Zhu Xi¡¯s Perspective on Origin of Evil and Jeong Yakyong¡¯s Criticism of the Theory

According to Zhu Xi, evil exists innately in humans. This is because the movement of chi (material force šâ) generates all things, including humans, and chi contains evil.
This chi is governed by li (principle Àí) that guides its movement. This li implies the good and is inherent in humans. This can be clean or turbid. When chi is clean, a fertilized human embryo becomes a good person after birth, but when chi is turbid, the embryo becomes an evil person. In other words, evil exists innately in human beings. A contrasting view of human nature claims that human beings feel desire when they recognize objects and that evil is caused by desire. This is the origin of man's acquired evil. Dasan Jeong Yakyong critiqued Zhu Xi's idea that the human is innately good, but he insisted that humans can freely choose goodness, that is, man can choose between evil and goodness. This argument was influenced by the Catholic concepts derived from Tianzhu shiyi, the work of Matteo Ricci. Dasan interpreted ren (ÈÊ, benevolence), meaning goodness, as human action not inherent inside the mind of human being in Confucius' reply to Yan Yuan's inquiry. In contrast, Zhu Xi's good implies that the distinction is due to the law of nature, and a violation of this law results in evil. Unlikely, Dasan stated that human goodness and evil exist regardless of nature's laws; they are simply human behavior. This perspective was based on Confucius, and this implies that Dasan created his code of ethics by accepting Catholicism by basis of Confucianism.