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上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書‧彭祖

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Text ID
KR2p0169
Date
-450–-300
Dynasty
周

Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn Cáng Zhànguó Chǔ Zhúshū‧Péng Zǔ 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書‧彭祖

Warring States Chu Bamboo Texts at the Shanghai Museum — “Pengzu” (彭祖 Péng Zǔ)

(dialogue featuring the legendary figure Péng Zǔ 彭祖)

About the work

The Péng Zǔ 彭祖 (“Pengzu”) is a short bamboo-slip text from the Shanghai Museum’s Warring States Chu collection, published as text no. 13 in Volume 8 (2011) of Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn Cáng Zhànguó Chǔ Zhúshū 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書, edited by 馬承源. Volume 8 contains ten texts predominantly of Ruist character. The text is a dialogue in which a figure called Gǒulǎo 耈老 (“the revered old man” / elderly questioner) asks Péng Zǔ 彭祖 — the legendary figure said to have lived 800 years — about longevity, conduct, and the way of Heaven, and Péng Zǔ gives a series of moral admonitions.

Abstract

Provenance. The Shanghai Museum slips were purchased from a Hong Kong dealer in 1994, originally from Jiangling 江陵, Hubei. The Péng Zǔ appeared in Volume 8 (2011), one of the later volumes in the publication series. The Chu-script paleography dates the manuscript to approximately 300 BCE.

Content. The text opens with Gǒulǎo 耈老 asking Péng Zǔ: “Your mind holds to [virtue] and does not forget it; [you have] received the mandate for long life. What art can I practice to benefit my person and satisfy in the Emperor’s hall?” (氏執心不忘，受命永長。臣何藝可行，而營於朕身，而謐于帝嘗？) Péng Zǔ replies: “Excellent! You will ask many questions based on causes — and not lose your measure. The way of Heaven (tiān zhī dào 天之道) is constant (héng 恒) in its words: Heaven, earth, and people are like warp and weft, like outer and inner.” Gǒulǎo then asks: “If three [forces] are reduced to two, would that not be better?” Péng Zǔ replies: “Alas! You are diligently spreading your questions; I will tell you about human relations (rén lún 人倫): guard against arrogance (jiè zhī wú jiāo 戒之毋驕); be careful in ending [as in beginning] (shèn zhōng 慎終) and preserve labour (bǎo láo 保勞). The essentials of great rectification (dà kuāng zhī yào 大匡之要) [are to handle] difficulty and ease without pent-up desire.” Gǒulǎo then humbles himself and asks about proper human conduct (wéi rén 為人). Péng Zǔ answers with a series of moral aphorisms: one must cultivate the five obligations (wǔ jì 五紀 — the five key relationships: father-son, ruler-minister, husband-wife, elder-younger, friend-friend); though poor, one must cultivate them; though rich but neglecting them, one will surely lose all. He warns against scheming (móu), against anxiety that corrodes (chù tì 怵惕), against multiple engagements that bring multiple sorrows, and against harming others — “the one who harms others harms themselves” (zéi zhě zì zéi 賊者自賊也). The text closes with a scheme linking the reception of rank (mìng 命) to self-cultivation (xiū 修): receiving one rank and cultivating oneself once brings increasing benefit; one rank with three-fold self-cultivation makes one “self-enriched”; three ranks and four-fold cultivation makes one “lord of the hundred surnames.” Conversely: one rank with one laziness (nǐ 䑋) is calamitous; one rank with three-fold laziness means “not lasting”; three ranks with four-fold laziness leads to “cutting off and stopping.” The text ends with Gǒulǎo bowing twice and acknowledging the teaching.

Significance. Péng Zǔ 彭祖 appears in the Zhuāngzǐ 莊子 (ch. 1) as an example of one who achieves great longevity but still has limits — there, he is used as a foil to illustrate that even impressive longevity is not the ultimate. The Shanghai Museum Péng Zǔ presents him in a different, more straightforwardly didactic role as a moral teacher. The text’s content — its emphasis on the five relationships, on guarding against arrogance, and on the connection between self-cultivation and the receipt of official rank (mìng 命) — is predominantly Confucian in character, despite the Daoist associations of the Péng Zǔ figure. This mixing of traditions in a single text is characteristic of the late Warring States synthetic intellectual environment.

Dating. Paleographic evidence dates the manuscript c. 300 BCE. notBefore -450 / notAfter -300.

Translations and research

  • 馬承源主編. 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》第八冊. 上海古籍出版社, 2011. (editio princeps)
  • 俞紹宏、張青松主編. 《上海博物館藏戰國楚簡集釋》. 社會科學文獻出版社, 2020.
  • Shaughnessy, Edward L. Rewriting Early Chinese Texts. SUNY Press, 2006.
  • Allan, Sarah. Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Early Chinese Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts. SUNY Press, 2015.

Other points of interest

The figure of Péng Zǔ 彭祖 occupies a contested position in the early Chinese textual tradition. The Lúnyǔ 論語 mentions him briefly (7.1) as an example of someone who transmitted ancient knowledge diligently. The Zhuāngzǐ 莊子 cites him as a longevity figure who is still ultimately limited. Chǔ Cí 楚辭 compositions associate him with the Chu mythological tradition. The Shanghai Museum text, with its didactic dialogue format and its association of Péng Zǔ with moral instruction on the five relationships, represents yet another facet of this multivalent figure. The text may derive from a Chu local tradition in which Péng Zǔ (the name of the ancient state of Páng 彭 was located in the region later occupied by Chu) was associated with sagehood and wise counsel.

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