聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

禮論

3 min read

Text ID
KR1d0101
Date
425–447
Dynasty
宋

Lǐlùn 禮論

Discussions on Ritual

by 何承天 (撰)

About the work

A single-juàn reconstruction of the Lǐlùn 禮論 attributed to 何承天 Hé Chéngtiān (370–447), Liú-Sòng astronomer, calendarist, and Yǔlín (court historian-poet) responsible for the Yuánjiā calendar of 443 and the early-stage compilation of the Liú-Sòng dynastic history continued by Shěn Yuē. Hé Chéngtiān’s Lǐlùn is one of the major Liú-Sòng compendia of Sānlǐ biàn-lùn, a synthesis-and-extension of the earlier Eastern-Jìn biàn-lǐ tradition (cf. KR1d0094–KR1d0099). Once recorded in Suí shū jīngjí zhì as a 100-juàn collection — the largest single Six-Dynasties Lǐlùn compilation — the work is now lost except for these fragments preserved in Tōngdiǎn and Sòng shū lǐ-zhì.

Abstract

The transmitted “Lǐlùn” of Hé Chéngtiān reconstructed by CHANT is a single-juàn extract from a much larger original compilation. The surviving fragments cover three principal biàn lǐ problem-areas:

(i) The liù-zōng 六宗 sacrificial-object problem. A long opening discussion of the meaning of liù zōng in the Yú shū yīn yú liù zōng line, taking up the Liú Xīn / Kǒng Zhāo position that the liù zōng are the six trigram-derived offspring (zhèn, xùn, kǎn, lí, gèn, duì) of the Yìjīng, the Wèi Míngdì-period 王肅 Wáng Sù position that the liù zōng are the Jiāyǔ “zǎi-wǒ wèn liù zōng” passage’s listed natural objects (hán-shǔ, rì-yè, yuè-yōu, xīng-yú, shuǐ-hàn, etc.), the Kǒng Ānguó Shàngshū annotation, and Zhèng Xuán’s “tiān-zōng = rì-yuè xīng-chén” reading. Hé Chéngtiān’s solution balances the Yùelìng “qí lái-nián yú tiān-zōng” and the Lǐjì jì-fǎ analytic.

(ii) The dà-gōng zhī mò (final period of nine-month mourning) marriage rule. A debate on the canonical Lǐ rule “dà-gōng zhī mò kě yǐ jià zǐ” (in the final period of dà-gōng mourning one may give daughters in marriage).

(iii) The shēng bù jí (born-without-overlap) collateral mourning rule. Following the long Liú-Zhì / Yú-Xǐ debate on Sāngfú xiǎojì “shēng bù jí zǔ fù-mǔ zhū-fù kūndì” (cf. KR1d0094 Tōngyí), Hé Chéngtiān’s Lǐlùn preserves a synthetic ruling-decision through a hypothetical case of an emigrant-son returning after thirty years to find a deceased father and brother. The judgement parses the biàn-lǐ in three time-strata: immediate (zhōu fú — first-cycle mourning); intermediate; long-delayed.

The dating bracket (425–447) reflects Hé Chéngtiān’s middle-to-late Liú-Sòng career (Sòng shū 64, 本傳, 何承天傳). His Lǐlùn is conventionally placed in his Wěi-jūn cān-jūn and later Dōng-yáng tài-shǒu period; the Yuán-jiā 24 (447) terminus reflects his death.

Translations and research

  • No substantial Western-language secondary literature located on the Lǐlùn fragments as such.
  • Studies of Hé Chéngtiān focus on his astronomical and calendrical work; the most accessible English-language treatment is in Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China Vol. III (calendrical-astronomy sections).

Other points of interest

The reduction of Hé Chéngtiān’s original 100-juàn Lǐlùn to a single juàn of Tōngdiǎn citations is one of the most dramatic Six-Dynasties textual-loss cases. The original compilation was the principal source for the Liù-Cháo-court biàn lǐ tradition and was still cited in full by Dù Yòu in the late eighth century, but had ceased to circulate independently by the Sòng. The Sòng shū lǐ-zhì compiled by Shěn Yuē preserves much of its substantive content in scattered form.

Graph View

Backlinks