Heaven and Spirituality in Toegye1

The discussion so far can be summarized as follows. If the emptiness (虛心) is a state in which ‘the principle of creation‘ (生理) of the mind (心) is active by eliminating desires and attachments, then ‘self-emptying’ (自虛) is a humble attitude to empty oneself in front of the Heavenly Emperor (上帝). While the former expresses the “Zhuziological” spirituality, the latter expresses the characteristics of the “Toegyeological” spirituality. Toegyehak (退溪學) adds or reinforces the spirituality of Heavenly mandate to the spirituality of Heavenly Li. This is the characteristic of Toegyehak (退溪學), which is different from Zhujiahak (朱子學), and this characteristic was developed in earnest in Donghak (東學) at the end of the 19th century.