Ⅱ. Dangun Thought as Economic Philosophy
The core proposition of Dangun Thought, “Hongik Ingan, Jaese Ihwa” (benefiting all humanity and ordering the world by reason), contains the word “benefit,” making an approach as economic thought possible; yet until now Dangun Thought has been approached mainly only as political and philosophical thought. The reason Dangun Thought has not been interpreted as economic thought, unlike other political and philosophical thought, is that a substantive interpretation of its principal methodology—threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa), or the three–one relationship—has been difficult.[5] This is because the development of political and philosophical thought into economic thought must be preceded by a substantive interpretation of its core methodology.
The core methodology of the 『Samilsingo』, 『Chamjeongyegyeong』, and 『Cheonbugyeong』—the scriptures that represent Dangun Thought—can be said to be the threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa) of Heaven–Earth–Human, which differs from the Chinese Yin-Yang twofold differentiation (isu bunhwa).[6] Indeed, in the Hwandan Gogi, the event that arises between Emperor Yao and Dangun Wanggeom likewise begins with whether Yin-Yang and the Five Phases are viewed as planar or as three-dimensional.[7] The passage stating that Emperor Yao discarded Dangun Wanggeom's Yin-Yang and Five Phases and created a new Yin-Yang and Five Phases admits a three-dimensional reading: interpreting the three-dimensional Five Phases as the planar Five Phases simultaneously gave rise to both theoretical development and misunderstanding.[8]
A review of prior research on threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa) to date shows that it can broadly be divided into complexity theory and astronomical theory.[9] The common shortcoming of the two theories is that they insufficiently explain the difference between the Heaven-Earth-Human threefold differentiation and the Yin-Yang twofold differentiation (isu bunhwa). Both theories abound in accounts demonstrating the superiority of threefold differentiation over twofold differentiation, yet they offer little clarification of the relationship between twofold and threefold differentiation. In these two theories, twofold differentiation and threefold differentiation become separate theories. And in a comparison of the two, separate theories cannot be compared. Only when one theory can embrace another does a theory finally become established as a theory.
This paper seeks to distinguish threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa) as the three-dimensional Five Phases (ipche ohaeng) and twofold differentiation (isu bunhwa) as the planar Five Phases (pyeongmyeon ohaeng), thereby elucidating Heaven–Earth–Human (Cheon·Ji·In) as the vertical, horizontal, and three-dimensional principles by which a circle is generated.[10] When threefold differentiation is understood as the three-dimensional Five Phases, it shows that threefold differentiation is not merely applicable to the domain of complex systems or to astronomy, but, like the planar Yin-Yang and Five Phases, applies to entities of every scale from the atom to the galaxy; that it can explain domains the planar Yin-Yang and Five Phases failed to explain; and that Heaven–Earth–Human is not an abstract operation but a concrete one.[11]
The three-dimensional Five Phases (ipche ohaeng) confers a substantive character on the various theories appearing in the Samilsingo, and can show that the various passages of the Samilsingo and the Cheonbugyeong are not humanistic beliefs but products of a natural-scientific background. Economic thought too becomes thought with a natural-scientific background. The three-dimensional Five Phases reveals a natural-scientific substantiveness in Dangun Thought, which until now has been interpreted only humanistically.
The Threefold Differentiation of Heaven–Earth–Human as Three-Dimensional Five Phases
Today, Yin-Yang and the Five Phases are now being spotlighted, even in China, as the interpretive principle for all things in the universe, from the atom to the galaxy.[12] Yin-Yang and the Five Phases is the theory that best accords with hologram theory, which, after decades of testing, has emerged as a representative theory of quantum mechanics.[13] Hologram theory, well known to the public through holographic images, is, as its name suggests, the theory that views all things as holographic photographs and as virtual.[14] Resonating with Buddhism and Hinduism, which early on regarded all matters as emptiness and asserted that 'form is emptiness,' hologram theory has been a theory that drew great attention in the humanities. The most important core of hologram theory, which understands all things as empty space, is that the universe, which outwardly appears diverse, is in fact a repetition of a very simple, identical principle.[15] Just as the various colors of a color printer are in fact the three primary colors of red, blue, and yellow, the characteristic of hologram theory is that the complex universe is composed of a simple principle. Complex natural systems such as actual snowflakes and clouds have been proven to be repetitions of a simple principle, and so hologram theory is drawing attention as twenty-first-century physics.
