You can't be a human being in this world without being a scholar. The so-called scholarship is not a strange and unusual object or thing. It is the natural way for a father to love his son, a child to be filial, a servant to be loyal, a married couple to be discriminating, a brother to be friendly, a young man to honor his elders, and a friend to be faithful. These things should be done as a matter of course in everything you do each day.

You must not let your mind run deep and strange, and hope that some mysterious effect will be produced. The unlearned man's mind is blocked and his understanding is darkened. Therefore, one must read books and examine reason to the end, and then, after one has made clear the path one should take, one's learning becomes right and one's practice becomes right. Now people do not realize that learning has a purpose for daily use, and they mistakenly think that it is something high and far away and difficult to do. Therefore, they push it away from others, and themselves give it up and become complacent, which is a cause for sorrow.

I took up my abode in a sunny place on a mountain by the sea, and one or two learners followed me and inquired about my studies. I was ashamed that I was not capable of being their teacher, and I was afraid that these newcomers not only did not know the direction in which to proceed, but were willing to go with the flow, without a firm will. In this way they would not be able to help each other, but would only be criticized. Therefore, he wrote a brief book, outlining how to cultivate the mind, how to practice, how to serve one's parents, and how to treat others, and called it the Gyomongyomyeon. I want to show this to those who are learning, so that they may cleanse their minds and establish their wills, so that they may study day by day as they should, and so that they may be vigilant and reflective, freeing themselves from their own old and outmoded ills.