左傳杜林合注

Zuǒzhuàn DùLín hé zhù 左傳杜林合注

The Combined DùLín Annotations on the Zuǒ Commentary

by 杜預 (注), 林堯叟 (注), 王道焜 (編), 趙如源 (編)

About the work

The Zuǒzhuàn DùLín hé zhù 左傳杜林合注 in 50 juǎn is a composite student edition of the Zuǒzhuàn combining two layers of annotation: the foundational classical Chūnqiū jīng zhuàn jí jiě 春秋經傳集解 of Dù Yù 杜預 (222–284) and the elementary phrase-by-phrase paraphrase Chūnqiū Zuǒzhuàn jù jiě 春秋左傳句解 of the late Sòng commentator Lín Yáosǒu 林堯叟 (zì Tángwēng 唐翁) — with Lù Démíng’s 陸德明 Yīnyì 音義 incorporated. The composite was edited in late-Míng Hángzhōu 杭州 (Chóngzhēn 崇禎 reign) by the local scholars Wáng Dàokūn 王道焜 (a 1621 jǔrén) and Zhào Rúyuán 趙如源 (1573–1644, zì Jùnzhī 濬之) and printed there as a working classroom text.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào may be rendered as follows:

We have respectfully examined the Zuǒzhuàn DùLín hé zhù in fifty juǎn. Co-edited by Wáng Dàokūn and Zhào Rúyuán of the Míng. According to Zhū Yízūn’s 朱彝尊 Jīngyì kǎo, citing Zhèng Yuè 鄭玥, “Lín Yáosǒu, zì Tángwēng — in the Chóngzhēn era a Hángzhōu bookseller took his Chūnqiū Zuǒzhuàn jù jiě in 40 juǎn and combined it with Dù’s notes for circulation”; and citing Lù Yuánfǔ 陸元輔, “Wáng Dàokūn, a man of Hángzhōu, passed the provincial examination in xīnyǒu of the Tiānqǐ era (1621); together with his fellow-townsman Zhào Rúyuán, zì Jùnzhī, they jointly compiled this book.” Now the version current in bookshops matches the chapter-count Zhū Yízūn records, but with Dàokūn and Rúyuán’s names cut out, and the editors’ fánlì 凡例 placed at the head and re-titled as Lín Yáosǒu’s preface — even though the fánlì cites the Yǒnglè Chūnqiū dà quán. This is a real howler. It is in fact the two men’s editorial fánlì mistitled as Yáosǒu’s.

Dù Yù’s annotation of the Zuǒ is widely recognised as precise. Although already in the Suí Liú Xuàn 劉炫 found things to correct, in the Yuán Zhào Fǎng 趙汸, in the Míng Shào Bǎo 邵寳, Fù Xùn 傅遜, Lù Càn 陸粲, and in the present dynasty Gù Yánwǔ 顧炎武 (顧炎武) and Huì Dòng 惠棟 — each in turn has supplied corrections — yet the great outlines and main framework remain beyond what any other commentator can match. Yáosǒu’s book merely glosses passages of text and cannot stand as Dù’s equal. Still, the old commentary is concise and recondite, and there are places where its meaning is not fully drawn out; Yáosǒu’s filling-in does help the reader see things plainly and easily, and this is not without benefit. Furthermore, unlike Zhū Shēn’s 朱申 Jù jiě, which freely cuts and excises the zhuàn text, Yáosǒu does not alter the text. So the work is preserved here for the sake of having one further commentary available. Its embedded Lù Démíng Yīnyì must also have been added by Dàokūn and the others — present in the original — and is preserved here as well. Respectfully checked and submitted, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), twelfth month. Editors-in-chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; chief proof-reader Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

The composite text is essentially a working-student edition rather than a scholarly contribution: Dù Yù’s annotation supplies the canonical exegesis, while Lín Yáosǒu’s paraphrase fills it out for less-experienced readers. The original front-matter preserved in the WYG copy includes Dù Yù’s own preface to the Jí jiě and a substantial Chūnqiū tí yào 春秋提要 (a tabular handbook of the Chūnqiū — twelve Zhōu kings, twelve Lǔ rulers, the five hegemons, the Wángrén envoys, the major covenants, military events, ritual events, and astronomical anomalies — which is itself a useful late-Míng pedagogical resource).

The dating bracket reflects (a) the lower bound of Wáng Dàokūn’s career after his 1621 jǔrén pass and the Chóngzhēn-era publication context; the Sìkù tíyào explicitly places the Hángzhōu bookseller’s first composite imprint in the Chóngzhēn reign (1628–1644), so I take the bracket as Chóngzhēn 1 to the end of the Míng. Zhào Rúyuán’s death in 1644 supplies an effective terminus ante quem for the editorial work.

The principal scholarly significance of the work is twofold: (1) as a witness to the late-Míng commercial-publication ecology in Hángzhōu, where classical canonical texts circulated in increasingly accessible “double-commentary” student editions; and (2) as a textual carrier for Lín Yáosǒu’s 13th-century paraphrase, which would otherwise be far less easily accessible. The Sìkù compilers — themselves uncomfortable with the pedagogical superficiality — preserve it grudgingly as “one further commentary” (yī jiě 一解).

Translations and research

• Lǐ Wéi-xióng 李偉雄, Zuǒ-zhuàn xué shǐ gǎo 左傳學史稿 (Tāiběi: Wǔ-nán 1995).
• Cheng Yuanmin 程元敏, Chūnqiū Zuǒ-shì jīng zhuàn jí jiě xù shù lùn 春秋左氏經傳集解序述論 (Tāiběi: 學海 1991) — comprehensive on Dù Yù’s Jí jiě tradition; treats Lín Yáosǒu’s Jù jiě as part of the Sòng-Yuán reception.
• Schaberg, David. A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography (Harvard 2001) — for the broader Western-language scholarship on the Zuǒzhuàn.
• Durrant, Stephen, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg, trans. Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan 左傳 (University of Washington Press 2016) — the standard English translation; Wilkinson §48.1.1.3.

Other points of interest

The Chūnqiū tí yào 春秋提要 included as front-matter in this composite (KR1e0092_000.txt, beginning at pb:KR1e0092_WYG_000-8a) is a fascinating specimen of late-Míng pedagogical typology, listing — to take a few examples — the 109 covenants (méng 盟), the 213 attacks (fá 伐), the 122 anomalies (zāi yì 災異), the 36 solar eclipses, the 11 yī-shang zhī huì 衣裳之會 of Qí Huángōng, the four bīngchē zhī huì 兵車之會, etc. The Chūnqiū wǔ shǐ 春秋五始 (the five “beginnings” — yuán, chūn, wáng, zhèngyuè, jíwèi) is here, as is a mini-roster of “Confucius assists Lǔ” 孔子相魯 events. This kind of structured tabular finding-aid would be extended in the Qīng by Gù Dònggāo’s Chūnqiū dàshì biǎo (KR1e0114).

Links

• Sìkù tíyào (Yǐngyìn Wényuāngé Sìkù): V171.3, p323.
• CBDB record for 王道焜: id 124346.
• CBDB record for 趙如源: id 54290.