Sìshū jíbiān 四書集編
Compiled Edition of the Four Books
眞德秀 (Zhēn Déxiù, 1178–1235); supplemented by 劉承 (Liú Chéng, fl. 1265–1273)
About the work
A 29-juàn compiled edition of the Four Books with collected commentary, drawn primarily from Zhū Xī’s writings (the Jízhù, Huòwèn, Yǔlèi, Wénjí) and supplemented with Zhēn Déxiù’s own corrective remarks. Composition history: only the Dàxué (1 juàn) and Zhōngyōng (1 juàn) portions were finished by Zhēn Déxiù himself before his death in 1235; the Lúnyǔ jíbiān (10 juàn) and Mèngzǐ jíbiān (14 juàn), comprising the bulk of the work, were completed posthumously by Zhēn’s school disciple Liú Chéng 劉承 in Xiánchún 9 (1273), drawing on Zhēn Déxiù’s Dúshū jì and surviving marginal notes. The Sìshū jíbiān anchors the early-Southern-Sòng Lǐxué commentary tradition before the 1313 imperial elevation of Zhū Xī’s Sìshū jízhù fixed the orthodox text.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit: Sìshū jíbiān in 26 juàn — by Zhēn Déxiù 真德秀 of the Sòng. Déxiù, zì Xīyuán 希元, native of Pǔchéng 浦城; jìnshì of the 5th year of Qìngyuán (1199); ranked in the cíkē 詞科. In Shàodìng he was made Cānzhī zhèngshì 參知政事, advanced to Zīzhèngdiàn zhíxuéshì 資政殿直學士. Posthumous title Wénzhōng 文忠. Biography in Sòngshǐ Dàoxué zhuàn.
Of this book, only the Dàxué (1 juàn) and Zhōngyōng (1 juàn) portions were fixed by Déxiù’s own hand. After the Dàxué zhāngjù preface there is a one-line tíjì 題記: “compiled at the Xuéyìzhāi 學易齋 by the late student Zhēn Déxiù, eighth month dīngmǎo of the third year of Bǎoqìng [1227]” — that is the date of completion. His son Zhìdào 志道’s preface speaks only of the Dàxué and Zhōngyōng, observing that the Lúnyǔ and Mèngzǐ jízhù had been “checked but not yet edited” (diǎnjiào ér jíbiān zé wèi chéng 點校而集編則未成).
In Xiánchún 9 (note: the original copy reads “Xiánníng 9”, but the Sòng has no era of that name — corrected here), the preface of Liú Cái 劉才 begins by saying that of the four books edited by Xīshān, only the Zhōngyōng and Dàxué — and the Lùn and Mèng — were lacking. On enquiring at the tíngwén 庭聞 [the master’s house], the report was: “they have been checked but not yet compiled. As soon as the matter was raised in the hall, xuézhèng Liú Pǔxī 劉樸谿 commented that the discussions of the Lùn and Mèng in the Dúshū jì are of the same fánlì 凡例 as the printed Zhōngyōng and Dàxué; and that other writings — the Wénjí yǎnyì etc. — also have material that may be drawn upon. He therefore encouraged the gathering. Five months sufficed for the volumes to be assembled; another five for the cutting.” So the Lúnyǔ in 10 juàn and Mèngzǐ in 14 juàn were both completed by Liú Chéng on the basis of Déxiù’s manuscripts.
Zhūzǐ united the Dà, Zhōng, Lún, Mèng into a Sìshū; his zhāngjù mostly contained new readings, his jízhù, though largely drawing on old text, also diverged from various Confucians. The reasons for his selections and rejections are scattered through the Huòwèn, Yǔlèi, Wénjí — they cannot be set out one by one. The Huòwèn, Yǔlèi and Wénjí themselves contain many one-time-only undecided arguments, plus passages where the disciples’ transcription has erred. Hence the alternations and repetitions, the cross-currents and apparent contradictions, that tax the reader. This compilation widely gathers Zhūzǐ’s words to bring them into mutual concord, with occasional intercalation of the editor’s own opinion to mediate the variants. Zhìdào’s preface speaks of Déxiù’s “quánzé kānrùn 銓擇刋潤” (selection-and-polishing) labour — and that is no idle word.
