[One Thousand Characters a Day] Park Su-mil's Classical Transcription 'Ganseochi'

Editor's NoteAsia Economy provides daily 1,000-character transcription content for readers of the 'One Day, One Thousand Characters' newsletter. The transcription content is carefully selected according to daily and monthly themes from Eastern and Western classics, Korean literature, notable columns, and famous speeches. Today’s excerpt is the second passage from by Professor Park Su-mil of Hanyang University, discussing the joy of learning. The text contains 718 characters.

Lee Deok-mu, a poet from the late Joseon period, called himself a ganseochi (看書癡), meaning a bookworm. He loved nothing but reading books, regardless of hunger or illness. He lived in poverty in a cramped one-room space without sunlight, so he would read by following the sunlight as it shone through a small window.

Kim Deuk-shin, a mid-Joseon poet, read the 'Baekijeon' chapter of the 110,300,000 times. In the past, 100 million meant 100,000 today, so that equates to 113,000 times in modern terms. It is said that he read more than 10,000 times over 36 different books throughout his life. He said, "Do not limit yourself by thinking talent is inferior to others. I may be the least intelligent person, but I ultimately achieved success. Everything depends on diligent effort."

However, learning well is also important. Mencius said, "To trust books completely is worse than having no books at all." If you read books without deep reflection, you become a narrow-minded person with shallow knowledge.

To learn well means to doubt well. Nothing is self-evident. There are various ways of life and countless truths in the world. Yeonam Park Ji-won questioned why the teaches that the sky is black. The begins with the characters for sky (天), earth (地), black (玄), and yellow (黃), meaning "the sky is black and the earth is yellow." To question means to ask "why?"

- Park Su-mil,