Yílǐ 儀禮
Etiquette and Ceremonial, with Zhèng Xuán’s Annotation
by 鄭玄 (注)
About the work
The Sìbù cóngkān 四部叢刊 (SBCK) edition of the Yílǐ in seventeen juan (one juan per piān) carrying Zhèng Xuán’s 鄭玄 (127–200) annotation. This is the basic Hàn-period commentary text, without the Táng zhèngyì of Jiǎ Gōngyàn (which is in KR1d0027) or the yīnyì gloss of Lù Démíng. Zhèng Xuán’s Yílǐ zhù is one of the Sānlǐ notes by which Zhèng established the canonical layer of Sānlǐ exegesis; it consults both the jīnwén (modern script, the Gāotáng Shēng line) and gǔwén (ancient script, the wall-of-Confucius line) recensions, with parallel readings preserved as indicated in the layered presentation explained in KR1d0028 Yílǐ zhùshū. The chapter order follows Liú Xiàng’s Biélù recension rather than the Dà Dài or Xiǎo Dài orders.
There is no tíyào in the SBCK frontmatter, just the bare seventeen-chapter text with Zhèng’s note.
Abstract
Zhèng Xuán’s Yílǐ zhù is the foundational layer of all subsequent Yílǐ scholarship. Composed alongside his parallel notes on the Zhōulǐ and the Lǐjì in his Eastern-Hàn retirement at Gāomì 高密, the work is the principal evidence for the meanings of the technical ritual vocabulary, ceremonial implements, and procedural details of the seventeen chapters. The note is the textual foundation for the canonical Sòng zhùshū of KR1d0028 (with Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s Táng sub-commentary), the late-Sòng critical edition of KR1d0029 (Zhāng Chún’s Yílǐ shíwù), the Sòng commentary anthology of KR1d0030 (Lǐ Rúguī), and the imperial Qīng commentary of KR1d0037 (the Qīndìng Yílǐ yìshū).
The jīnwén / gǔwén parallel-recension consultation is one of the distinctive methodological features of Zhèng Xuán’s work. Where the modern-script and ancient-script recensions diverged on a particular reading, Zhèng would adopt one as the main text (large character) and append the other as a note (small character). This editorial practice — which the Sìkù tíyào of KR1d0028 explicitly explains — preserved both recensions and allowed later scholars to recover the philological history of the text.
Translations and research
The Zhèng-note layer underlies all the standard translations and scholarly editions cited at KR1d0025. There is no separate translation tradition for the SBCK edition as such; it is consulted as one of the textual witnesses for any critical edition of the Yílǐ.
Links
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_and_Ceremonial
- Sìbù cóngkān: https://archive.org/details/06049144.cn