The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 1 (2022) 59 Page 59–68Jiyun Bae Somaesthetics in early Korean history: The educational scope of the hwarang Jiyun Bae Abstract: This paper is concerned with first, reviewing hwarang in early Korean history through the eyes of somaesthetics and second examining the educational implications of hwarang. Hwarang’s features (aesthetic ideology called pungryudo, their core activities, including songs and journeys) are highlighted from the perspective of somaesthetics. At the core of the hwarang’s activities are such elements as entertainment, pleasure, and joy. In the context of today’s education, the hwarang and somaesthetics promote the insight that one’s intellectual and practical life is integrated into one’s lifestyle based on these bodily experiences. 1. Introduction Somaesthetics and education are in a pull-and-push relationship. For example, when systemized and programmed in a curriculum, somaesthetics may present a normalized and standardized means of achieving self-awareness and self-cultivation. However, both have the same structure in that they are only possible in relationships with others or with the environment, even though bodily self-awareness is central to somaesthetics. What would happen if somaesthetics were constructed as an educational, political, or social system? History may give us a glimpse. This paper aims to examine the educational significance of hwarang, a system involving groups of young men in early Korean history, from the perspective of somaesthetics, so that we can envision the relationship between somaesthetics and education. Somaesthetics is an attempt to expand the academic base of aesthetics to interdisciplinary studies and practices. Shusterman adopted some pre-modern undifferentiated Asian cultural ideas and practices as embodiments of somaesthetics, including Confucianism from China (2004), sitting meditation (zazen) from Japan (2012, Chapter 13), and sexual aesthetics from India (2012, Chapter 12). For example, unlike with hedonism, Shusterman discovered intrinsic value, totality, and divinity in sexual experiences based on Indian classical theory. Hence, I recognize the art, comprehensiveness, and sacredness of hwarang, and in this research, I explore its significance to contemporary education. Some features of somaesthetics are found in hwarang practice. Bodily activities (e.g., dance, singing, performance, martial arts, travel, and pilgrimage) are the disciplines that are the most significant to the hwarang. Enjoying engaging in, playing during, and deriving entertainment Aesthetics and Body Experiences in Health Care60 Somaesthetics in early Korean history: The educational scope of the hwarang from those activities are essential missions and synonyms or beyond for studying, working, or disciplining in modern connotations. The ideology underlying the hwarang ideology is pungryudo, the way of the stream of wind, which means to play or live in the present moment. The hwarang selection criterion of a “beautiful person” and their pungryudo spirit reveal an aesthetic ideology from early Korea. Lastly, I aim to reconsider the educational significance of the hwarang. In the context of education in Korea, the hwarang have been repeatedly highlighted throughout the years and included in textbooks on history, ethics, the Korean language, and social studies as a symbol of the Korean ethnic identity, as well as of Korean patriotism, bravery, and sacrifice. In the field of education, the hwarang have long been referenced as a model of how to educate people to be harmonious and whole. From the viewpoint of contemporary education, many studies have considered the hwarang to be an ideal from which current educators should learn and integrate their knowledge, virtues, and physicality into the current educational system. However, instead of advocating adoption of the hwarang as an excellent educational model, I explore the educational aspects and the implications of their somaesthetics of beauty, pleasure, enjoyment, and play. 2. The Hwarang and Their Core Activities The term hwarang refers to groups of young men and group leaders during the Kingdom of Silla (57 B.C.