Yin-Yang and the Five Phases is drawing attention today as the most essential and simple principle underlying hologram theory. Indeed, over several millennia the East has produced countless achievements by interpreting and studying most everyday phenomena through the principle of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. From genes to galaxies, the more science advances, the more Yin-Yang and the Five Phases is being recognized as a science of complex systems.[16]
The problem that Yin-Yang and the Five Phases have as a scientific theory is that, while they explain phenomena well, their explanation of generation (balsaeng) is inadequate.[17] By failing to explain generation, Yin-Yang and the Five Phases remained an aesthetic explanation and did not acquire the experimental, practical character of a science. The theory that supplements this deficiency of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases as a theory of the generation of things is the three-dimensional Yin-Yang and Five Phases. The three-dimensional Yin-Yang and Five Phases is the theory that Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, which had been three-dimensional, were interpreted in planar fashion, severing their connection with reality. It is the theory that, if Yin-Yang and the Five Phases are interpreted three-dimensionally, the physical substance of the West and Yin-Yang and the Five Phases become connected, so that the problem of generation and the problem of substantiveness of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases can be solved at once. In the three-dimensional Five Phases, Heaven–Earth–Human (Cheon·Ji·In) appears as the three axes that form the solid: the vertical, the horizontal, and the depth.
When Yin-Yang and the Five Phases are viewed as three-dimensional Yin-Yang and Five Phases, the Taegeuk, Yin-Yang, the Four Symbols, the Eight Trigrams, and the Hado and Nakseo become, unlike hitherto, three-dimensional, appearing as Heaven–Earth–Human in the vertical, the horizontal, and the three-dimensional. If the existing Yin-Yang and Five Phases are interpreted through the three-dimensional Five Phases, then when the substance called Taegeuk first emerges from the initial Mugeuk—that is, when it first separates into Yin-Yang—a vertical axis of 1 and 2 arises. It is just like the first nuclear fission, in which, when a nuclear bomb is created, electrons collide with the initial immense energy and separate from the nucleus. In the three-dimensional Five Phases, this first action becomes Heaven (天).
Once the vertical axis of 1 and 2 arises and Yin and Yang separate, a horizontal axis of 3 and 4 arises in order to maintain this state of Yin-Yang separation. The precondition for circulation is the formation of at least a 90-degree angle. Only when a 90-degree angle arises can linear motion be converted into circulatory motion that moves in the opposite direction. In the three-dimensional Five Phases (ipche ohaeng), this second process of creating the horizontal axis becomes Earth (地).
Entities that have begun to circulate once a vertical axis and a horizontal axis have arisen must create a third, three-dimensional axis in order to sustain their circulation. This is the same principle by which a spinning top requires a central axis in order to rotate. Only when the vertical axis and the horizontal axis meet and a third, three-dimensional axis is created does an entity become independent. In the three-dimensional Five Phases, this third process of creating the three-dimensional axis becomes In (Human). This may be represented in a diagram as follows.
