16세기 화담 서경덕의 교유 인물 = People whom Hwadam Seo Gyeong-deok acquainted himself with in the 16th century

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Joseon scholar’s understanding of the Neo-Confucian philosophy grew deeper and deeper In the 16th century. One of the results of such deepened understanding was the formation of various academic schools[學派]. And amongst all the scholars who established such schools with their pupils, there was one scholar who had been teaching students with his own understanding of the philosophy from fairly early on, in the Gaeseong(開城) area which was the late Goryeo dynasty’s capital. That scholar was Hwadam(花潭) Seo Gyeong-deok(徐敬德, 1489∼1546), and the school that developed with him at the top is now called the Hwadam School. Members of this school studied mostly in Seoul, and had backgrounds in the Gyeonggi(京畿) region, so in local terms the school was also essentially a “Seoul(-based) School,” just like called the “Yeongnam(嶺南) School.” which were based in Yeongnam.
The identity of Seo Gyeong-deok and the Hwadam School, however, needs to be discussed with two issues clarified beforehand. One is the notion that Hwadam was one of the pupils of Yi Yeon-gyeong(李延慶, 1484∼1548), which is also referred to as the so-called “Originating from Tansu(灘叟淵源說)” theory. The other is the notion that Hwadam was a friend with the aforementioned Jo Shik, which we now call as the “Friends with Nammyeong(南冥交遊說)” argument. The purpose of this article is to prove that these two notions are not based on facts, by rebutting the relevance of certain texts that had been considered to be supporting these notions, based on the fact that those texts are referring to a different time and place.
Two groups of people Hwadam actually befriended was the members of the Gimyo Sarim(己卯士林) group and officials serving at the Gaeseong-bu(開城府) authorities. People like Kim An-guk, Jo Wuk, Shin Gwang-han, Park Wu and Shim Eui were the most noteworthy ones. Most interestingly, all these people also had close relationships with key members of the Hwadam School, like Heo Yeob, Yi Gu, Park Sun, Hong In-wu and Park Min-heon. Such relationships help us understand the initial development phase of the Hwadam School.