–935 A.D.) on the Korean peninsula. The leaders, known as hwarang, were usually aristocrats, and the members, known as nangdo, were from various social classes. Most were teenagers who banded together for religious, military, political, and/or educational purposes. The hwarang became part of the state system during King Chinhung’s reign (540–577); the groups’ features, appearance, and origins before that time are uncertain. The scope of arguments regarding the identity of the hwarang varies: a youth corps for wars, religious groups for conducting rituals, young talent for selection by the state, ethical role models of the age, or an educational organization. As Silla underwent dynamic transformations, the hwarang likewise experienced changes in their functions and characteristics. The hwarang originated in relationships in the context of tribal states’ ritual activities before the rise of the Kingdom of Silla. Subsequently, Silla exploited the hwarang to support centralized governmental authority to compete with two other kingdoms during the Three Kingdoms period (in the sixth and seventh centuries). Two vital historical records, Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa,1 elucidate the origins of and outline the hwarang. Neither document is a contemporary source, as both were written during the Goryeo Dynasty, which appeared after the fall of unified Silla. [T]hey then selected a handsome boy and adorned him, calling him Hwarang, to uphold him [as a leader]. Followers gathered like clouds, sometimes to refine each other’s sense of morality and honesty (相磨道義), sometimes to enjoy collectively music and song (相悅歌樂), and to train in and appreciate mountains and streams (遊娯山水), going far and wide. Because of this, they knew if a man was corrupt or honest and selected those who were good and recommended them to the court. Thus[,] Kim Taemun, in the Hwarang Segi, wrote, “Wise advisers and loyal 1 Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) was written by Kim Pusik (1075–1151), the official scholar of the Goryeo Dynasty, and is an orthodox history of the Confucian position. Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), written by the Buddhist monk Ilyon (1206–1289), contains more descriptions of Buddhist concepts, myths, and daily life. In this paper, I refer to Ilyon (2013) and Kim (2012a) as translations of these texts into modern Korean. For the English translation, I refer to Ilyon (2006) and Kim (2012b). I modified some English translations as needed. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 1 (2022) 61 Jiyun Bae subjects excelled from this. Outstanding generals and brave soldiers were produced from this.” (Kim, 2012b, pp. 130–131) The above passage notes the three core missions of the hwarang: to refine members’ morality, enjoy singing and music, and engage in sightseeing in nature. Ahn (2004), a Korean pedagogist, has labelled these the curriculum of hwarang education. Each is understood as comprising an ethical and moral education, as well as an emotional education through the arts, and the cultivation of the body and mind. This understanding shows respect for the hwarang as a symbolic and traditional Korean model of harmonious education that integrates letters with arms and emotion with reason. 2.1. The Songs and Music of the Hwarang Songs and music have rhythm, melody, and lyrics rooted in the bodily dimension. The songs of the hwarang, as the primary musical form, have complex related dimensions of ritual, hyangga (rural or Silla songs), and knowledge. The songs and music of the time imply primitive ritual aspects, as they were performed during feasts and rituals. A foreign historian has found them worthy of special mention. Moreover, the Chinese historical document Hou Han Shu (Book of the Later Han), features drinking, singing, dancing, and entertainment during rituals in The Three Han, formerly the kingdoms of Silla. In the area of Mahan state, every year after the farming work of May, they celebrate with spirits, singing, dancing, and drinking all through the day and night. Dozens of people in the village come together and stamp their feet to beat a rhythm for the dance. The festival is held in October as well when farming is complete. The people of Jinhan state preferred to sing, dance, and drink. (Min, 1997, p. 33) In Silla, a successor to the Three Han States, palgwanhoe2 (the Buddhist Festival of Eight Vows) was the most important ritual, and the hwarang played a significant role in it, performing, it is assumed, a combination of music, singing, dance, plays, games, and martial arts (Choi, 2016). It has also been assumed that the Silla people gathered to enjoy the performances the hwarang created, organized, and presented. The primitive ritual aspect of hwarang music encompassed singing, dancing, eating, drinking, shouting, chanting, and group movements (e.g., people stamping their feet). Through enjoyment of these ritualized bodily movements, the hwarang provided the Silla people with an aesthetic experience, brought them joy, and brought them closer to the spirit of god. Secondly, hwarang song, hyangga, a genre of poetry in Korean literature from the Silla era, illuminates the capability of the hwarang as creators or songwriters. A Silla monk with