The figure on the left above depicts the birth of matter as explained by the three-dimensional Five Phases, compressing the numbers of the Cheonbugyeong into one. From the standpoint of the three-dimensional Five Phases, threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa)—that is, “il-si-mu-si-il, seok-sam-geuk” (the One that begins yet has no beginning, analyzed into three ultimates)—is, viewed as a whole, a single circulation, but viewed as individuals it refers to the three core axes that form the circulation: the vertical–horizontal–depth axes. Once these three axes are formed, they come to form the circulation of four, becoming “un-sam-sa-seong-hwan” (the three moving to complete the ring of four). This circulation, together with central axis 5 and the harmony (和) that balances it in the reverse direction from the center and descends as circulation, and with the centers gathering to form seven vertices, forms the circle and its seven constituent elements—that is, “o-chil-il-myoyeon” (five and seven in wondrous interfusion)—giving birth to a single substance.[18] This circulation of the two great circles has been expressed by Baopuzi as “Earth conquers Water” (土克水) and in the Bible, in Genesis, as God moving over the face of the waters. In Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, the axis that departs from the circulation and forms the center in the middle has been designated as the “5-Earth” (5土), the being that harmonizes all things. In fact, in the Hongyeonsu—Korea's traditional Qimen Dunjia and the basis of the Correct Yijing (Jeongyeok)—cosmic change was explained as 13579 and 246810.[19]
In the Cheonbugyeong, 3 is the minimal system that forms a cycle: Heaven, the vertical axis of the cycle, is 1 and, with two vertices and one axis, forms 3, becoming Cheon-il-sam and Cheon-i-sam; Earth is 2 and, with two vertices and one axis, forms 3, becoming Ji-il-sam and Ji-i-sam; and Human is 3 and, with two vertices and one axis, forms 3, becoming In-il-sam and In-i-sam. The figure on the left is the harmony (和) that forms the cycle and balance of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in which the reverse cycle 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 combines to form ten actions along three axes—that is, iljeok-sipgeo mugwe-hwasam. This is precisely the number of the Hado, and when this number of the Hado is expanded by means of the magic square, it becomes the number of Earth, the Nakseo, which is the third figure. When this cycle is expanded into the minimal Yin-Yang system it becomes the Eight Trigrams,[20] and when it is again infinitely superimposed it becomes an infinitely superimposed cycle, yielding the 24 mansions, the 28 mansions, the sexagenary cycle, and further all things of the universe.[21] Buddhism, too, expresses the universe as an infinitely superimposed cycle. The 24 mansions become the cycle of the 24 solar terms,[22] and the 28 mansions become the sukyo (宿曜) Eastern astronomical-prognostic science that began in Babylonia and was transmitted to Greece and even to modern Japan.[23] This method overcomes the theoretical limits that Western science cannot predict. Indeed, the West's Terence McKenna used a cyclical sequence of the Yijing such as the cycle of the moon to create a time-wave zero function and presented the decisive basis for the 2012 syndrome.[24] Taiwan's Yang Hyeon-dong applied this to engineering, and it is recently being utilized in quantum computers.
When Hado (River Chart) and Nakseo (Luo Writing) are viewed through the three-dimensional Five Phases, problems that appear contradictory in two dimensions are resolved, just as a contradiction is resolved in three dimensions, and what were previously logical contradictions are thereby resolved. Moreover, Yin-Yang and the Five Phases is shown to apply to actual entities such as atoms and the human body. The Five Phases and the Five Movements (o-un) viewed through the three-dimensional Five Phases coincide with the spin theory and superstring theory of quantum mechanics. In spin theory, energy circulates in integer multiples while matter circulates in fractional multiples: the Five Movements and Six Qi (o-un yuk-gi), which correspond to energy, complete their circulation by turning half a revolution, while the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches, which correspond to matter and life, complete their circulation by turning a full revolution. As in the five M-theories, the axes of the three-dimensional Five Phases are likewise transformed into five axes—Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, and Earth. This also coincides with the traditional Qimen Dunjia, in which the central Five Phases undergo change.[26]
The three-dimensional Five Phases has served, like the Huangdi Neijing and the Dongui Suse Bowon, not only as a foundational theory of medicine but also as a foundational theory of ethics and morality such as the Three Bonds and Five Relations. As shown in the figure above, the three-dimensional Five Phases demonstrates that the threefold differentiation (samsu bunhwa) of Dangun Thought is the natural-scientific constitutive principle of all things in the cosmos. In the Taegeukgi (the national flag), the axis connecting Water and Fire becomes the vertical–Heaven axis; the horizontal axis connecting Wood and Metal becomes Earth (地); and the axis of ministerial-fire that makes Earth and Earth return downward becomes the Human (人) axis.
