Zhāngzǐ yǔlù 張子語錄
The Recorded Sayings of Master Zhāng by 張載 (Zhāng Zǎi, 1020–1077, 宋, 撰); 張元濟 (Zhāng Yuánjì, 1867–1959, 民國, 撰校勘記)
About the work
A three-juan collection of Zhāng Zǎi’s recorded oral teachings (yǔlù 語錄), preserved through SBCK reproduction with Zhāng Yuánjì’s collation notes (jiàokān jì 校勘記) appended. The work parallels the Yǔlù chāo 語錄抄 included in the Zhāngzǐ quánshū (KR3a0026) but is the fuller separately-transmitted yǔlù tradition. The materials include the famous sìjù 四句 — wèi tiāndì lì xīn / wèi shēngmín lì mìng / wèi wǎngshèng jì juéxué / wèi wànshì kāi tàipíng — together with extensive shorter sayings and short essays on classical and metaphysical topics. The work is the principal source, alongside the Zhèng méng 正蒙, for Zhāng Zǎi’s substantive doctrine.
Abstract
The Zhāngzǐ yǔlù in three juan represents the yǔlù tradition of Zhāng Zǎi’s pupils — most notably Lǚ Dàlín 呂大臨 — preserving his oral teachings beyond what the Zhèng méng covers. The compilation date is the lifetime of Zhāng Zǎi himself, with the yǔlù materials gathered as he taught at Héngqú in his late years (1070s) and consolidated by his pupils after his death in 1077.
The work is preserved in the SBCK reproduction from a Sòng printing held at Sōngjiāngfǔ; Zhāng Yuánjì’s collation notes — typical of his SBCK editorial method — record substantive variants from other witnesses. The work is comparatively rare in transmitted Chinese bibliography and is not in the SKQS itself; the SBCK is its principal twentieth-century preservation. The Yǔlù chāo 語錄抄 within KR3a0026 is a partial-overlap selection rather than the full yǔlù.
The bibliographic record: Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì; Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí (3 juan); SBCK retention.
The frontmatter dating brackets the work to the working life of Zhāng Zǎi (post-1057 jìnshì through to his 1077 death) — the period when the yǔlù materials were generated.
Translations and research
- The standard Chinese critical edition is Hāng Sōng’s Zhāng Zǎi jí (Zhōnghuá Shūjú 1978), which integrates the SBCK yǔ-lù with the SKQS-base Yǔ-lù chāo and other materials.
- Western-language translations of the sì-jù and selected yǔ-lù passages are widely available; Wing-tsit Chan’s Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963) translates representative passages.
- Critical studies as for KR3a0026 (Kasoff, Tu Wei-ming, Robin Wang).
Other points of interest
The Zhāng Yuánjì jiàokān jì is one of the cleaner cases of Republican-era SBCK editorial scholarship: it preserves substantive variant readings between the Sòng yǔlù base and other extant transmissions, including the Yǔlù chāo of the Zhāngzǐ quánshū. The variants are useful for the modern critical reconstruction of Zhāng Zǎi’s oral teaching.