seok

This study aims to elucidate the ideological basis of Ungok Won cheon-seok's works. This is because the standard of loyalty(忠) and fidelity(節) alone cannot fully explain his works. Ungok continuously emphasized the Mandate of Heaven, which refers to the world of reason(理) and nature(性) as the original state of integration before the separation of the phenomenal world. Ungok argued that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism have the same origin and should be unified in the original world before the phenomenal world. If human desires interfere with the operation of the universe, harmony, order, and natural order will be disrupted and discord will arise, so human intervention is extremely limited. Although he had a desire for officialdom, he waited for the appointed time, complied with it, and found satisfaction in it. The change of kings and dynasties is a fulfillment of the Heaven's Mandate of the majestic flow of history, and so, while there was a sense of sorrow, he did not reject it. Because it is not something that humans should ever interfere with. He coldly criticizes human intervention that distorts and falsifies the Mandate of Heaven, distinguishing between truth and false and right and wrong. This was his scholar spirit, which allowed him to face reality and speak the truth regardless of political stance. Ungok's philosophy of the mandate of heaven, embodying the unifying principle that all phenomena are fundamentally interconnected, represents the only solution to the ills of modern times, characterized by alienation and separation. Ungok was a living thinker, transcending time and space, even in the modern age.