The reason the vertical and horizontal axes are important is that the horizontal differences prized by modern people originate from vertical differences. In the case of the Three Bonds and Five Relations, the vertical axis of parent–child, which is the axis of human relations, cycles through the horizontal axis of husband–wife, and because there is the three-dimensional axis of ruler–subject, they cycle with one another. The clearer the vertical axis of parent and child, the clearer horizontal human relationships also become. This accords with the Western theory of the Oedipus complex. The Three Bonds and Five Relations are constituted by such principles of nature and, further, by the principles of Korean medicine.
If the three-dimensional Five Phases shows the principle by which circulation arises generatively, then once circulation has been created, the phenomenal world thereafter is well explained by the law of circulation.[27] From the atom to the galaxy, today's law of circulation shows that all things in the universe are a fractal repetition of this three-dimensional Five Phases law of circulation. The law of circulation is an ancient Eastern traditional theory holding that, like spring-summer-autumn-winter, all things in the universe from the atom to the galaxy are composed of four actions: explosion (Water)-expansion (Wood)-enlargement (Fire)-contraction (Metal). In complexity science too, as with the Yin-Yang and Five Phases theory, the principle of five is used to form the foundation of robotics and artificial-intelligence theory.[28] The traditional Yin-Yang and Five Phases theory of circulation is the inevitable result reached by the duality of matter as light and wave in quantum mechanics. The law of circulation shown by the three-dimensional Five Phases resolves not only existing Western natural science but also numerous difficult problems that Western science has failed to solve, such as the principle by which electricity flows. The three-dimensional Five Phases and the law of circulation connect not only to natural science and to ethics and morality but also to social sciences such as politics and economics. The separation of powers and laissez-faire economics, to be treated in the next chapter, derive from this principle of circulation.
2. Hangeul as the Three-Dimensional Five Phases
Besides the three powers of Heaven–Earth–Human (Cheon·Ji·In), another piece of evidence that Dangun Thought is composed of the three-dimensional Five Phases and the law of circulation can be found in Hangul. Language is a living relic more than any number of artifacts, and because it is actually in use more than any number of scientific laws, it becomes a very important domain for empirically demonstrating the Heaven–Earth–Human economic thought.
Kim Yong-seong of the Taegeuk Hangeul (Sinhoek) Research Institute holds that the principle of creating Hangeul that appears in the Hwandan Gogi is based on the Taegeuk principle, like the cyclical law of explosion (Water)–expansion (Wood)–enlargement (Fire)–contraction (Metal). Hangeul is therefore called Taegeuk Hangeul or Sinhoek. Kim Yong-seong calls the cyclical law of explosion (Water)–expansion (Wood)–enlargement (Fire)–contraction (Metal) the Hwandan Gogi's principle of creating Hangeul: jip–hoe–gwi–ham. Worldwide, Hangeul appears to be almost the only language that distinguishes meaning by vowels.[29]
Tens of thousands of words belonging to modern Korean were formed according to this principle, and even a foreigner, once they know the principle, can infer the meaning simply by hearing the Korean vowels.[31] The three-dimensional Five Phases provides substantive grounds for the process by which Hangeul created meaning.
Kim Yong-seong argues for the Korean origin of English on three grounds: that the English alphabet emerges when Hangul is written in cursive, that the pronunciations are the same, and that tens of thousands of etymologies are the same.
According to Kim Yong-seong, the reason g is pronounced as 'ㄱ' is that g was written as a cursive form of 'ㄱ', so it ought naturally to be pronounced as 'ㄱ'.
In accordance with the word-formation principle of Hangul, the meanings of English words can also be inferred.
Kim Yong-seong says that the process by which the Cheonbugyeong (Scripture of Heavenly Code), composed of 1, 2, and 3, develops into the Hongyeon numbers 1 2 3 4 5, 6 7 8 9 10 is fully contained in the meanings of the Korean words hana (one), dul (two), set (three), and net (four).
