Chūnqiū jí yì 春秋集義
Collected Meanings of the Spring and Autumn Annals
by 李明復 (撰)
About the work
The Chūnqiū jí yì 春秋集義 in fifty juan (with a separate Gāng lǐng 綱領 in three juan) is the most ambitious Dàoxué-school Chūnqiū compilation of the Southern Sòng. Composed by Lǐ Míngfù 李明復 (also known as Lǐ Yú 李俞, zì Bóyǒng 伯勇, of Héyáng 合陽), a Tàixué student of the Jiādìng era (1208–1224); the work was presented to the throne. The compilation gathers the Chūnqiū views of the Dàoxué lineage masters — Zhōu Dūnyí 周敦頤 (1017–1073), the Chéng brothers (Chéng Yí, Chéng Hào), Zhāng Zǎi 張載 (1020–1077), and their successors. Methodologically distinguished by its eclectic Dàoxué sourcing without imposing the editor’s voice. Older catalogues split this work into two (one under Lǐ Míngfù, one under “Wáng Mèngyīng 王夢應”) — the SKQS tíyào corrects this; “Wáng Mèngyīng” was the publisher of Lǐ’s work, not a separate author. The Sìkù base reproduces the Wúxī Zōu Yí 鄒儀 Jiāolǜcǎotáng 蕉綠草堂 collection copy.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào (text from the Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào):
By Lǐ Míngfù of Sòng. Míngfù also named Yú 俞, zì Bóyǒng 伯勇 (his career is otherwise unrecoverable). According to Wèi Liǎowēng 魏了翁’s preface, he was a man of Héyáng 合陽; in the Jiādìng era, a Tàixué student. The first line of this work is titled “Carefully Edited Lǐ Shàngshè (Imperial Academy upper-hall) Imperially-Presented Chūnqiū jí yì”; the second line further: “by junior scholar Wáng Mèngyīng of Bāchuān 巴川.” Zhū Yízūn’s Jīng yì kǎo says: “the Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì records Lǐ Míngfù’s Chūnqiū jí yì in 50 juan, and also Wáng Mèngyīng’s Chūnqiū jí yì in 50 juan; once I saw a late-Sòng print which was Lǐ’s original, with Wáng having printed it — Wáng has no separate Jí yì.” This text is from the Wúxī Zōu Yí 鄒儀 Jiāolǜcǎotáng 蕉綠草堂 collection; the title-form matches what Zhū Yízūn saw, confirming his account; the Sòng zhì erroneously divided one work into two.
Zhāng Xuān 張萱’s Nèigé shūmù 內閣書目 says: “He gathers Zhōu, Chéng, and Zhāng — the three masters — whether they wrote books to elucidate the Chūnqiū, or lectured on other classics in ways that touch the Chūnqiū, or whose doctrine accords with the Chūnqiū — all are amply collected.” But the work’s actual citations include Yáng Shí 楊時, Xiè Shī 謝湜, Hú Ānguó 胡安國, Zhū Zǐ 朱子, Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙 — not just three; Xiè Shī especially heavily. Zhāng Xuān’s account is incomplete.
The Jīng yì kǎo records the work as having a Gāng lǐng in 2 juan and a Wèi Liǎowēng preface; the present text has neither (lost in transmission). But under the chūn wáng zhèngyuè 春王正月 entry, the self-annotation reads “see Gāng lǐng upper and middle juan” — so the Gāng lǐng must have had 3 juan, divided upper / middle / lower. The Jīng yì kǎo’s “2 juan” is also a small error. We have now searched the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn: Lǐ Míngfù’s Gāng lǐng still survives. We have copied and supplemented it, dividing into 3 juan, restoring the original.
Abstract
The Sìkù tíyào makes the principal points: that this is the most comprehensive Southern-Sòng Dàoxué-school Chūnqiū compilation, by the Tàixué student Lǐ Míngfù; that the work assembles the Chūnqiū views of the Dàoxué lineage from Zhōu Dūnyí through the Chéng brothers and beyond, eclectically including Hú Ānguó, Zhū Xī, and Lǚ Zǔqiān; that the bibliographic record (Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì) erroneously created a non-existent “Wáng Mèngyīng” Jí yì — Wáng was actually only the work’s publisher; that the Gāng lǐng preface was lost in transmission and the SKQS recovered it from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn; that the work’s significance lies in its position as the principal Dàoxué canonical statement on the Chūnqiū.
The work’s relationship to Wèi Liǎowēng’s KR1e0044 Jiǔjīng yào yì is significant: Wèi’s preface to this work (cited under KR1e0044) explicitly says Wèi himself had been gathering Dàoxué Chūnqiū views and that Lǐ “anticipated my heart” — meaning Wèi abandoned his own intended Chūnqiū compilation in favour of Lǐ’s. The Jí yì is therefore the canonical Dàoxué Chūnqiū statement, with Wèi’s endorsement as senior Dàoxué leader.
Translations and research
- Lǐ Wěitài 李偉泰, Sòng-rén Chūnqiū xué dōu lùn 宋人春秋學論衡 (Tāiběi: Wénjīn 1995).
- Hoyt Cleveland Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy (UHP 1992).
Other points of interest
The work’s position in the late-Sòng Dàoxué canon-formation process — Wèi Liǎowēng’s deferring to it, Zhū Xī’s posthumous endorsement of his disciples’ contribution, the Lǐ Míngfù / Wáng Mèngyīng publishing collaboration — is a representative example of the institutional process by which late-Sòng Dàoxué established itself as the dominant Confucian school by canon-compilation.
Links
- Zinbun Sìkù tíyào: http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/db-machine/ShikoTeiyo/0054601.html