Zhào Shùnsūn’s Sìshū zuǎnshū 四書纂疏 (KR1h0028) cites Déxiù’s various writings extensively, but does not list this title, because the Sìshū jíbiān was first cut at the very end of the Sòng — its appearance was the latest, and Shùnsūn had not seen it. From that time onwards, those who set out to follow him filled stables with their writings; but their learning all fell short of Déxiù — and so their books fell short of his. — Respectfully revised, eleventh month of the 46th year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Sìshū jíbiān is the earliest of the major Southern Sòng jíbiān-style consolidations of Zhū Xī’s Sìshū commentary apparatus. Its function in late-13th-century Lǐxué education was to provide a single reference work in which Zhū Xī’s Jízhù, Huòwèn, Yǔlèi, and Wénjí discussions of each Sìshū passage could be read together — with Zhēn Déxiù’s own gloss as a final mediating note. This made it indispensable to the late-Sòng kējǔ student.
Zhēn Déxiù’s place in the orthodox Cheng-Zhu transmission is secure: he is the foremost early-13th-century systematiser of Zhū Xī’s thought, sometimes called the Master’s intellectual heir among the post-disciple generation. The Sìshū jíbiān was, with his earlier Dúshū jì 讀書記 (a thematically organised reading-notes anthology of Confucian classics), a primary instrument of Cheng-Zhu pedagogy in the closing decades of the Sòng. The 1313 imperial elevation of Zhū Xī’s Sìshū jízhù to examination-curriculum status fixed Zhēn Déxiù’s subordinate but central place in the orthodox transmission.
The composition history is unusual: only the two short books (Dàxué, Zhōngyōng) are securely Zhēn Déxiù’s own work; the Lúnyǔ and Mèngzǐ jíbiān sections were compiled posthumously by Liú Chéng (see 劉承). The Sìkù tíyào is meticulous in setting out this biānjí 編輯 history. The reading is therefore: the Dàxué jíbiān (1227) and Zhōngyōng jíbiān (a parallel piece, of similar date) are Zhēn Déxiù; the Lúnyǔ and Mèngzǐ jíbiān are 1273 reconstructions of his materials by Liú Chéng. The Sìkù-WYG transmits the 1273 unified compilation.
Translations and research
No English translation. Modern Chinese punctuated edition: 點校本 in Lǐ-xué cóng-shū 理學叢書 (Zhōng-huá-shu-jú 1996); also Zhū Hàn-mín 朱漢民 ed., Zhēn Xī-shān quán-jí 真西山全集. Studies: Cài Fāng-lù 蔡方鹿, Sòng-dài Sì-shū xué yánjiū, ch. 8 on Zhēn Dé-xiù; Zhū Hàn-mín 朱漢民, Zhēn Dé-xiù sī-xiǎng yánjiū (Hú-nán-rén-mín 2010); Yú Yīng-shí 余英時, Sòng-Míng Lǐ-xué yǔ zhèng-zhì wén-huà (Yún-chén 2004), ch. 4. Western: brief notice in Hoyt Cleveland Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy (UHP, 1992).
Other points of interest
The work transmits a layer of Zhū Xī’s Sìshū commentary that has been pre-digested for Sòng kējǔ training — and is therefore an unusually direct window into how the late-Sòng student would actually have approached the orthodox commentary. The 1313 elevation of Zhū Xī’s Jízhù alone over this layer of intermediate consolidation testifies to a sharp post-1313 shift toward unmediated Zhū-Xī-only pedagogy; the Sìshū jíbiān itself remained an important reference but ceased to be a primary teaching instrument.
Links
- Sòngshǐ 437 (Zhēn Déxiù biography in Dàoxué zhuàn).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §28.7.3.
- 全國漢籍データベース 四庫提要.