membership to the hwarang, Wolmyeong, said, “I only know hyangga because I belong to the group of guksun [another name for the hwarang] and am unfamiliar with Buddhist songs.” Only fourteen hyangga are extant, and the themes vary from religious and shamanistic to emotional and practical. Since songs are seamlessly embedded into people's lives through their grounding in the bodily dimension, hyangga was a powerful tool for consolidating the ideas, ethics, and emotions of the time. Even the king encouraged the hwarang to compose hyangga and made it one of their significant roles. As hyangga were widely sung and shared among the people of the 2 Palgwanhoe is a religious ritual that combines indigenous religions’ harvest ceremony and the Buddhist Eight Vows ceremony, which was held for the first time during King Chinhung’s reign, during which the hwarang were officially sanctioned. The ritual was held once per year for seven days, and the tradition passed into the following dynasty, the Goryeo, even after the fall of Silla. Aesthetics and Body Experiences in Health Care62 Somaesthetics in early Korean history: The educational scope of the hwarang kingdom, the artistic talent of the hwarang and their status as artistic creators must have been exalted. Lastly, the emphasis on songs and music implies that the hwarang possessed literary knowledge. The hyangga of the hwarang are ten-line poems, a highly-developed structure, written using Chinese characters, while other forms, namely four- and eight-line hyangga, were transmitted orally. When Silla initiated diplomatic relations with China in the sixth century, which was less advanced than Baekje and Goguryeo (the two other kingdoms on the Korean peninsula), there was strong demand for but short supply of intellectuals proficient in Chinese and Confucian classics. Although Silla had its own writing system called hyangchal, an adaptation of Chinese characters to transcribe the local Silla language, more advanced knowledge of Chinese was needed. According to Hamada (2002, pp. 98–101), the student monks of Silla who traveled to China became or taught hwarang when they returned home, which partly explains why the hwarang were able to compose ten-line hyangga. 2.2. Journeys of the Hwarang Referring to Lee (2014), the agenda for and memorable aspects of the journeys of the hwarang reported in the records can be summarized as follows: to be initiated into the mysteries of the mountain spirit to overcome crises in the kingdom, train in swordsmanship, spy, have mystical experiences, hold religious ceremonies, hunt, sightsee, perform merciful acts toward poor filial girls, and compose songs and poems to dedicate to the king. On some journeys, they were, by happenstance, captured by barbarians but saved by other hwarang, or they experienced a supernatural phenomenon and composed a song about it, or retired from secular society to begin ascetic practice. Generally, journeys connote breaking away from one’s daily routine, refreshing oneself, indulging in leisure, attending special events, and undergoing personal growth. Further, the journeys of the hwarang included self-cultivation (修行) and practicality. We must delve into the meaning of “play” or “travel” (遊, yu) in order to grasp the self- cultivation aspect of the journeys of the hwarang. Lee (2014) asserted that usage of yu in Silla entailed more than mere playful amusement and supported this argument by referring to the synonymous usage of yu and “self-cultivate” in historical documents. ・Kim Heumun, when he was young, played (遊) in a hwarang group. ・Kim Yushin said to Yeolgi, “When I was young, I played (遊) with you, so I am very familiar with your constancy and integrity.” ・Gumgun says that I belonged to Geunrang’s disciples and practiced self- cultivation (修行) in the garden of pungwol [another name for the hwarang]. (Lee, 2014, pp. 19–21) “Play” or “travel” and “self-cultivation” are synonymous in the above contexts. We need to understand the notion of “play” or “travel” comprehensively, as encompassing amusement, training, cultivation, prayer, cooperation, and study. In modern Korean, yuhak (遊学), meaning to study in a faraway land, contains vestiges of the notion’s complexity. Physical training during journeys was a significant feature of the self-cultivation aspect. Kim Yushin, a hwarang-turned-general who led the victory of Silla in the Unification War, was a well-known master of fencing. His journeys in the mountains involved intensive sword training and mystical experiences that helped him acquire power. Contrary to the biased general sense The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 1 (2022) 63 Jiyun Bae of hwarang as military groups, the military aspects of the journeys