옥산서원Oksan Seowon( 1 )

옥산서원에 모셔진 회재晦齋 이언적(1491~1553)은 유배 중에 함경도 강계에서 죽었다. 그는 조선의 성리학을 한층 더 깊게 숙성시킨 첫 세대의 학자로, 성리학적 이상을 실현하기 위해 평생을 노력했다. 일두 정여창의 시신은 그의 제자들이 옮겼지만 이언적 선생의 시신은 그의 서자 이전인이 한여름 홀로 2달 여에 거쳐 고향으로 옮겼다 한다.

본관은 여강(驪江: 여주驪州)이고 초명은 이적(李迪) 이었으나 중종의 명으로 언(彦) 자를 더했다한다. 호를 회재라고 한것은 성리학을 집대성한 주희의 호인 `회암(晦庵)`에서 `회(晦)` 자를 취함으로써 주희의 학문을 따랐음을 보여주는 것으로, 회재의 성리학은 그 후 퇴계에게 이어진다.

회재는 성균관 유생인 이번(李蕃)의 아들로 외가인 경주부 양좌촌(지금의 강동면 양동리 양동마을)에서 태어났다. 10세에 아버지를 여의고 어머니 손씨 부인 슬하에서 자랐고 그의 학문과 사상에 결정적인 영향을 끼친 사람은 외삼촌 우재 손중돈(愚齋 孫仲暾, 1464~1529)이다. 손중돈은 요직을 두루 거친 경세가이자 김종직과 친분이 두터운 뛰어난 성리학자 였다. 회재는 12세이후 외삼촌인 손중돈이 관직생활을 했던 양산 · 상주 · 김해 등지로 따라다니면서 학문적 인간적 가르침을 받았다.

1531년 당시 권력의 실세이자 훈구 척신 세력인 김안로의 재임용을 반대하다가 관직을 박탈당하고 고향으로 돌아온 그는 속세를 벗어나 독락당을 짓고 자연과 벗하며 은거 생활에 들어갔다.

 

1537년 감안로 일파가 몰락하자 종부시첨정으로 임명되어 홍문관교리 응교 직제학이 되었고, 전주부윤으로 나갔는데 선정을 베풀어 송덕비가 세워지기도 했다. 이후 회재의 관직 생활은 순조로워 이조 예조 형조의 판서를 거쳐 명종 즉위년(1545) 좌찬성이 되었다. 이때 윤원형 등이 을사사화를 일으킨 후 선비들을 심문하는 추관(推官)에 임명되자 스스로 관직에서 물러났다. 그러나 이것이 밉게 보여 명종 2년(1547년) 윤원형이 조작한 `양재역벽서사건(良才驛壁書事件)`에 연류되었다는 무고를 받고 강계로 유배되었고, 1553년 그 곳에서 많은 저술을 남기고 63년의 일생을 마감하였다. 유배생활 중에 남긴 저서로 <구인록求仁錄> , <대학장구보유大學章句補遺> , <중용구경연의中庸九經衍義> , <봉선잡의奉先雜儀> 등이 있다. 특히 전4권 <구인록> 은 유교 경전의 핵심개념인 인(仁)에 대한 이언적의 남다른 관심을 보여준다.

이언적이 왕에게 올렸던 상소문을 보면 하늘의 도리에 순응하고 백성의 마음을 바로잡으며 나라의 근본을 배양해야 한다는 왕도정치의 기본 이념을 추구했으며, 도학적 경세론의 압축된 체계를 제시하고 있다. 즉 회재는 하늘(天道 天心)과 백성(人心)에 순응하며, 마음을 다스리는 수양에 힘쓸 것을 중요시하는 도학적 수양론을 경세의 근본으로 삼았다.

 

세상을 떠난지 13년만에 사림의 신원복원운동으로 복작(復爵)되었고 선조 1년(1568) 의정부 영의정에 추증되었다. 선조2년(1569) 종묘이 명종(明宗)묘정에 배향되었으며, 광해군 2년(1610)에 동방오현(東方五賢)이라고 불리는 김굉필, 정여창, 조광조, 이황 등과 함께 문묘에 종사되었다.

동방오현의 한 사람으로 추앙받는 이언적을 배향한 옥산서원은 선조5년(1572)에 창건되었다. 이언적이 사망하고 20년이 지나서이다. 이처럼 늦게 서원이 발원된 것은 당시의 복잡한 정쟁이 회재의 영남학파에게 불리했기 때문이다.

창건당시 경주부윤 이었던 이제민(李齊閔)은 안강 고을의 선비들과 더불어 선생의 뜻을 기리고자 독락당(獨樂堂) 아래에 사당을 세웠으며, 사액을 요청하여 선조7년(1574)에 `옥산玉山` 이라는 편액과 서책을 하사받았다. 최초 사액은 이산해(李山海)의 글씨였으나 헌종 4년(1838)에 구인당 화재를 입어 다시 사액을 받으니 현전하는 것은 추사 김정희의 글씨이다.

Hoejae Yi Eonjeok (1491–1553), enshrined at Oksan Seowon, died in exile in Gangye, Hamgyeong-do. He was a first-generation scholar who brought Neo-Confucianism in Joseon to a more mature and refined stage, devoting his entire life to realizing its moral and philosophical ideals. While the body of his contemporary Jeong Yeo-chang was transported by his disciples after death, it is said that Yi Eonjeok’s remains were carried back to his hometown by his illegitimate son, Yi Jeon-in, who traveled alone for about two months in the height of summer.

