Nonhakmun — On Learning · Tianmu Anglican Church

On Learning

Nonhakmun, "On Learning," is a compact doctrinal dialogue from the early Donghak scripture Donggyeong Daejeon. It explains Heaven, earth, the human being, the Five Phases, the crisis of 1860, Choe Je-u's revelation, the distinction between Donghak and Western Learning, and the inner meaning of the twenty-one-character incantation.

This Good Works Translation was made from the Literary Chinese text of 論學文 as presented by the Cheondogyo Central Headquarters. The official page's Korean reading and modern Korean explanation were used as controls, but the English below is a fresh source-language translation and no modern English translation is reproduced.

Translation

As for the Heavenly Way:
it seems to have no form,
yet it has traces.

As for the pattern of earth:
it seems broad and vast,
yet it has directions.

Therefore Heaven has the Nine Stars,
corresponding to the Nine Provinces.

Earth has the eight directions,
corresponding to the Eight Trigrams.

There are the numbers
by which fullness and emptiness
replace each other,
but there is no principle
by which movement, stillness, change, and alteration
abandon their order.

Yin and yang are balanced together.

Although the hundred, thousand, and ten thousand things
are transformed and brought forth within them,
only the human being is the most numinous.

Therefore the principle of the Three Powers was established,
and the numbers of the Five Phases were brought forth.

What are the Five Phases?

Heaven is the governing cord of the Five Phases.
Earth is the substance of the Five Phases.
The human being is the energy of the Five Phases.

Here one can see the number
of Heaven, earth, and humanity,
the Three Powers.

The flourishing and decline of the four seasons,
wind, dew, frost, and snow:
they do not lose their times,
and they do not change their order.

The common living people,
like beings exposed to dew,
do not know their source.

Some call it the grace of the Lord of Heaven.
Some call it the trace of the work of transformation.

Yet if one speaks of grace,
it is only a matter that cannot be seen.

If one speaks of the work,
it too is a saying difficult to describe.

Why?

From antiquity until now,
the principle within it has not been clearly examined.

In the year Gyeongsin,
in the fourth month,
all under Heaven was in turmoil.

The hearts of the people were confused and thin.
No one knew where to turn.

There was also a strange, perverse saying
surging through the world:

"The people of the West
have completed the Way and established virtue.
When it reaches their creation and transformation,
there is nothing they cannot accomplish.
When they attack with weapons,
no one can stand before them.

If China is burned and destroyed,
how could there be no danger
when the lips are gone and the teeth are cold?

The reason is nothing else:
these people call their Way the Western Way,
their learning the learning of the Lord of Heaven,
and their teaching the Holy Teaching.

Is this not because they know Heaven's time
and have received Heaven's decree?"

Because such things were being said,
one after another without end,
I too became fearful.

I could only lament
that I had been born too late.

At that moment,
my body shook with much cold.

Outwardly there was an energy
of contact with spirit.

Inwardly there was a teaching
of descending speech.

I looked,
but it could not be seen.

I listened,
but it could not be heard.

My heart was still astonished and doubtful.

So I cultivated the heart,
rectified the energy,
and asked:

"Why is it like this?"

It said:

"My heart is your heart.
How could people know this?

They know Heaven and earth,
but they do not know spirits.

As for spirit:
that too is me.

You have reached the boundless,
boundless Way.

Cultivate it and refine it.
Set its writing in order and teach people.
Rectify its law and spread virtue.

Then I will cause you to live long,
brightly manifest beneath Heaven."

For almost a year
I cultivated it and measured it.

Then I saw that it too
was not without natural principle.

Therefore,
I made the incantation;
I made the method of the descent of spirit;
I made the words of not-forgetting.

The sequence of the Way and its law
amounted only to twenty-one characters.

When it came to the year Sin-yu,
worthy scholars from the four directions
came forward and asked me:

"Now the Heavenly Spirit has descended to you, teacher.
Why is this so?"

I said:

"I have received the principle
by which nothing goes forth
without returning."

They said:

"Then what Way do you name it?"

I said:

"The Heavenly Way."

They said:

"Is it no different from the Western Way?"

I said:

"Western Learning is like this,
yet there is a difference.
It is like an incantation,
yet it has no substance.

The fortune is one.
The Way is the same.
But the principle is not."

They said:

"Why is it so?"

I said:

"Our Way is transformed without action.

Guard the heart.
Rectify the energy.
Lead one's nature
and receive the teaching,
and transformation comes forth
from within what is natural.

The people of the West
have no sequence in their words
and no black and white in their writings.

They have no root at all
for serving the Lord of Heaven.
They only pray for the sake of their own bodies.

Their bodies have no spirit of energy-transformation.
Their learning has no teaching of the Lord of Heaven.

There is form,
but no trace.
It seems to be thought,
but it has no incantation.

Their Way comes near to emptiness.
Their learning is not service of the Lord of Heaven.

