盡言集

Jìnyán jí 盡言集

Speaking-Without-Reserve Anthology by 劉安世 (撰)

About the work

A 13-juàn collection (in the Sìkù recension) of the official memorials of Liú Ānshì 劉安世 (1048–1125), the Northern Sòng remonstrance official known in his lifetime as Diànshànghǔ 殿上虎 (“Hall-of-Audience Tiger”). The work survives in several recensions: the SBCK base-text used here transmits the 1156 (Shàoxīng 26) preface by Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成 (1092–1159) and a Míng-period 1571 preface by Lù Jiǎn 陸柬; the WYG / Sìkù recension transmits the 1571 Lóngqìng xīnwèi 隆慶辛未 prefaces by Shí Xīng 石星 and Zhāng Yìngfú 張應福. The compilers are anonymous; Sìkù notes that the Míng prefaces describe obtaining a hand-copy from the Xītíng 西亭 collection of Zhū Mùhuáng 朱睦㮮 (Prince of Yìngshùn, the imperial-clan bibliophile).

Tiyao

Jìnyán jí, 13 juàn — the Shāndōng provincial-governor presentation copy. By Liú Ānshì of the Sòng. Ānshì, zì Qìzhī, from Dàmíng. In youth he served Sīmǎ Guāng 司馬光; at the start of the Zhézōng reign, on Sīmǎ Guāng’s recommendation he became Mìshūshěng zhèngzì; on Lǚ Gōngzhù’s further recommendation he became Yòu zhèngyán; he rose to Zuǒ jiànyì dàfū. At the start of Shàoshèng (1094) he was dismissed from office, made Zhī Nánānjūn, and again demoted as Xīnzhōu biéjià, with confinement at Yīngzhōu. On Huīzōng’s accession he was moved to Héngzhōu, and shortly assigned residence at Dǐngzhōu as Púzhōu tuánliàn fùshǐ; later restored as Zhí Lóngtú gé; died in office. — Ānshì had a collection in 20 juàn; no transmitted copy is now extant. The present collection consists of his memorials; it is not known who compiled it. At the head are prefaces by Shí Xīng and Zhāng Yìngfú of Lóngqìng xīnwèi (1571), both stating that they had obtained a hand-copy from the family of “Xītíng wángsūn” (the Prince of Xītíng — i.e. Zhū Mùhuáng 朱睦㮮). Shí Xīng’s preface says the collection is in 3 juàn, while the present recension is in 13 juàn — disagreeing with the preface. But comparing it with the contents preserved in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, every piece corresponds — most likely the proof-reader through carelessness omitted the “10” character before “3 juàn”. — The Sòng shǐ records that Ānshì’s loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and uprightness resembled Sīmǎ Guāng’s, while in firm vigour he surpassed his teacher; he therefore impeached the powerful and influential and “spoke without reserve” (盡言不諱), winning the contemporary epithet Diànshànghǔ. The matters discussed in this collection are largely not recorded in the Sòng shǐ and considerably help in examining the politics of the time. There is some questioning of his judgement: e.g. in the case of Wú Chǔhòu 吳處厚 vs. Cài Què 蔡確 — Wú’s impeachment was clearly fabricated, but Ānshì supported Wú’s claim, submitting twelve memorials with the apparent purpose of putting Cài to death — this is biased. But Ānshì’s hatred of evil was so fierce that he saw only that Cài was a man of crooked dealings and missed that Wú was no upright man either. He saw irreverence to the sovereign and pursued like a hawk, not from mere private rivalry. Note also that Ōuyáng Fěi 歐陽棐 was favoured by Sū Shì 蘇軾, and Chéng Yí 程頤 disliked by Sū Shì; Ānshì memorialized that Ōuyáng Fěi’s appointment was unsuitable in nine successive memorials, and dismissed Chéng Yí among the “five demons” — drawing no distinction at all. This too is evidence of his solitary independence from factional alliance, not a defect. His one defect was that qìzhì yòngshì (his temperament was head-strong); his words sometimes too vehement. As Wáng Chēng 王偁’s Dōngdū shìlüè puts it: “If a jūnzǐ cannot think deeply and far, settling himself patiently to wear down the xiǎorén’s power, but instead aches and rages and uses every word to fight — then events become factional struggle.” This is balanced judgment. As for Zhū Xī 朱熹’s Míngchén yánxíng lù — for both Wáng Ānshí and Lǚ Huìqīng there is excerpting; only because Ānshì had once impeached Chéng Yí does Zhū Xī not record a single character of his — this seems to be deliberate suppression. In the matter of court right-and-wrong, Ānshì knew without leaving anything unsaid, said without leaving anything unspoken; his stern bearing and upright temperament are luminously preserved here; his spirit alone is enough for the ages, beyond what mere force can extinguish. (— Sìkù tíyào via Kyoto Zinbun database, http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/db-machine/ShikoTeiyo/0121101.html.)

Abstract

Liú Ānshì’s surviving collected memorials are the principal documentary source for Yuányòu 元祐-period (1086–1093) court politics — the conservative-reaction against Wáng Ānshí’s reforms, the rehabilitation of Sīmǎ Guāng’s old-policies group, and the rise of the Cài Què / Cài Jīng / Cài Biàn faction that would precipitate the Shàoshèng reaction. The 13 juàn preserve his impeachments of Cài Què, Wáng Ānshí’s sons, Zhāng Dūn 章惇, Lǚ Huìqīng, and others. Within the Yuányòu coalition his hostility to the Lùoxué faction (Chéng Yí et al.) made him an isolated figure; Zhū Xī’s later refusal to excerpt him in the Míngchén yánxíng lù preserved this Lùo-vs-Sī-mǎ enmity into the canonical Daoxue tradition. The SBCK and WYG witnesses share the textual core but transmit different prefatorial materials.

Translations and research

• Tom Shukai 杜寿凱 et al., Liú Yuán-chéng yán-xíng lù jiào-zhù 劉元城言行錄校註 (companion to the Jìn-yán jí).
• Yuán-cháo 袁朝 (et al.), Sòng dài jiàn-guān zhì-dù yǔ Liú Ān-shì 宋代諫官制度與劉安世 (Wuhan, 2018).
• Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.

Other points of interest

SBCK and WYG transmit different prefatorial materials: SBCK preserves a Sòng-period (Shàoxīng 26 = 1156) preface by Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成 — itself a valuable Sòng witness — that the WYG dropped. The Míng prefaces (1571) document the work’s recovery from the Yìngshùn / Xītíng princely library of Zhū Mùhuáng.

Links

• Wikidata: Liu Anshi
• Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.
• Sìkù tíyào (Kyoto Zinbun)