Sìshū yìjiān 四書逸箋
Stray-Source Glosses on the Four Books
by 程大中 (Chéng Dàzhōng, 1721–?, zì Quánshí, hào Shìān, 撰)
About the work
A 6-juàn Sìshū kǎojù miscellany by Chéng Dàzhōng of Yīngchéng (Húběi), dated 1757 in the catalog meta. The work is a jiān (gloss) of Sìshū passages where canonical sources from the zhùshū, the histories, the philosophical zǐ, and the jí literature can be brought to bear — either to correct Jízhù mis-citations, or to supplement glosses the Jízhù did not develop. The structure is: juàn 1–5 cover the Sìshū in jīng-text order, glossing topical entries; juàn 6 is a separate zájì on Sìshū persons, lost-deeds, and miscellanea. Each gloss notes its sources (chūchù); points of small variance from the Jízhù go into a separate fùlù (appendix); points where other-book citations of Sìshū phrasing differ from the received text go into a fùjì (further note). The Sìkù editors pair the work explicitly with Yán Ruòqú’s Sìshū shìdì (KR1h0063) as a kǎojù-mode complement.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit: Sìshū yìjiān in six juàn — by Chéng Dàzhōng of the present dynasty. Dàzhōng’s zì is Quánshí, hào Shìān, of Yīngchéng. This book gathers from the zhùshū (annotation-and-sub-commentary), the jīng (classics), shǐ (histories), zǐ (philosophers), and jí (collected works) those passages which mutually illuminate the books of the four masters. Either where the Jízhù has already cited but the wording of the citation is corrupt; or where the Jízhù has not unfolded but the meaning admits of comparison-and-correction — in such cases he glosses out the chūchù (origin). For passages that differ slightly from the Jízhù, he sets them down as fùlù (appendix). For other books that quote Sìshū phrasing differently from the present recension, he sets them down as fùjì. Within juàn 6 he pursues several dozen topics specifically on Sìshū persons, lost-deeds, and miscellanea — these set out as a separate zájì.
The yuánjù (citation of evidence) is reasonably detailed and clear. Among the sections — for example, on shùdài (sash-girding) he does not cite the Yùzǎo “sì shùdài qínzhě yǒu shì zé shōu zhī”; on péngyǒu sǐ wú suǒ guī he cites the Báihǔ tōng but not the Tángōng passage on Confucius’s “born in my house, died in my house, embodied in my house”; on chán wú fūlǐ zhī bù the Jízhù cites only the Zàishī office, but [Chéng] does not cite the Lǘshī office’s “fán wúzhí zhě chū fūbù” passage to supplement — these are inevitably small omissions. As to the zájì: because the Lúnyǔ has the phrase mèng Zhōugōng, [Chéng] sweeps in citation of the dreams of Yáo, Shùn, Yǔ, and Wén — even Mèngshū and Liùtiē are drawn in — also slightly lapsing into fànlàn (over-extension). However, the cí jiē yǒu jù (every saying has its evidence) — and the work is fitly paired in transmission with Yán Ruòqú’s Sìshū shìdì. — Respectfully revised, sixth month of the 42nd year of Qiánlóng [1777].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Sìshū yìjiān is the principal mid-Qián-lóng-period Sìshū kǎojù miscellany. Composed in 1757 by Chéng Dàzhōng, an Yīngchéng (Húběi) private scholar, the work belongs to the methodological tradition of Yán Ruòqú’s Sìshū shìdì (KR1h0063) — the explicit pairing the Sìkù editors make in their closing line — but extends Yán’s geographical-and-onomastic kǎojù into the wider domain of Sìshū citations and source-text recovery generally. The four-fold editorial scheme (jiān of chūchù; fùlù for small variances from the Jízhù; fùjì for other-book divergent citations; zájì for person-and-event miscellany) is methodologically more elaborate than Yán’s plain kǎojù notebook, reflecting the maturing high-Qing Sìshū kǎojù genre.
The Sìkù verdict is mixed in the sympathetic mode. The editors illustrate Chéng’s shūlòu (omissions) with three specific cases — the shùdài gloss missing a relevant Lǐjì Yùzǎo passage; the péngyǒu sǐ wú suǒ guī gloss citing the Báihǔ tōng but not the Tángōng parallel; the chán wú fūlǐ zhī bù gloss missing a Zhōulǐ Lǘshī supplement to the Jízhù’s Zàishī citation. They also flag Chéng’s tendency to fànlàn in the zájì — sweeping in dream-citations from Mèngshū and Liùtiē on the strength of one Lúnyǔ phrase. Despite these qualifications the editors endorse Chéng’s overall method: every saying has its evidence (cí jiē yǒu jù); the work properly stands alongside Yán’s Shìdì in transmission.
The composition date — 1757 — places the work just before the Sìkù call for submissions (1772/1773). Chéng’s submission was through the Húběi xúnfǔ; the work was admitted into the Sìshū lèi èr of jīngbù on the strength of its kǎojù method.
Translations and research
No English translation. Modern Chinese: Wényuān-gé Sì-kù-quán-shū photo-reprint is the standard text; no modern punctuated edition is widely circulated. Studies: Cài Fāng-lù 蔡方鹿, Qīng-dài Sì-shū xué shǐ (Bā-Shǔ-shū-shè, 2014), discusses the work briefly in its kǎo-jù chapter; for the broader high-Qing Sì-shū kǎo-jù genre see Benjamin Elman, From Philosophy to Philology (Harvard, 1984/2001). Specialised studies on Chéng Dà-zhōng himself are scarce.
Other points of interest
The work is a representative mid-Qián-lóng-period continuation of Yán Ruòqú’s Sìshū kǎojù programme, with a more elaborate kǎojù genre-design (four-track structure) than Yán’s. The Sìkù editors’ pairing of Chéng with Yán across two generations is a quiet historiographical statement: the kǎojù-mode Sìshū commentary, marginal at the start of the Qing, has by 1757 become a recognised genre with a continuing transmission.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §28.4.4 and §27 on Qing classical kǎozhèng.