Zhūzǐ lǐzuǎn 朱子禮纂
A Compilation of Master Zhū’s Ritual Discussions
by 李光地 (編)
After the work
A Kāngxī-period topical compilation of Zhū Xī’s scattered ritual discussions in 5 juàn by Lǐ Guāngdì 李光地 (1642–1718), the senior Kāngxī-period Cheng-Zhu Confucian minister and the principal court patron of the Cheng-Zhu revival under Kāngxī. The work gathers from Zhū Xī’s Wénjí and Yǔlèi — the two collections of his miscellaneous letters and recorded conversations — every passage on ritual that does not already appear in the Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngjiě KR1d0085 or the Jiālǐ KR1d0089, organised under five topical rubrics: zǒnglùn (general discussion), guānhūn (capping and marriage), sāng (mourning), jì (sacrifice), and záyí (miscellaneous protocols). The Sìkù tíyào notes some omissions in Lǐ Guāngdì’s selection (including the substantial Wénjí answer-letters to Pān Gōngshū, Wáng Zǐhé, and the Zhōulǐ sāndé shuō, Yuèjì dòngjìng shuō, and Shū Chéngzǐ Dìshuō hòu) but credits Lǐ for “categorising-and-ordering, dividing-and-distinguishing — making [Zhū Xī’s ritual discussions] orderly-with-principle”.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Zhūzǐ lǐzuǎn in five juan was composed by Lǐ Guāngdì of the present dynasty. This book — apart from Zhūzǐ’s Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngjiě and Jiālǐ two books — for explaining-ritual items dispersed-and-seen in the Wénjí and the Yǔlèi — categorises-and-collects [them]; dividing into five rubrics: zǒnglùn; guānhūn; sāng; jì; záyí. Thread-cutting article-by-article distinct, having a coherent connecting [structure].
Although [his] selection-and-collection [is] not without omissions: as the Wénjí’s having the answer-letter to Pān Gōngshū discussing the editing of the Yílǐ Lǐjì zhāngjù; the answer-letter to Wáng Zǐhé discussing residing-mourning and family-sacrifice; further [the] Zhōulǐ sāndé shuō, Yuèjì dòngjìng shuō, Shū Chéngzǐ Dìshuō hòu etc. piān. This book all does-not-see-recorded.
Further the Yǔlèi answer-letter to Wú Huìshū discussing the tàimiào should-be-southward-facing, the Tàizǔ should-be-eastward-facing — although with this book’s recorded answer-Wáng-Zǐ-hé letter [the] major-meaning [is] similar — yet the answer-Huì-shū letter [is] more detailed-and-thorough. Now [Lǐ] cuts-the-detailed and preserves-the-summary. Further the Wénjí records the Èzhōu shètán jì: at the front [it] lists Luó Èzhōu’s fixed altar-system and the shèjì xiàngwèi (altar-orientation positions); Zhūzǐ must have taken [it] as deeply fitting canonical-ritual — therefore detail-narrated [it] to supplement the ritual-text’s gaps. But this book then completely cuts [out] the previous piān; only preserves the “mǒu àn” (your-servant says) [opening] downward etc. — also missing Zhūzǐ’s full-recording intent.
Yet Zhūzǐ’s words on ritual — variously-and-disparately seen — at-once cannot get its threads. [Lǐ] Guāngdì categorically-gathered [them] and area-by-area divided [them], making [them] orderly-with-principle. To those who study ritual, [this] is also meritorious.
Respectfully revised and submitted, ninth month of the forty-third year of Qiánlóng [1778].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Lǐ Guāngdì’s Zhūzǐ lǐzuǎn is the principal Kāngxī-period scholarly tool for navigating Zhū Xī’s miscellaneous ritual discussions outside the major Sānlǐ monographs. The work’s editorial rationale — to gather everything in the Wénjí and Yǔlèi on ritual into a topically-organised reference — recognises a real difficulty for late-imperial Cheng-Zhu scholars: Zhū Xī’s ritual scholarship is in fact not concentrated in his major monographs (Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngjiě, Jiālǐ) but is distributed across decades of letters and recorded conversations.
The Sìkù tíyào’s mixed verdict — credit for the editorial organisation, criticism for specific omissions and over-condensations — is a useful index of the editors’ tougher standard for de facto “complete works” projects: scholarly compilations that claim coverage of an author’s collected sayings must in fact achieve that coverage. Lǐ Guāngdì’s work is judged useful for ritual scholars but not as definitive as it claims to be.
The dating bracket 1700–1718 covers the latter portion of Lǐ Guāngdì’s official career through to his death. Lǐ was jìnshì of Kāngxī 9 (1670); held a series of senior Hànlín and provincial offices, ultimately Wényuāngé Dàxuéshì and Lǐbù shàngshū; he was Kāngxī’s most trusted senior Cheng-Zhu Confucian minister. The Zhūzǐ lǐzuǎn belongs to the period of his late official-and-scholarly life. The work cannot be tied to a precise compositional year.
Translations and research
- Qīng shǐ gǎo 清史稿 j. 262 (biography of Lǐ Guāng-dì).
- Wing-tsit Chan 陳榮捷, “Li Kuang-ti”, in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Library of Congress, 1943) — major English biographical entry.
- Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Confucianism and Family Rituals in Imperial China (Princeton, 1991) — situates Lǐ Guāng-dì in the early-Qīng court Cheng-Zhu scholarship tradition.
- Pèng Lín 彭林, Sānlǐ yánjiū rùmén 三禮研究入門 (Fùdàn dàxué chūbǎnshè, 2012) — covers the early-Qīng Cheng-Zhu Sānlǐ tradition.
Other points of interest
Lǐ Guāngdì was the elder brother of Lǐ Guāngpō 李光坡 (1651–1723), whose three Sānlǐ shùzhù works (KR1d0019, KR1d0040, KR1d0071) are the principal mid-Qīng restated-zhùshū commentaries. The two brothers’ parallel scholarly enterprises — Lǐ Guāngdì’s editorial work on Zhū Xī’s ritual sayings, Lǐ Guāngpō’s restatement of the Sānlǐ commentary line — represent two different early-Qīng Cheng-Zhu engagements with the Sānlǐ.
Links
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Guangdi
- Chinaknowledge: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/sanli.html