• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.43
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• pp.81-105
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• 2014

For a lack of books on tea ceremony, 'Dongdasong (東茶頌)' by Buddhist priest Choui occupies a prominent position. Along with 'Dabu (茶賦)' by Yi Mok (李穆: 1471~1498) and 'Gida (記茶)' by Yi Deok-ri (李德履: 1728~ ?), Dongdasong forms the three peaks of tea work. These books are all based on Tea Classic (茶經) by Ryukwoo (陸羽). Assuming that Tea Classic serves as introduction (起), Dabu is development (承), Gida for turn (轉) and Dongdasong for conclusion (結). Dongdasong is inextricable from Dasinjeon (茶神傳). Dasinjeon is the abstract of Jangwon's Darok (茶錄). The keyword of Dasinjeon is 'tea deity (茶神).' Extracting key concepts of Darok as his perspective, Choui established his own philosophy on tea ceremony. In the process of making into his philosophy, he reorganized the system by introducing the principle of 'subtle combination (妙合),' one of traditions in Korean thought, which is characterized by not separating spirit and material. It is 'subtle combination' that does not make a division between spirit and material, which are undeniably different things. Subtle combination is a relation of two things' being one and one thing's being two. Choui's philosophy on tea ceremony can be assessed as valuable inheritance from traditions of Korean thought.