聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

授經圖義例

8 min read

Text ID
KR2n0008
Date
1560–1586
Dynasty
明

Shòujīngtú yìlì 授經圖義例

Diagrams of the Transmission of the Classics, with General Principles

by 朱睦㮮 (Zhū Mùzhì, 1517–1586)

About the work

A late-Míng prosopographical bibliography of the Five Classics tradition, compiled by the Kāifēng-based imperial clansman Zhū Mùzhì (Xītíng 西亭), sixth-generation descendant of Zhū Sù 朱橚 the Prince of Zhōu (Míng Tàizǔ’s son). The work is a comprehensive table-of-transmission for Yì, Shī, Shū, Lǐ, Chūnqiū sānzhuàn — for each classic giving (i) genealogical “transmission charts” of teacher-disciple lines (shòushòu shìxì 授受世系), (ii) biographies of the zhū rú (commentators), and (iii) lists of their commentaries with juan-counts. Each classic occupies four juan, totalling twenty. The work is the immediate ancestor of Zhū Yízūn’s much larger Jīngyì kǎo KR2n0011 of 1701, which Zhū Yízūn himself acknowledged. The Sìkù WYG copy is not Zhū Mùzhì’s original: it is a heavily revised version produced by Huáng Yújī 黃虞稷 (1629–1691) and Gōng Xiánglín 龔翔麟 in the Kāngxī era and printed by them. Zhū’s original was 4 juan (per his own preface) — the 20-juan WYG count reflects the revised, expanded recension. Huáng’s preface is candid that he and Gōng “have re-edited” the original, replacing some title attributions, expanding the lists with material from the dynastic-history bibliographies and the Tōngzhì / Tōngkǎo, and adding 255 further authors. The Sìkù editors note tartly that this re-editing reverses Zhū’s original principle (which was to confine attention to Eastern and Western Hàn, the era of zhuānmén shòushòu) and so the WYG text is in places at odds with the author’s purpose.

Tiyao

The Shòujīng tú in twenty juan was compiled by Zhū Mùzhì of the Míng. He is also the author of the Yìxué shíyí 易學識疑, already catalogued. This book sets out the lineages of classical scholarship.

The Chóngwén zǒngmù lists a Shòujīng tú in three juan, dealing with Yì, Shī, Shū, Lǐ, and the three traditions of the Chūnqiū; that work is now lost. Zhāng Jùnqīng’s 章俊卿 Shāntáng kǎosuǒ 山堂考索 of the Sòng once attempted to trace these traditions, drawing genealogical charts for each, but the result was incomplete and contained errors. Zhū then took Zhāng’s old charts and supplemented and corrected them. The arrangement: first the lineage of transmission, then the biographies, then a list of works (with title and juan-count) of every commentator down through history. Each classic has four juan; the Five Classics together come to twenty juan. Zhū’s own preface says he divided it into four juan — we suspect text dropped in transcription.

The work was never blockprinted in his lifetime. Only Huáng Yújī’s family had a manuscript. In the Kāngxī era Huáng, with Gōng Xiánglín 龔翔麟 of Qiántáng, collated and printed it. Huáng’s preface says: “Xītíng’s old text [Xītíng is Zhū’s hào] is in places out of sequence; my colleague Gōng Hénǔpǔ [Hénǔpǔ is Gōng’s hào] and I have re-edited it. For the Yì we put restoration of antiquity first; for the Shū we put the New-Text recension first; for the other classics, where the commentary tradition has gaps, we draw on the dynastic-history bibliographies and the Tōngzhì and Tōngkǎo to fill them in. We also include the more transmissable recent commentaries. Compared with Xītíng’s compilation, this is now somewhat more complete.”

Zhū’s original Yìlì says: from Zhōu and Hàn down through Jīn and Yuán there are 1,132 commentators in all, plus 39 from the present (Míng) dynasty; and 1,798 commentaries in 21,071 juan. Huáng et al. note in addition: “We have newly added 255 ancient and modern commentators, and 741 commentaries in 6,218 juan.” So Huáng has substantially altered the work — it is no longer Xītíng’s original.

Looking at what Huáng altered: his Yì — “putting restoration of antiquity first” — places the Zǐxià Yìzhuàn 子夏易傳 KR1a0002 before others, but that is in fact the Wáng Bì recension, not the genuine ancient Yì. His Shū — “putting the New-Text recension first” — actually leads off with Zhū Xī’s Shūgǔjīng 書古經, which is in fact Kǒng Ānguó’s text, not the New-Text. By such examples his treatment is not wholly defensible.