of the hwarang are neither primarily typical nor conventional (Tikhonov, 1998). Nevertheless, their journeys comprised hunting, martial arts training, and/or reconnoitering. Some journeys are indicative of the religious or spiritual side of self-cultivation. Two hwarang, Bochun and Hyomyung, led thousands of followers on a journey to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. En route, the two disappeared, leaving the secular world to escape to a sacred mountain. Afterward, they began studying Buddhism, made tea to offer to the Buddhas, and prayed and meditated in a temple, a hermitage, and on the mountain peak. This example allows us to envision the spiritual self-cultivation of the hwarang during their journeys. They worshiped the natural objects they encountered (e.g., trees, rocks, and the mountain peak as a hierophany of the Buddha), presented offerings in temples or before statues, meditated, and studied nature. Aside from their patriotic and notable religious pursuits, the religious self-cultivation of the hwarang, such as purification, praying, chanting, offering tea, and meditation, would have had a practical somaesthetics impact on their bodily senses and consciousness; for instance, their bodily consciousness would have become more refined, their consciousness would have sharpened, and their daily lives would have been enhanced by aesthetical enrichment. Additionally, the complex meaning of “play” in the mountains and streams included intellectuality and practicality. The existence of monk hwarang and their destinations on their journeys support this. Around the sixth century, monks were intelligentsia who actively accepted the influence of Chinese ideas and culture through Buddhism. According to Lee (2014, p. 29), the monks were involved in the education of the hwarang in the role of conveying advanced knowledge. On many of their journeys to the temples, monks accompanied the hwarang, so it is reasonable to believe that the hwarang encountered refined Chinese culture during these journeys. The hwarang were greatly admired during their heyday. Their journeys to the mountains and generally into nature, which had a mystical and sacred meaning, secured their prestige. Journeys were a powerful opportunity to enhance their spiritual presence and political position. 3. Pungryudo: The Dao of Elegance 3.1. Pungryudo The symbolic significance of the hwarang and their core activities or missions involving songs and journeys should all be seen as reflecting pungryudo, the aesthetic ideology. Pungryudo (風流道, the way of pungryu) refers to the principle held by or thoughts of the hwarang in the Silla era. Pungryu (風流) remains in modern Korea as well as in China and Japan. In modern Korean, pungryu signifies a tasteful and free-spirited lifestyle and appreciation for art and the environment. It also refers to the specific genre or title of Korean traditional music. On the other hand, according to the historical records, pungryu in the Silla era was a somewhat mysterious yet normative idea that combines three traditions. Our country has a mysterious principle called pungryu. The origin of this teaching can be found in detail in the history of the hwarang and, in fact, includes the three teachings that transform people when exposed to them. [The idea of ] “at home [be] filial to your family, outside the home [be] loyal to the state” is taught by the Minister of Punishments in Lu [Confucius]. “Following the doctrine of inaction and Aesthetics and Body Experiences in Health Care64 Somaesthetics in early Korean history: The educational scope of the hwarang the practice of teaching without words” is the principle of the scribe of Zhou Taoism [Lao Tzu]. “Refraining from doing anything evil and to practice reverentially everything good,” this is the teaching of the prince of India [Buddha]. (Kim, 2012b, p. 131) It seems that pungryudo was a harmonious mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism that provided practical agendas (e.g., loyalty, filial piety, trust, non-action, and respect for life) for the hwarang and society. However, these explanations were scripted during the Goryeo Dynasty when the three teachings were established solidly enough, and Silla pungryudo disappeared. In the early Silla period, when organization of the hwarang system began, the three teachings were gradually recognized in Silla,3 and it can be argued that pungryudo derived from these three teachings. It is appropriate to view pungryudo as a traditional Silla ideology and as a mixture of indigenous beliefs, such as Shamanism and the Maitreya cult, with the three religions. Pungryudo represented the idea of an aesthetic and desirable lifestyle. 