3. The Three Teachings (Confucianism·Buddhism·Taoism) and Dangun's Three-Dimensional Five Phases Economic Thought
If the Three Powers (samjae) thought of the Cheonbugyeong—that is, Heaven–Earth–Human—represents the cyclical law of the three-dimensional Five Phases, then, in accordance with the cyclical law, Dangun's economic thought can likewise be found to contain the economic principle of supply and demand. According to the principle of the cycle, the phenomenon in which the demand and supply of goods mutually increase and decrease in a market economy, and the business cycle that arises from price fluctuations, may be explained on the basis of the cyclical law as follows.
Because the table above is a Fire-centered Five Phases, there is no Fire. In the three-dimensional Five Phases, phenomena that are not generation are treated, as in Korean medicine, as a Fire-centered Five Phases. According to the law of circulation, among the four basic elements that constitute the economy, supply has attractive force (illyeok), competition has adhesive force (jeomryeok), demand has repulsive force (cheokryeok), and price has binding force (gongryeok). Therefore, supply and demand are oppositional, so that when supply increases demand decreases and when supply decreases demand increases; and competition and price are also oppositional, so that when competition among merchants in the market increases the price falls, and when competition decreases the price rises.
The competition point is the peak of deflation: as recession persists, competition in the market increases and prices fall to their lowest, supply decreases to reach equilibrium with demand, transaction volume declines so that inventory piles up in the market, and investment in production decreases so that, with nowhere to invest, money is tied up and is at its least circulated.
Once, past the competition point, demand begins to increase beyond supply, supply fails to meet demand, so raw-material prices rise, supply prices rise, and retail prices begin to rise, while inventories decline and competition begins to diminish. This period, since the economy begins to expand, is the first half of a boom and the second half of deflation.
The demand point is the state in which demand has increased the most and supply has decreased the most; because consumption has increased the most and the economy is most active, the market is at the peak of a boom.
Once past the demand point, rising prices increase investment in production, so that supply begins to increase; but since demand still exceeds supply, prices are still rising, and competition in the market continues to decrease. During this period, demand declines and consumption begins to fall, so it is the latter half of the boom and the first half of inflation.
The price point is the peak of inflation: as a boom persists, prices rise to their highest and reach equilibrium with demand, so that money is at its most abundantly circulated in the market. Inflation occurs when demand exceeds supply so that prices rise and investment in production increases, releasing much money into the market; therefore, when production increases so that supply exceeds demand, prices fall, purchasing power weakens, and the psychology of expecting still further declines takes effect, so that demand does not increase and the economy turns to recession.
Once, past the price point, prices begin to fall, since much has already been invested in production, supply begins to become excessive, inventories increase, and competition among suppliers begins to arise. This period, as the price bubble begins to burst and the economy begins to stagnate, is the second half of inflation and the first half of a recession.
The supply point is the state in which, when prices rise, much is invested in production so that supply is at its maximum and demand at its minimum; because consumption is most contracted, it is the peak of a recession.
When recession continues past the supply point, inventories pile up and prices keep falling, so that supply begins to shrink and competition continues to increase, and unemployment begins to rise. This period is the latter half of the recession and the first half of deflation.
In the process by which the economy circulates through repeated contraction and expansion, just as there are moments when the magnitude of each of the four fundamental forces alternately increases to its maximum within the circulatory process of a single system repeating contraction and expansion, one may say that there is inflation midway through the transition from boom to recession, since currency is then in an expanded state, and there is deflation midway through the transition from recession to boom, since currency is then in a contracted state.[32]
The law of circulation shows that the principle of the modern capitalist economy has, in its background, the principle of circulation. What distinguishes Dangun Thought—the three powers of Heaven–Earth–Human—from the principle of the capitalist economy is that the subjects of demand and supply are not human versus human but human versus Heaven-and-Earth. In the three powers of Heaven–Earth–Human, the human is a being nurtured by Heaven-and-Earth, so the human becomes the demander and Heaven the supplier. The human is a being who pays the price of sincerity (seongsil), consumes the supply of Heaven-and-Earth, and transacts with Heaven-and-Earth.