Moreover Zhū’s original purpose — frustrated by the loss of the Hàn lineages of zhuānmén shòushòu — was to trace these specifically and lead scholars to drink at the source: hence his original biographies stop at the two Hàn dynasties. His son Zhū Qínmiè 朱勤美’s postface (the 美 character was originally garbled as 𦺈, now corrected) likewise says: “After the Qín-bonfire the Six Classics were destroyed. The scholars who arose at the Hàn restoration preserved unbroken lines, and their schools flourished. By the Eastern Hàn the lines of transmission lacked sequence and classical scholarship was already in some decay. Hence this book is heaviest on the Western Hàn.” Zhū’s intention is luminously clear. Yet Huáng’s collected supplements draw indifferently from all later periods — the very opposite of Zhū’s project.

But before Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo KR2n0011 appeared, no other work had laid out the transmission of the several classics in this systematic way. This book really was the háoshǐ 嚆矢 (signal-arrow, harbinger) of the genre. We do not, on account of these later alterations, throw the original away.

Abstract

The Shòujīngtú yìlì is the prototype of the comprehensive transmission-of-the-classics genre and the immediate ancestor of Zhū Yízūn’s monumental Jīngyì kǎo KR2n0011 (300 juan, 1701). Zhū Mùzhì compiled it in the early-to-mid Wànlì period (his datings cluster ca. 1560–1583); the catalog meta dates “1517–1586” reflect his lifespan, and the work is therefore plausibly placed at any point in his mature career — notBefore here is conservatively set to 1560 (post the Wǔjīng jīyí preliminary work) and notAfter to his death (1586).

The text’s structure is innovative: each classic is treated under three heads — (i) shòushòu shìxì 授受世系 (a teacher-disciple genealogical chart), (ii) zhūrú lièzhuàn 諸儒列傳 (commentator biographies), and (iii) zhūrú zhùshù 諸儒著述 (a list of commentaries with juan-counts). Zhū confined the biographies to the Western and Eastern Hàn — his explicit programmatic point being that the zhuānmén shòushòu (specialised teacher-disciple transmission) lineages survived only down to the Eastern Hàn and the Yìlì should reflect that.

The Sìkù WYG copy is not Zhū’s original but the Huáng Yújī / Gōng Xiánglín revised recension printed in the Kāngxī era (probably ca. 1672–1685). Huáng’s preface admits to substantial editorial intervention: 255 additional authors and 741 additional commentaries (about 6,218 juan) were added, drawn from the dynastic-history bibliographies and the Tōngzhì / Tōngkǎo. Zhū’s own preface said the original was in 4 juan — which the Sìkù editors regard as either correct (with later transcription expanding to 20) or as a transcription error. The final arithmetic — 1,132 pre-Míng + 39 Míng commentators, 1,798 commentaries in 21,071 juan — is Zhū’s count; Huáng’s expansion adds an additional layer.

The Sìkù editors’ criticism of Huáng’s revisions is sharp: his “putting restoration of antiquity first” for the Yì leads off with Wáng Bì’s recension (mislabelled as the Zǐxià Yìzhuàn); his “putting New-Text first” for the Shū actually places Kǒng Ānguó’s text (an Old-Text recension) at the head. The editors also note that Huáng’s expansion to all later periods reverses Zhū’s principled focus on the Hàn era of zhuānmén lineages.

Despite these complaints, the editors close with a strong endorsement: before Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo, no other work had analysed the source-tradition of the several classics in this systematic way; this book is the genre’s háoshǐ.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies:

  • Wú Hóngzé 吳洪澤, “朱睦㮮《授經圖義例》及黃虞稷增補本考辨”, Wénxiàn 文獻 (1999) — examination of the textual layers.
  • Liú Yuǎnyuán 劉遠遠 et al., on the Wànjuàntáng 萬卷堂 library and Zhū’s bibliographical method.
  • Hú Cháoyáng 胡朝陽, Míng-dài Zhōu fán wáng-fǔ shūjí 明代周藩王府書籍 — for the institutional context of Kāifēng-Zhōu princely scholarship.
  • For the comparative context with Jīngyì kǎo: Léi Zhōngháng 雷中行 and others on Zhū Yízūn’s debt to the Shòujīng tú.

Other points of interest

The Wànjuàntáng 萬卷堂 (Hall of Ten Thousand Volumes) at Zhū’s Kāifēng residence was one of the three great late-Míng private libraries (with Fàn Qīn’s 范欽 Tiānyīgé 天一閣 and Hú Yīnglín’s 胡應麟 Èryǒu shānfáng 二酉山房). The Sìkù editors’ explicit note that the WYG text is the Huáng-revised recension, not Zhū’s original, is unusual frankness — most Sìkù entries elide this kind of textual layering. Modern scholarship attempting to recover Zhū’s original strips out Huáng’s additions by comparison with the original Yìlì’s arithmetic (1,132 pre-Míng commentators).

Graph View

Backlinks