[1] He is considered the most important philosopher of Korea - he is honored by printing his portrait on the 1000 South Korean won banknote, on the reverse of which one can see an image of his school, Dosan Seowon.

His main work, Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, originally published in classical Chinese language, has been already translated into modern Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, English, French, German, Russian and Polish.

In 1527 he passed preliminary exams to become a government official, but re-entered Sungkyunkwan at the age of 33 and socialized with the scholar Kim In-hu.

He passed the civil service exams with top honors in 1534 and continued his scholarly pursuits whilst working for the government.

[2] Yi Hwang was disillusioned by the power struggles and discord in the royal court during the later years of King Jungjong's reign and left political office.

During his days at Pungi he redeveloped and improved the private Neo-Confucian academy Baekundong Seowon established by his predecessor Ju Se-bung.

[3][4] However, the king continuously called Yi Hwang back and unable to refuse further, he resumed office at the age of 68 and wrote many advisory documents including Seonghak sipdo (성학십도; 聖學十圖, "Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning").

This approach of placing importance on the role of i became the core of the Yeongnam School, where Yi Hwang's legacy was carried on by prominent figures such as Yu Sŏngnyong and Kim Seong-il.

[7] Yi Hwang was also talented in calligraphy and poetry, writing a collection of sijo, a three line poetic form popular with the literati of the Joseon period.

Yi Hwang intended to present that path by starting each chapter with a diagram and related text drawn from Zhu Xi or another leading authority, and concluding with a brief commentary.