Master Choi Chi-won once stated that the Three Teachings (Confucianism·Buddhism·Taoism) originated in Dangun's pungnyu thought, but he did not clarify concretely how they are connected; the three-dimensional Five Phases and the cyclical law, however, show this concretely. In Chinese records, the demand–supply relationship between Heaven-and-Earth and humanity appears to begin in the time of Emperor Yao.[33] It is said that Emperor Yao discovered the principle of time and thereby discovered the principle of cosmic nurturing (cheonji hwayuk). In the changes of the Five Phases that appear in works such as the Budoji, Emperor Yao indeed appears as an important figure.
If through Hangul it has been shown that Dangun Thought is the three-dimensional Five Phases, this shows that the Three Teachings (Confucianism-Buddhism-Taoism)-said to be derived from Dangun Thought-are likewise the three-dimensional Five Phases and an economic thought. Examining first how the Three Teachings are the three-dimensional Five Phases shows that the complex Three Teachings can be unified into a simple logical formula, just like the three-dimensional Five Phases. Han Tae-dong holds that the Three Teachings and Christianity can be expressed as logical functions. Confucianism can be formulated as the double affirmation that X is X and -X is -X; Taoism as the paradox that X is -X and -X is X; Buddhism as the double negation that X is neither X nor -X; and Christianity as the totality that X is everything.[34]
In Confucianism—where one is glad to learn (X) and practice (X), and glad when a friend (X) comes again (X) from afar—the ruler (X) must be ruler-like (X) and the subject (-X) must be subject-like (-X),[35] so that in the relationship between friend (X) and enemy (-X), the friend (X) is friend (X) and the enemy (-X) is enemy (-X). Against this spring-like Confucianism, which propels friend and enemy apart like a repulsive force, Taoism—the long-standing rival of Confucianism—says that the Way (X) that can be called the Way (X) is not the Way (-X); that being (X) is nothing (-X) and nothing (-X) is being (X); that the weakest water (-X) is the strongest (X); and that the ugliest (-X) person is the most beautiful (X);[36] and therefore that the enemy (-X) is friend (X) and the friend (X) is enemy (-X).[37] Against Taoism, with its explosive force and latent hiddenness that arranges enemy and friend symmetrically, Buddhism—the long-standing mediator between Confucianism and Taoism—asserts an all-encompassing emptiness (空) in which there is neither friend (X) nor enemy (-X). Of course, Christianity, which brought about a great innovation in the triangular relationship of the Three Teachings (Confucianism·Buddhism·Taoism), subsumes all Three Teachings by telling Buddhism to love one's enemy (-X).[38]
If this is expressed as nihility-and-extinction (heomu jeongmyeol): for Heaven-and-Earth to exist but sun-and-moon to be absent is the paradox that X is –X and –X is X, hence nihility (heomu); and for sun-and-moon to exist but no human to recognize them is expressed as the extinction (jeongmyeol) of double negation, that X is neither X nor –X.[39] The Three Teachings (Confucianism·Buddhism·Taoism) correspond to Heaven–Earth–Human, and Heaven–Earth–Human, as the Samilsingo remarks that what is blue is not Heaven, is associated with Mugeuk (the Limitless), Taegeuk (the Supreme Ultimate), and Hwanggeuk (the Imperial Ultimate); the Three Teachings become the three attributes of the circle formed by Heaven–Earth–Human.
This combines with Heaven–Earth–Human and with won-hyeong-i-jeong (origination, flourishing, benefit, and firmness) to form a cycle.
If the principle of Heaven-Earth-Human above was a macroscopic principle, then when the Hangul principle and the Three Teachings are combined, Heaven-Earth-Human and the Three Teachings become a microscopic problem-solving principle. Comparing TRIZ[40] and structure theory (gujoron)[41], the representative modern problem-solving principles, yields the following. This is a modern adaptation of the Three Bonds and Five Relations.