 

Yi Eonjeok’s ancestral seat was Yeo-gang (present-day Yeoju), and his original given name was Yi Jeok. By royal command during the reign of King Jungjong, the character eon (彦) was added to his name. His pen name, Hoejae, was derived from “Hoeam,” the sobriquet of Zhu Xi, the great synthesizer of Neo-Confucianism, reflecting Yi Eonjeok’s commitment to Zhu Xi’s teachings. Hoejae’s Neo-Confucian scholarship was later inherited and further developed by Toegye Yi Hwang.

 

Hoejae was born in Yangjwa Village of Gyeongju Prefecture (today’s Yangdong Village, Gangdong-myeon) at his maternal family home. He was the son of Yi Beon, a Confucian student at the National Academy (Seonggyungwan). After losing his father at the age of ten, he was raised by his mother of the Son clan. The person who had the most decisive influence on his learning and thought was his maternal uncle, Woojae Son Jung-don (1464–1529). Son Jung-don was both a statesman experienced in key government posts and an outstanding Neo-Confucian scholar closely associated with Kim Jong-jik. From the age of twelve, Yi Eonjeok followed his uncle to various postings—such as Yangsan, Sangju, and Gimhae—receiving both scholarly instruction and moral guidance.

 

In 1531, Yi Eonjeok opposed the reappointment of Kim An-ro, a powerful figure and leading member of the entrenched meritorious elite (hun-gu faction). As a result, he was stripped of office and returned to his hometown. There, distancing himself from worldly affairs, he built Doknakdang (“Hall of Solitary Joy”) and entered a period of reclusion, living in harmony with nature.

 

When Kim An-ro’s faction fell from power in 1537, Yi Eonjeok was recalled to office and appointed Assistant Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, later serving as Editor and Chief Editor at the Office of Special Counselors (Hongmungwan). He was also appointed Governor of Jeonju, where his benevolent administration earned him such praise that a commemorative stele was erected in his honor. His official career thereafter progressed smoothly: he rose to serve as Minister of Personnel, Rites, and Justice, and in the year of King Myeongjong’s accession (1545), he was appointed Left State Councillor. However, when Yun Won-hyeong and his faction launched the Eulsa Purge and he was appointed as an investigating official responsible for interrogating scholars, Yi Eonjeok voluntarily resigned from office. This decision displeased those in power, and in 1547 (the second year of King Myeongjong’s reign), he was falsely accused of involvement in the fabricated “Yangjaeyeok Wall Writing Incident” and exiled to Gangye. He died there in 1553 at the age of 63, leaving behind many important writings.

 

Among the works he composed during his exile are Gurinok (Record of Seeking Benevolence), Supplement to the Chapters and Commentaries of the Great Learning, Expanded Exegesis of the Nine Standards of the Doctrine of the Mean, and Miscellaneous Rituals for Ancestral Veneration. In particular, the four-volume Gurinok reveals Yi Eonjeok’s profound and distinctive concern with ren (benevolence), the core ethical concept of Confucian thought.

 

Yi Eonjeok’s memorials to the throne emphasize the principles of kingly governance: conforming to the Way of Heaven, rectifying the hearts of the people, and cultivating the fundamental moral foundations of the state. They present a concise yet systematic formulation of a moral-philosical statecraft rooted in Confucian learning. For Hoejae, aligning oneself with Heaven (the Way and the Mind of Heaven) and with the hearts of the people, while devoting oneself to inner moral cultivation and the governance of the mind, constituted the very foundation of sound governance.

 

Thirteen years after his death, Yi Eonjeok’s reputation was restored through a rehabilitation movement led by the Sarim faction, and he was reinstated to his former rank. In the first year of King Seonjo’s reign (1568), he was posthumously promoted to the position of Chief State Councillor. In 1569, he was enshrined in the royal shrine of King Myeongjong, and in 1610 (the second year of King Gwanghaegun), he was further honored by enshrinement in the Confucian Shrine (Munmyo) alongside Kim Goeng-pil, Jeong Yeo-chang, Jo Gwang-jo, and Yi Hwang, collectively revered as the “Five Sages of the East.”

 

Oksan Seowon, where Yi Eonjeok is enshrined as one of the Five Eastern Sages, was established in 1572, twenty years after his death. The relatively late founding of the academy reflects the complex political struggles of the time, which were unfavorable to Hoejae and the Yeongnam school of Neo-Confucianism. At the time of its establishment, the magistrate of Gyeongju, Yi Je-min, together with local scholars of Angang, built a shrine below Doknakdang to honor Yi Eonjeok’s legacy. A petition for royal recognition was granted in 1574, when King Seonjo bestowed the academy with the name “Oksan” along with books and a signboard. The original calligraphy for the signboard was by Yi San-hae, but after a fire damaged the Gurin Hall in 1838 (the fourth year of King Heonjong), a new signboard was issued. The one preserved today bears the calligraphy of Chusa Kim Jeong-hui.

 

Entrance to Oksan Seowon 2025_05_14 with Eun he