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春秋講義

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Text ID
KR1e0046
Date
1205–1210
Dynasty
宋

Chūnqiū jiǎng yì 春秋講義

Lectures on the Spring and Autumn Annals

by 戴溪 (撰)

About the work

The Chūnqiū jiǎng yì 春秋講義 in four juan is the Chūnqiū commentary of Dài Xī 戴溪 (fl. 1178–1215), composed during his tenure as Zīshàntáng shuōshū 資善堂說書 (Imperial Lecturer to the Crown Prince) under Sòng Níngzōng 寧宗 in the Kāixǐ 開禧 era (1205–1207). Was commissioned by the Jǐngxiàn tàizǐ 景獻太子 (Sòng Lǐzōng’s predecessor as Crown Prince, who died young) to expound the Yìjīng, Shījīng, Shàngshū, Chūnqiū, Lúnyǔ, Mèngzǐ, and Tōngjiàn 通鑑 each as a separate “shuō” 說 (discussion). Originally Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì 4 juan; Wáng Zàn’s 王瓚 Wēnzhōu zhì 溫州志 gives 3 juan; the SKQS recovery is 4 juan, with each juan further divided into upper and lower. Cut at Jīnlíng 金陵 in Jiādìng 16 (1223) by Dài’s eldest son Dài Jué 戴桷; recut at Tàizhōu in Bǎoqìng 2 (1226) by Niú Dànián 牛大年. The Sìkù base is the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery, supplemented by Huáng Zhèn’s Rì chāo citations.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào (text from the Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào):

By Dài Xī of Sòng. Xī has Xù Lǚshì jiāshú dú shī jì 續呂氏家塾讀詩記 registered. In the Kāixǐ era, Xī served as Zīshàntáng shuōshū 資善堂說書, gradually rising to Tàizǐ zhānshì 太子詹事. At the time, Jǐngxiàn tàizǐ 景獻太子 commanded categorical lectures on the Yì, Shī, Shū, Chūnqiū, Lúnyǔ, Mèngzǐ, and Tōngjiàn, each separately discussed and presented. This is the Chūnqiū portion.

In the work, examples include: taking Qí Xiānggōng’s pressuring Lord Jì to leave his country as a feigned vengeance to deceive the various lords; taking Qín and Chǔ’s destruction of Yōng 庸 as predicated on the opening of the BāShǔ road; repeatedly taking the entries on the duke going to Jìn and only returning at the river as Jìn’s officials beginning the Jìshì 季氏 thrust to expel the lord; taking Dìnggōng’s Wùchén accession as Jìshì’s intent not to install Dìnggōng — all readings with substantive insight. At the time of Hán Tuōzhòu 韓侂胄’s failed northern expedition (Kāixǐ 2, 1206) and the subsequent peace, Dài was particularly preoccupied with the Way of internal cultivation and external defence, of negotiation with neighbouring courts and military preparation. As to entries on burials and the like, all are simply omitted without commentary. Examining the Sòng convention on mourning vocabulary: it is remarkably taboo-conscious — even Hé jū jū zì 何居居字 (a phrase from the Tángōng of the Lǐ jì) is omitted from the Lǐbù yùn lüè 禮部韻略; other cases follow. Dài’s omission of these entries reflects the protocol of jiǎngwò 講幄 (imperial lecture).

In Jiādìng guǐwèi 嘉定癸未 (1223) fifth month, Dài’s eldest son Jué 桷 cut the work at the Jīnlíng 金陵 academy; Shěn Guāng 沈光 wrote the preface. In Bǎoqìng bǐngxū 寶慶丙戌 (1226), Niú Dànián 牛大年 recut it at Tàizhōu 泰州; his preface notes “this work was for the Crown Prince’s hearing, and the world’s scholars cannot have heard of it” — that is, it is not in the genre of jīngshēng xùngǔ 經生訓詁 (examination student gloss-and-explication), hence not widely transmitted; this is probably why Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiětí did not register it. The Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì gives 4 juan; Wáng Zàn’s Wēnzhōu zhì gives 3 juan; Zhū Yízūn’s Jīng yì kǎo notes “lost.” Now externally there is no transmitted exemplar. Only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves it, scattered under each jīng-passage. We have gathered and collated. From autumn of Xīgōng 14 to year 33, and from third month of Xiānggōng 16 to year 31, the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn is missing — we supplement from Huáng Zhèn’s Rì chāo citations. Following the Sòng shǐ we divide into 4 juan, each further divided into upper and lower. The jīng-text recorded mostly follows the Zuǒshì, with occasional readings from the Gōngyáng and Gǔliáng; we note these in a side-marginal àn yǔ 案語.

Abstract

The Sìkù tíyào makes the principal points: that this is Dài Xī’s Chūnqiū jiǎng yì, composed for the Crown Prince’s instruction during the Kāixǐ era; that the work’s topical focus reflects the political moment — the failed Hán Tuōzhòu northern expedition — and addresses internal-and-external statecraft; that the work omits the burial entries because of imperial-mourning taboo conventions; that the work survived only in Yǒnglè dàdiǎn fragments and the SKQS recovery is supplemented from Huáng Zhèn’s Rì chāo; that the imperial-lecture genre limited the work’s circulation in the examination tradition.

The Dài Xī commentary is methodologically distinctive in being explicitly a court-instruction text, addressed to a future emperor and structured around contemporary statecraft questions. It is one of the few surviving works of the jiǎngwò genre.

Translations and research

  • Lǐ Wěitài 李偉泰, Sòng-rén Chūnqiū xué dōu lùn 宋人春秋學論衡 (Tāiběi: Wénjīn 1995).

Other points of interest

The contemporary political context — Hán Tuōzhòu’s catastrophic 1206 Kāixǐ běifá 開禧北伐 (Northern Expedition) and the subsequent humiliating peace with the Jīn — is the immediate horizon of the work. Dài’s emphasis on internal cultivation and gradual external preparation is implicitly a critique of Hán’s adventurism.

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