The purpose of this paper is to make sense of Yi Gyu-bo’s (1168-1241) seemingly
religious and apolitical text, “Munjomul” (Questions to the Creator), as
a political text, and to suggest its vision as a possible prelude to the Goryeo
(918-1392)?Joseon (1392-1910) transition. If Neo-Confucianism articulates a
political vision for the Joseon dynasty, one can construe that political vision as
an answer to the previous dynasty’s long-lasting questions about the relation
of the self and politics as the dominant political thought loses ground. To the
extent that “Munjomul” shows the weakening state of the ideological foundation
of Goryeo, it can be interpreted as the embodiment of the problem, the
answer to which was statecraft thought and Neo-Confucianism in early
Joseon. This paper sees that Yi Gyu-bo disconnected the link between politics
and the power of the God, and foregrounded the issues of the self while Neo-
Confucianism forged the link between the self and politics.