3.2. The Aesthetics of Pungryudo Pungryudo, as its name indicates, originated in pungryu, China’s traditional aesthetics, and later spread to Korea and Japan. Pungryudo was the core thought and value that the hwarang were meant to pursue. The normative aspect of pungryudo has been emphasized because of the prevailing understanding of the hwarang from the viewpoint of the modern educational context. However, as the selection criterion of the hwarang—a beautiful person—shows, pungryudo was more aesthetics beyond ethical norms. Min (1997) has argued that pungryu (Ch. Fengliu, Jp. Furyu) is an East Asian primary classical aesthetic concept that still exists today. It originated in China no later than the second century B.C. and applies to a wide range of concepts, including morality, art, nature, and personality. It was subsequently adopted in Korea and Japan, where it developed differently in each context, becoming a fundamental aesthetic. The Korean sense of pungryu is: An open-minded spirit, free from worldly values that exhibits vitality while having a relationship with reality. Nature provides an open place where freedom of the spirit is not spatially bound, and poetry, music, liquor, and entertainment are mediums for engaging such a spirit. Korean pungryu is a way of behaving and a way of life with an aesthetic and ethical character. (Min, 1997, p. 9) Min noted that pungryu was a methodological concept, asserting that it had practical applications, such as in politics, social relations, literature, arts, entertainment, sexuality, and daily living, throughout Korean history. According to Min, the “enriched content of pungryu is nothing but the aesthetic life” (1997, p. 7). Pungryudo is one of the significant roots of Korean pungryu, as it is the first that appears in historical records in which the beauty of the hwarang is noted as a central feature of pungryudo. Chosen hwarang and their appearance, decorum, grooming, attitude, behavior, performance, and stories set the ideal aesthetics of the time. Their beauty encompassed representational and experiential dimensions, aimed at the “completeness of the existence of a good and beautiful personality” (Min, 1997, p. 50). In somaesthetics, these two dimensions describe a variety of pragmatic disciplines (Shusterman, 2000, pp. 272–275). In representational somaesthetics, 3 In the Kingdom of Silla, Confucianism was officially accepted during King Sinmun’s reign (681–692), Taoism was officialized during King Hyoso’s reign (692–701), and Buddhism was established as the state religion during King Beopheung’s reign (514–540). The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 1 (2022) 65 Jiyun Bae the body’s external appearance, such as fashion and cosmetic beauty, is emphasized, while in experiential somaesthetics, inner experiences, such as yoga or zazen, are emphasized. However, they are not strictly exclusive, and they often overlap. The hwarang were literally a group of beautiful men:4 “They selected two beautiful girls [for the wonhwa, which was a prototype of the hwarang]”; “beautiful noble boys were selected and adorned, and their faces were powdered”; and there was “a beautifully shaped person” and a “person of good virtue” (Ilyon, 2013, pp. 340–345; Kim, 2012b, pp. 131–131). Furthermore, Silla was the most fashionable of the Three Kingdoms. Many crowns, caps, earrings, necklaces, rings, and shoes made of fabric and adorned with jewels, stones, gold, and glass have been excavated, and the number and quality of these items have reached a remarkable pitch. It is imaginable that the fashion of the hwarang was even more splendid than that of the ordinary aristocrat. As such, the people of Silla lauded their beauty. These descriptions fit the hwarang ideal of a beautiful personality and the Kingdom of Silla’s intentions to use the hwarang as symbolic leverage to strengthen their authority. The lives of the hwarang reflected experiential aesthetic values such as loyalty, friendship, bravery, wisdom, belief in the supernatural, and spiritual power. For example, the hwarang Eungnyeom, who met thousands of people in the course of his journeys, shared with the king what he believed to be the three most impressive virtues to embody in life: simplicity, frugality, and humility (Ilyon, 2013, pp. 171–175). This is reminiscent of “non-action,” which is the course of nature in Daoism. The hwarang Jukjirang even bribed a local official to bail a nangdo out of his unfair forced labor (Ilyon, 2013, pp. 146–149). The great General Sadaham released prisoners of war from a battle he won and eventually died from overwhelming sorrow at the death of a fellow hwarang. The Confucian values of love and humanity (ren) are evident in these episodes involving Jukjirang and Sadaham. Jukjirang’s and Sadaham’s love for their fellow hwarang alludes to homosexuality (Gu, 2011).5 Two other hwarang, Daese and Guchil, disappeared into the mountains to pursue spiritual enlightenment (Kim, 2012b, pp. 135–136), implying Daoism values or Maitreya belief. Individual hwarang had a distinctive way of life. The normative, touching, unconventional, and noble lives of individual hwarang might have greatly impressed the Silla people, and their life stories were handed down through the generations. Pungryudo aimed at both representational and experiential aesthetic ways of self-cultivation, which influenced broad fields such as politics, society, religion, arts, and daily life. 4. Educational Significance of the Hwarang In the hwarang education system, what and how to perform life were given in holistic ways, such as through music including songs, journeys, communion with nature, pleasure, and entertainment. In that sense, meliorism, which indicates the direction of somaesthetics (the belief that humans can change the world for the better), was also shared with the hwarang as pungryudo, which taught living one's life fully in the present. This ideology guided them to comprehensively realize their 4 The word hwarang has two parts: “flower” (花, hwa) and “gentlemen” or “court attendants” (郎, rang) (Mohan, 2001, pp. 161–162). However, many arguments about the etymology of hwa have arisen. First, hwa is a phonetic borrowing to spell the native ancient Korean words for “purity” and “beauty” (kol); second, it signified a military emblem comprising decorative feathers; and third, it was a symbol of the Maitreya tradition, in which the flower has a symbolic meaning (Lee, 2000, pp. 37–40). 5 Historical records of hwarang homosexuality are limited to literary allusions. On the other hand, some contemporary creations in which hwarang appear depict their homosexual relationships. The Hwarang Segi manuscripts discovered in 1989 are rich in depictions of the sexual lives of the hwarang, including homosexuality, but these are considered highly likely to be forgeries. Aesthetics and Body Experiences in Health Care66 Somaesthetics in early Korean history: The educational scope of the hwarang representational/experiential and aesthetic/normative goals. Considering today’s systematic educational goals (especially in schools), experiential and normative goals are advocated as the antipode to the representational and aesthetic dimensions. However, educational goals ought to emerge naturally from one’s integrated way of life rather than in a divisive dualism. Education needs to support an integrated educational goal to holistically instruct individuals on life. Hwarang songs and music were an integrated self-culture tool. They had practical meaning in terms of knowledge acquisition and structuring that met society's demand. It reminds us of the importance of art education as self-culture in Confucianism, in which Shusterman pointed out that music was highly appreciated as an educational method. Confucianism considered music and ritual (li) to be key elements for the cultivation of both the self and society. Art is not merely for satisfying personal pleasure but is “a crucial means of ethical education that can refine both the individual and society by cultivating our sense of good order and propriety while instilling an enjoyably shared experience of harmony and meaning” (Shusterman, 2004, p. 20). The role of art in modern education needs to be readdressed, as all art has a unique social background, as well as ethics, common sense, and pleasure. Moreover, the journeys of the hwarang should lead us to rethink the significance of nature in education. Nature as a place for learning and playing, referred to as mountains and bodies of water, implied a wide range of meanings. It was seen as a place that encouraged aesthetic experiences and a distant place away from everyday life, given that a change in the environment to which one’s body is accustomed is an efficient strategy for the impetus of enhancement through the provision of new bodily sensations, feelings, and a new consciousness. Nature was also viewed as a place to access the gods. Hence, journeying into nature was a sacred pilgrimage that encouraged the divine aspect of the aesthetic experience. Hwarang were aware of the sacredness of their journeys, and their sacred nature was widely elevated through it. At the same time, for the hwarang, nature was a site for studying society, history, and culture. They witnessed the lives of local authorities, intellectual monks, and commoners throughout the state, observing Silla’s politics, social structure, and culture. The site to which they most often journeyed, the mountains, constituted actual territories, borders, and battlefields. This background brought a sense of realism to their tactics and practices of physical discipline To determine how hwarang approached their lives including their educational methods, we must focus on three words in the descriptions of their core activities: pleasure (悅), play (遊), and entertainment (娯). For the hwarang, studying, working, practicing, and training were not separate activities divorced from enjoyment or pleasure. Regarding enjoyment (樂) and pleasure (悅), somaesthetics holds the same view. Shusterman referred to Confucianism’s understanding of pleasure and claimed that it is deeply related to improving the state of one’s life; that is, “The true aesthetic way of self-cultivation is a path of pleasure, which is why it is better to love and enjoy the way rather than merely to understand it” (2004, p. 31). Pleasure is not hedonistic but closer to a clear sense of self-awareness. Shusterman asserted that Western academia has isolated pleasure from meaning, truth, and knowledge, again referring to Confucian notions of pleasure to criticize the situation. Unlike Western philosophy, Confucianism emphasizes enjoyment and pleasure as notions deeply related to knowledge (Shusterman, 2004, p. 31). Shusterman (2004) referred to the well-known opening of the Analects: “Having studied, to then repeatedly apply what you have learned—is this not a source of pleasure? To have friends come from distant quarters—is this not a source of enjoyment?” (p. 30) He showed appreciation for Confucius’ insight regarding the equivalency of pleasure and knowledge. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 1 (2022) 67 Jiyun Bae Shusterman (2003) also criticized the downplay of entertainment in traditional aesthetics and philosophy, in which art represents the sublime and transcendence, while entertainment represents mere pleasure. He emphasizes that pleasure, the essence of entertainment, should be understood in many dimensions. He indicated five layers of pleasure to liberate the meaning of “pleasure” from its confinement to a single dimension, hedonism (Shusterman, 2003, pp. 303– 305). The hwarang journey reflects all five dimensions of pleasure that Shusterman proposed. The first is the pleasure of the senses, which entails sharpening the senses through experiences in nature, the enjoyment of unfamiliar food, and experiences of changes in nature. The second is the pleasure of understanding the qualities and meanings of objects and events; for instance, the hwarang understood the meaning of nature in various ways (e.g., militarily, politically, socially, mythically, and in terms of survival) throughout their journeys. Thirdly, escaping daily life is also an aspect of pleasure that can be derived from a journey. Fourthly, transcendental pleasure is linked to sacredness: The journeys of the hwarang reflected divine pleasure through religious rituals and spiritual practices in the sacred mountains. Fifth and finally, the collective pleasure shared among the hwarang in the context of group excursions indicates a social dimension of pleasure. At the core of the hwarang’s activities are such elements as entertainment, pleasure, and joy. In the context of today’s education, the meaning of these elements is superficially understood as the opposite of work, study, patience, or effort. Instead, the hwarang and somaesthetics promote the insight that one’s intellectual and practical life is integrated into one’s personal lifestyle based on these bodily experiences. Both the object and method of hwarang education were performed in an integrated way. Their music and journeys were a composite of art, knowledge, self-cultivation, spirituality, and practical value. The music of the hwarang was a complete ritualistic art form, directly based on bodily experiences (e.g., singing, dancing, eating, drinking, chanting, moving, and playing). Their music and journeys were processes by which knowledge was embodied, produced, and refined. As in the somaesthetics perspective, knowledge is not the essence of foundationalism; instead, it is established on bodily sense and practicality. Moreover, the educational objective of their activities was the ideal of a “beautiful personality.” The hwarang were admired and regarded as extraordinary beings through their activities. Lastly, the practicality of their activities should also be noted once again. Their activities had practical purposes, such as the social, political, and military ends of the Kingdom of Silla, including the realization of individual aesthetic life. The activities convey the practical meaning of pragmatism as a philosophy for living. References Ahn, K. (2004). 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