Tōngshū shùjiě 通書述解
Annotated Exegesis of the Tōngshū by 曹端 (Cáo Duān, hào Yuèchuān 月川, 1376–1434, 明)
About the work
A two-juan exegetical commentary by Cáo Duān on Zhōu Dūnyí’s 周敦頤 Tōngshū 通書 (originally titled Yì tōng 易通 — a forty-章 treatise on the Yì-derived metaphysics that complements his briefer Tàijí tú shuō). The work is the third of Cáo’s commentaries on the three core Northern-Sòng daoxué texts (see KR3a0023 Tàijí tú shuō shùjiě and KR3a0024 Xīmíng shùjiě); it was added to the integrated three-work printing under the editorship of the late-Míng / early-Qīng Lǐxué scholar Sūn Qíféng 孫奇逢 (1585–1675) by Zhāng Jìng 張燝, Magistrate of Miǎnchí. Sūn supplied a preface and postface (the postface specifically about the Tōngshū; the preface for the three-work integrated printing). The substantive position is that of Cáo’s Tàijí tú shuō shùjiě: a sober early-Míng Zhūzǐxué loyalism, with the addition of the jìng cún methodology and a willingness to distinguish Zhū’s authoritative zhùjiě from the disciples’ yǔlèi on points of technical metaphysical dispute.
Tiyao
(See the joint SKQS tíyào under KR3a0023, which covers this work together with KR3a0023 Tàijí tú shuō shùjiě and KR3a0024 Xīmíng shùjiě.)
The relevant points specific to the Tōngshū shùjiě recorded in the joint tíyào: this work was not part of the original 1511 paired printing but was added to the integrated edition by Sūn Qíféng and Zhāng Jìng. Sūn’s preface and postface bookend the work. The tíyào notes that “the printing-quality is rather poor and the layout has no editorial consistency” and that the SKQS editors have separated body-text and commentary onto different lines for clarity. The tíyào further notes that the original title was Shì wén 釋文 (per Cáo’s biography) but was changed to shùjiě by some unidentified later hand.
Abstract
The Tōngshū shùjiě is Cáo Duān’s commentary on Zhōu Dūnyí’s Tōngshū, the longer companion-piece to the Tàijí tú shuō. The Tōngshū itself comprises forty short chapters (章) on chéng 誠, shèng 聖, jì 幾, xìng 性, jiào 教, lǐ 禮 / yuè 樂 and related themes; Zhū Xī’s foundational gloss is the standard layer pre-dating Cáo. Cáo’s commentary supplements it with the same jìng cún methodology developed in the Tàijí tú shuō shùjiě.
The composition window is the same as the other two Cáo Duān commentaries: bracketed by Cáo’s working life. The Tōngshū shùjiě is plausibly composed alongside or shortly after the Tàijí tú shuō shùjiě (1428 self-preface), with the bracket ca. 1410–1434.
The transmitted text is the late-Míng / early-Qīng three-work printing under Sūn Qíféng’s editorship and Zhāng Jìng’s printing, consolidated by the SKQS editors. The two-juan division of this work alone (versus the one-juan of the other two) reflects the Tōngshū’s own greater length.
The bibliographic record: as for KR3a0023.
Translations and research
- For the parent text Tōng-shū: Joseph A. Adler, Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi, SUNY Press, 2014, 195–280 — comprehensive treatment of the Tōng-shū and Zhū Xī’s gloss.
- Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963, 465–480 (translation of Tōng-shū).
- Sūn Qí-féng’s editorial role is the subject of Wing-tsit Chan, “Sun Qifeng (1585–1675) and the Confucian Tradition”, in Confucian Personalities (Stanford UP, 1962).
- Cáo Duān-specific Chinese-language studies as for KR3a0023.
Other points of interest
The Sūn Qíféng editorial layer is methodologically interesting: Sūn was a major late-Míng / early-Qīng Lǐxué figure at Xiàfēng 夏峯 academy, and his integration of the three Cáo Duān works represents a Qīng-period Lǐxué canon-formation moment in which the early-Míng Cáo Duān commentaries were re-positioned as an authoritative Northern-Sòng daoxué gloss tradition.
Links
- Tōngshū 通書 (parent text — embedded in Zhōu Dūnyí’s Yuán gōng wénjí).
- Zhū Xī, Tōngshū jiě 通書解 (the foundational commentary).
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào (joint tíyào)
- Wikipedia
- Wikidata