Kwà Ân Kà Ân (1352 â 14 February 1409) was a Korean Neo-Confucian scholar at the dawn of the Joseon period, and a student of Yi Saek. He was one of the first Neo-Confucian scholars of the Joseon dynasty, and had a lasting influence on the rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea.
Kwà Ân Kà Ân was a Korean Neo-Confucian scholar at the time of the change from the Goryeo dynasty (during which Buddhism was a prominent philosophy) to Joseon. He was a member of the Andong Kwà Ân clan that was very influential in the Goryeo court. He was a student of Yi Saek, and passed the civil service examinations at the age of eighteen.
Kwà Ân Kà Ân initially supported his mentor's resistance against the reforms led by Yi Sà Âng-gye, Chà Âng To-jà Ân, and others, arguing that they could not hastily amend the laws of the previous kings. In 1389, during an envoy mission to the Ming dynasty, he discovered in advance that a Ming diplomatic document recognized King U as the son of Sin Ton, thereby denying the legitimacy of King Chang, and alerted the king, asking to take countermeasures. Furthermore, when Goryeo loyalist minister Yi Sung-in (1349âÂÂ1392) was impeached by Yi Sà Âng-gye's forces, Kwà Ân submitted a petition in his defense, thus becoming a target of the revolutionaries and being exiled in October 1389.
During his one-year exile he got involved in the faction's attempt to prevent the rise of Yi Sà Âng-gye, by alerting the Ming dynasty. He was acquitted when a flood that stopped the trial was accepted as an omen. When he returned from his exile, Kwà Ân retired to the village of Yangchon, on which he based his pen name. However, in 1393 king Taejo (r. 1392âÂÂ1398) convinced him to devote his talent for the new dynasty.
When a diplomatic dispute with the Ming dynasty arose in the fifth year of king Taejo's reign, Kwà Ân Kà Ân volunteered to travel to China to resolve the issue, coming into conflict with Chà Âng To-jà Ân's insistence on mobilizing the military and waging war; thus, Kwà Ân's role was kept minimal, but Chà Âng To-jà Ân and many of his colleagues were wiped out during the succession struggle of 1398. From that point until his death, Kwà Ân Kà Ân became the most important scholar in the government. During this time Kwà Ân Kà Ân directed the education system back toward literary accomplishments. He utilized his scholarly abilities to theoretically support the stability of royal authority, and normalized the strained relationship between Joseon and Ming through his diplomatic missions to the Ming dynasty.
He is buried with his son Kwà Ân Che and his grandson Kwà Ân Ram.
Kwà Ân Kà Ân lived and served during the dynastic change, and became eventually one of the architects of the Neo-Confucian ideology that provided both reasoning for the change, and ideological framework for the Joseon literati. He introduced Zhu Xi to the Korean audience, and his writings served as the basis for future scholars. He oversaw the nation's academic policies in the early Joseon, established various systems for education and talent selection, and is widely known as a scholar who significantly advanced the academic standards of the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods by writing numerous works on Neo-Confucianism and Confucian classics.
Among his writing on Neo-Confucianism, one of the most influential is the Iphak toseol (Diagrammatic Treatise for Entering Upon Learning). He created this book for some students who came with questions in 1390 while he was in exile. He also wrote five commentaries to the Five Classics, collectively known as Ogyeong cheongyeonnok (Short Commentaries on the Five Classics), starting in 1391 and finishing 14 years later. Kwà Ân Kà Ân developed a theory of ritual and emphasized the role of ritual in social order. He rearranged the Classic of Music, taking the first part as the original and the second part as a commentary.
Kwà Ân Kà Ân was a prolific writer, and he is also known for his contributions to several anti-Buddhist texts, including his preface to Chà Âng To-jà Ân's Pulssi Chappyà Ân (An Array of Critiques of Buddhism), as well as a contribution to the standardization of the sacrifices to pacify restless spirits.