Róng Shī Yǒu Chéng 融師有成
The Master Rong Has Accomplishments (modern editorial title, from the opening phrase; the genre and interpretation of the text are deeply uncertain)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Róng Shī Yǒu Chéng 融師有成 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 5, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2005, comprising only approximately 3 bamboo strips with roughly 50 legible graphs. It is one of the most obscure and difficult texts in the entire Shanghai Museum corpus. The text appears to describe a paradoxical entity — perhaps a spirit, a type of creature, or a sage — called 融師有成 Róng Shī Yǒu Chéng, characterized by non-functioning sense organs and an inscrutable nature.
Abstract
The opening line reads: “The Master Róng has accomplishments; his form is like a chimpanzee (xīng 猩). He has ears but does not hear; a mouth but does not call out; eyes but does not see; feet but does not hasten. By name he is awe-inspiring; by walk he may be scorned” (融師有成，厥狀若猩，有耳不聞，有口不鳴，有目不見，有足不趨，名則可畏，步則可侮).
The following strips contain highly obscure language with multiple corrupted or damaged characters. A repeated formula: “I say: 虘茖 (zǔ gé? or 且格?) —” followed by uncertain readings; mention of not drinking and not eating; something described as “confusing,” like an animal but not a rat; it “eats people”; “the teacher sees an ominous [departure].” The third strip: “Destroying, breaking, slaughtering, and harming — uniquely this is [the creature’s] manifest form; resembling that beast and rat; having feet but [restrained?]; heavy and falling, bruised and mindful; emitted and rising, seeking the [hempen cord?].”
The text is too damaged and linguistically opaque for confident interpretation. Scholars have tentatively proposed readings involving:
- A paradox about the nature of effective leadership (the sage who achieves by not striving — wú wéi 無為 — but this reading imposes Daoist hermeneutics without textual support)
- A spirit or omen creature described for divinatory or apotropaic purposes
- A fragment of a lost genre of creature-lore (zhìguài 志怪 precursor)
The identification as 融師有成 may point to 融 as a clan or figure name (cf. the legendary 融 figures in early Chinese cosmogony), but no received source provides a clear parallel.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 5, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2005 — editio princeps with philological notes (text remains unresolved).
- No substantial secondary literature located. The text’s extreme difficulty and brevity have precluded extended scholarly treatment.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts