Ongojishin (溫故知新)

Ongojishin (溫故知新) is a four-character idiom meaning "learn the old and infer the new by inferring from it." It is composed of the Chinese characters "on (溫)" meaning "warm," "go (故)" meaning "old," "ji (知)" meaning "new," and "shin (新)" meaning "new." This idiom means to learn from past knowledge or experiences repeatedly and to realize new facts or values based on them .

 

Origin and meaning

Ongojishin originated from a saying by Confucius (孔子), the founder of Confucianism, in the Wei Zheng section of the Analects (論語). Confucius said, “If you learn from the past and learn from the new, you can become a teacher.” “If you learn from the old and learn from the new, you can become a teacher to others”.

 

Here, ‘on-go’ means ‘to learn from the old warmly (to learn from it again)’, and implies an attitude of understanding deeply and actively utilizing it beyond simple repetition.

 

‘Jisin’ means an attitude of realizing new knowledge, perspectives, and methods on top of that. In other words, it contains the realization that a balance between tradition and innovation, and a fusion of existing knowledge and creative thinking are important.

 

Main applications and modern meanings

• Education and learning: It has an educational philosophy that one can become a teacher by learning from past experiences and the wisdom of predecessors and learning or creating something new based on that.

 

• Innovation and Creation: It is used to describe an attitude of pursuing new changes while respecting the past without ignoring it.

 

• Practical examples: “Companies develop innovative products while inheriting traditions with the spirit of learning from the past.”, “Doctors learn new surgical techniques based on the knowledge they learned from their teachers with the attitude of learning from the past.” It is widely used in many fields.

 

Synonyms and related idioms

• Bakgojigeum (博古知今): Broadly familiar with both the past and the present

• Igowigam (以古爲鑑): Using the past as a mirror to reflect the present

 

Learning from the past is a phrase that emphasizes that true development and growth occur when we do not neglect the knowledge and experience of the past and create new values in the present and future based on them.