Zēngzǐ quánshū 曾子全書
Master Zēngzi — Complete Works edited by 汪晫 (Wāng Zhuó, zì Chǔwēi 處微, 康範先生 Kāngfàn xiānsheng, 1162–1237, 宋)
(Note: the catalog meta gives the editor’s surname as 王晫 — a typographical slip 王 for 汪. The correct surname is 汪 / Wāng, attested by the SKQS source itself, the SKQS tíyào, and contemporary Sòng sources. The character 王 (wáng) and 汪 (wāng) differ in radical and pronunciation; both forms appear in the alternate-names list of the 汪晫 note for discoverability.)
About the work
A one-juan compilation in 12 篇 of materials attributed to Zēngzǐ 曾子 (Zēng Shēn 曾參, the disciple of Confucius), assembled from the Xiào jīng, Dà xué, Lǐjì, Dà Dài lǐjì and miscellaneous classical sources by Wāng Zhuó in the Qìngyuán to Jiātài era (1195–1204). Structure: Zhòngní xiánjū 仲尼閒居 (1, = the Xiào jīng with the title removed), Míng míngdé 明明德 (2, = the Dà xué), Yǎng lǎo 養老 (3), Zhōu lǐ 周禮 (4), Yǒuzǐ wèn 有子問 (5), Sàng fú 喪服 (6), [missing 7 and 8], Jìn Chǔ 晉楚 (9), Shǒu yè 守業 (10), Sān xǐng 三省 (11), Zhōng shù 忠恕 (12). The first篇 is marked nèipiān 內篇; Yǎng lǎo and after are wàipiān 外篇; the head篇 is unmarked but presumably should also be nèipiān. The SKQS tíyào judges the project of attribution to Zēngzǐ — particularly of the Dà xué (the post-Sòng-Lǐxué-canonical position is that the Dà xué is by Zēngzǐ, but pre-Sòng tradition does not unanimously hold this) — partly anachronistic. The principal pre-Sòng Zēngzǐ corpus (the Hàn shū yìwén zhì’s 18 篇, the Suí zhì’s 2 juan + 1 juan mù) was already lost; Wāng’s reconstruction is independent of and more inclusive than Cháo Gōngwǔ’s 2-juan / 10-篇 Zēngzǐ recension.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that the Zēngzǐ quánshū in one juan was edited by Wāng Zhuó of the Sòng. Zhuó, zì Chǔwēi, was a man of Jīxī. His disciples privately gave him the posthumous title Kāngfàn xiānsheng. Zhuó was a contemporary of Zhūzǐ. The work was composed in the Qìngyuán to Jiātài period (1195–1204). In Xiánchún 10 (1274) his grandson Mèngdòu presented it together with the Zǐsīzǐ to court and was awarded Tōngzhí láng.
The Hàn zhì records Zēngzǐ in 18 篇, the Suí zhì gives Zēngzǐ in 2 juan with 1 juan of mù, the Táng zhì also records Zēngzǐ in 2 juan. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì records 2 juan / 10 篇 — that is the Táng zhì recension. Gāo Sìsūn’s Zǐlüè says it agrees with the Dà Dài lǐjì’s 49 篇 / 58 篇 and with what is mixed in Xiǎo Dài lǐjì — possibly later hands’ compilation. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí further says there was a Cíhú Yáng Jiǎn 楊簡 commentary — so a Zēngzǐ in the Sòng existed and circulated; perhaps Zhuó simply had not seen it, and so compiled this one. In all 12 篇: Zhòngní xiánjū 1, Míng míngdé 2, Yǎng lǎo 3, Zhōu lǐ 4, Yǒuzǐ wèn 5, Sàng fú 6, [empty] 7, [empty] 8, Jìn Chǔ 9, Shǒu yè 10, Sān xǐng 11, Zhōng shù 12. Míng míngdé alone is marked nèipiān; Yǎng lǎo and below are all marked wàipiān; the Zhòngní xiánjū 篇 says neither nèi nor wài — presumably originally had nèipiān but the character was lost in transmission.
The first篇 is the Xiào jīng with its name cut off and another title given — verging on inappropriate self-creation. The second篇 is the Dà xué; investigating, before the Sòng there was a tradition of Zǐsī’s writing the Dà xué but no statement of Zēngzǐ’s writing it. Assigning it to Zēngzǐ is already doubtful, and changing its title is more so.
[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]
Respectfully revised and submitted, [date].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.
Abstract
The Zēngzǐ quánshū is one of two parallel compilations by Wāng Zhuó (the other being the Zǐsīzǐ quánshū, KR3a0054) gathering the dispersed sayings of major early Confucian figures into recovered “quánshū” form. The composition window is precisely datable to the Qìngyuán–Jiātài era (1195–1204) — a period notable for being the height of the Qìngyuán dǎngjìn against the Dàoxué faction. The frontmatter brackets the work to ca. 1195–1204.
The substantive position is broadly Zhū-Xī-orthodox in its assumption that the Dà xué is by Zēngzǐ — a position formalised in Zhū Xī’s Sìshū jízhù and made canonical thereafter, but, as the SKQS tíyào notes, not unanimous in pre-Sòng tradition. The work’s editorial method — incorporating canonical works (the Xiào jīng, Dà xué) under invented chapter-headings as “Zēngzǐ’s writings” — is the tíyào’s principal complaint.
The bibliographic record: not in Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì (the work was deposited in the imperial library at Xiánchún 10, 1274, very late Sòng); Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. The work was preserved through the Wāng-family transmission via Wāng Mèngdòu’s submission, the imperial deposit, and subsequently the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and SKQS recoveries.
Translations and research
- No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
- The work is treated within studies of Sòng-period zǐ-text reconstruction.
Other points of interest
The companion presentation to court by Wāng Mèngdòu in Xiánchún 10 (1274) of both Zēngzǐ quánshū and Zǐsīzǐ quánshū — preserved in the SKQS-base — is one of the latest pre-Mongol-conquest acts of imperial Lǐxué patronage; the imperial sanction came in late 1275, less than a year before the Sòng surrender.
Links
- Wāng Mèngdòu 汪夢斗, “Zēngzǐ Zǐsīzǐ quánshū jìn biǎo” 曾子子思子全書進表 (preserved in
KR3a0053_000.txt). - Yú Xīlǔ 俞希魯 et al., prefaces (preserved with the WYG-base).
- Zǐsīzǐ quánshū (KR3a0054) — the companion work.
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikidata