Im Yunjidang

Moreover, her brother, Im Seong-ju have been moved by her talented mind and helped her to read, access, teach the Classic of filial piety (Hyogyeong; 효경, 孝經), Biographies of Exemplary Women (Yeolnyeojeon; 열녀전, 列女傳), Lesser learning (Sohak; 소학, 小學), and became a librarian.

[5] Im Yunjidang was part of a tradition opened by the Naehun of Queen Insu: using the Classics themselves to reclaim the right for women to access education and philosophy.

She also discussed the Four Beginnings (benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and wisdom) and the Seven Emotions (joy, anger, grief, terror, love, hate and desire).

[6] In no place of her writings does she proactively resist neo-Confucian social norms, including the Samjongjido (삼종지도; 三從之道), which states that a woman must be a follower of her father and then of her husband and finally of her son.

[7] As stated by Kim Sung-moon, it was ironically the same series of unfortunate deaths in Im Yunjidang's life that deprived her of the possibility to follow three Ways of the virtuous Confucian woman, and that granted her the freedom to study neo-Confucian texts and develop her own philosophical thoughts.