How could it be called no different?"

They said:

"If one speaks of the same Way,
should it be named Western Learning?"

I said:

"Not so.

I was also born in the East
and received it in the East.

Although the Way is the Heavenly Way,
the learning is Eastern Learning.

Moreover, the earth is divided into east and west.
How could west be called east?
How could east be called west?

Confucius was born in Lu
and spread his influence in Zou;
therefore the wind of Zou and Lu
has been transmitted and left in this world.

Our Way was received here
and spread here.

How could it be named by the West?"

They said:

"What is the meaning of the incantation?"

I said:

"Because these characters are for utmost service
to the Lord of Heaven,
they are spoken of as an incantation.

They exist in present writings,
and they exist in ancient writings."

They said:

"Why is the text of the descent of spirit as it is?"

I said:

"As for ji,
it means reaching the utmost.

As for gi,
it is empty, numinous, and vast:
there is no matter it does not enter into,
and no matter it does not command.

Yet it seems to have form
and is difficult to describe.
It seems to be heard
and is difficult to see.

This too is the one energy
of the undivided origin.

Now present
means that here, at entry into the Way,
one knows that this energy is being contacted.

I pray
means the intention of request and blessing.

Great descent
means the prayer for energy-transformation."

"As for si,
serving:
within there is divine spirit,
and without there is energy-transformation.
All people of the world
each know this and do not shift from it.

As for ju,
Lord:
it names the honored one
and means serving him together with one's parents.

As for creation and transformation,
it is transformation without action.

As for settled,
it means joining with that virtue
and settling the heart.

As for for all generations,
it means a person's whole lifetime.

As for not forgetting,
it means preserving the thought.

As for all things,
it means the multitude of number.

As for knowing,
it means knowing the Way
and receiving its knowing.

Therefore,
if one makes that virtue bright and bright,
and in thought after thought does not forget it,
one will be transformed by utmost transformation and utmost energy,
and will reach utmost sagehood."

They said:

"If Heaven's heart is the human heart,
why is there good and evil?"

I said:

"It decrees the differences of nobility and lowliness
for each person,
and it settles the principle of suffering and joy
for each person.

Yet the virtue of the noble person
has rectified energy
and a settled heart;
therefore it joins its virtue
with Heaven and earth.

The virtue of the small person
has unrectified energy
and a shifting heart;
therefore it violates the decree
of Heaven and earth.

Is this not the principle
of flourishing and decline?"

They said:

"Why do the people of the whole age
not revere the Lord of Heaven?"

I said:

"When facing death,
to cry out to Heaven
is the constant feeling of human beings.

That life lies in Heaven,
and that Heaven gives birth to all people,
are sayings of the sages of old
that have been handed down until now.

Yet between seeming so
and seeming not so,
people do not know the reason clearly."

They said:

"What about those who slander the Way?"

I said:

"That too may happen."

They said:

"How can that be allowed?"

I said:

"Our Way is something
not heard now and not heard in antiquity.

It is a law
not compared now and not compared in antiquity.

To the one who cultivates it,
it seems empty
yet has substance.

To the one who merely hears it,
it seems substantial
yet has emptiness."

They said:

"What about those who turn against the Way
and go back?"

I said:

"Such people are not worth discussing."

They said:

"Why are they not worth discussing?"

I said:

"Respect them,
but keep them far away."

They said:

"What was their heart before,
and what is their heart afterward?"

I said:

"Grass before the wind."

They said:

"Then why does the descent of spirit come to them?"

I said:

"It does not choose good and evil."

They said:

"Is there no harm and no virtue?"

I said:

"In the age of Yao and Shun,
the people all became Yao and Shun.

The fortune of this age
returns together with the age.

Harm and virtue
are in the Lord of Heaven.
They are not in me.

If one searches into the heart of each matter,
harm may reach the body;
this is not something I know in detail.

Yet if such people enjoy blessing,
that should not be made known to others.

It is not what you should ask.
It is not what concerns me."

Ah, alas!

How bright and clear
are your questions about the Way.

Although my clumsy writing
does not reach refined meaning
and the true central teaching,
to correct the person,
cultivate the body,
nourish the capacity,
and rectify the heart:
how could there be two branching roads in this?

All the boundless numbers of Heaven and earth,
and the limitless principle of the Way,
are carried in this writing.

Only you, my gentlemen:
receive this writing with reverence
and use it to help sacred virtue.

Compared with me,
it will be like sweetness receiving its blend,
and whiteness receiving its color.

Now I delight in the Way,
and cannot contain my reverent admiration.

Therefore I discuss and speak it,
instruct and show it,
make it bright and examine it.

Do not lose the dark mystery.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the official Cheondogyo Central Headquarters page for 論學文 / 논학문 in the Donggyeong Daejeon. The source text is a nineteenth-century Donghak writing attributed to Choe Je-u (Suun, 1824-1864). The Literary Chinese source text is public domain; the official site's modern Korean explanatory layer was used only as a checking aid and is not reproduced here.

Source route: Cheondogyo Central Headquarters, 논학문.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: 論學文

Source text follows the public Cheondogyo Central Headquarters page for 論學文. Korean reading and modern Korean explanatory notes from that page are not reproduced.

論學文

夫天道者如無形而有迹地理者如廣大而有方者也故天有九星以應九州地有八方以應八卦而有盈虛迭代之數無動靜變易之理陰陽相均雖百千萬物化出於其中獨惟人最靈者也
故定三才之理出五行之數五行者何也天爲五行之綱地爲五行之質人爲五行之氣天地人三才之數於斯可見矣
四時盛衰風露霜雪不失其時不變其序如露蒼生莫知其端或云天主之恩或云化工之迹然而以恩言之惟爲不見之事以工言之亦爲難狀之言何者於古及今其中未必者也
夫庚申之年建巳之月天下紛亂民心淆薄莫知所向之地又有怪違之說崩騰于世間西洋之人道成立德及其造化無事不成功鬪干戈無人在前中國燒滅豈可無脣亡之患耶都緣無他斯人道稱西道學稱天主敎則聖敎此非知天時而受天命耶
擧此一一不已故吾亦悚然只有恨生晩之際身多戰寒外有接靈之氣內有降話之敎視之不見聽之不聞心尙怪訝修心正氣而問曰何爲若然也
曰吾心卽汝心也人何知之知天地而無知鬼神鬼神者吾也及汝無窮無窮之道修而煉之制其文敎人正其法布德則令汝長生昭然于天下矣
吾亦幾至一歲修而度之則亦不無自然之理故一以作呪文一以作降靈之法一以作不忘之詞次第道法猶爲二十一字而已
轉至辛酉四方賢士進我而問曰今天靈降臨先生何爲其然也曰受其無往不復之理曰然則何道以名之曰天道也曰與洋道無異者乎曰洋學如斯而有異如呪而無實然而運則一也道則同也理則非也
曰何爲其然也曰吾道無爲而化矣守其心正其氣率其性受其敎化出於自然之中也西人言無次第書無皂白而頓無爲天主之端只祝自爲身之謀身無氣化之神學無天主之敎有形無迹如思無呪道近虛無學非天主豈可謂無異者乎
曰同道言之則名其西學也曰不然吾亦生於東受於東道雖天道學則東學況地分東西西何謂東東何謂西孔子生於魯風於鄒鄒魯之風傳遺於斯世吾道受於斯布於斯豈可謂以西名之者乎
曰呪文之意何也曰至爲天主之字故以呪言之今文有古文有
曰降靈之文何爲其然也曰至者極焉之爲至氣者虛靈蒼蒼無事不涉無事不命然而如形而難狀如聞而難見是亦渾元之一氣也今至者於斯入道知其氣接者也願爲者請祝之意也大降者氣化之願也
侍者內有神靈外有氣化一世之人各知不移者也主者稱其尊而與父母同事者也造化者無爲而化也定者合其德定其心也永世者人之平生也不忘者存想之意也萬事者數之多也知者知其道而受其知也故明明其德念念不忘則至化至氣至於至聖
曰天心卽人心則何有善惡也曰命其人貴賤之殊定其人苦樂之理然而君子之德氣有正而心有定故與天地合其德小人之德氣不正而心有移故與天地違其命此非盛衰之理耶
曰一世之人何不敬天主也曰臨死號天人之常情而命乃在天天生萬民古之聖人之所謂而尙今彌留然而似然非然之間未知詳然之故也
曰毁道者何也曰猶或可也曰何以可也曰吾道今不聞古不聞之事今不比古不比之法也修者如虛而有實聞者如實而有虛也
曰反道而歸者何也曰斯人者不足擧論也曰胡不擧論也曰敬而遠之曰前何心而後何心也曰草上之風也曰然則何以降靈也曰不擇善惡也曰無害無德耶曰堯舜之世民皆爲堯舜斯世之運與世同歸有害有德在於天主不在於我也一一究心則害及其身未詳知之然而斯人享福不可使聞於他人非君之所問也非我之所關也
嗚呼噫噫諸君之問道何若是明明也雖我拙文未及於精義正宗然而矯其人修其身養其才正其心豈可有岐貳之端乎凡天地無窮之數道之無極之理皆載此書惟我諸君敬受此書以助聖德於我比之則怳若甘受和白受采吾今樂道不勝欽歎故論而言之諭而示之明而察之不失玄機

Source Colophon

The source text follows the official Cheondogyo Central Headquarters public page for 논학문 / 論學文, accessed in July 2026. The source is a nineteenth-century Donghak text attributed to Choe Je-u; modern Korean explanatory material on the official page was used as an internal check only and is not reproduced.

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