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心經

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Text ID
KR3a0060
Date
1220–1235
Dynasty
宋

Xīn jīng 心經

The Mind Classic by 眞德秀 (Zhēn Déxiù, 1178–1235, 宋)

(Note: this is Zhēn Déxiù’s Confucian Xīn jīng, distinct from the Buddhist Heart Sūtra — Bōrě bōluómìduō xīn jīng 般若波羅蜜多心經 — also routinely abbreviated as Xīn jīng. The two works are unrelated.)

About the work

A one-juan compilation by Zhēn Déxiù of géyán (gnomic sayings) of sages and worthies on the heart-mind, with annotation drawn from various Confucian commentators, closing with a four-line zàn of Zhēn’s own. The work was first printed at Fúzhōu fǔxué by Yán Ruòyú 顏若愚 in Duānpíng 1 (1234), with a colophon by Yán describing Zhēn building a study-chamber at Yuèshān, where “even in moments of ease he was always as if the ruler-father were present before him.” Reprinted with the Zhèng jīng (KR3a0061) in 1242 by Zhào Shídì 趙時棣, Magistrate of Dàyú 大庾, with a preface by Zhēn’s disciple Wáng Mài 王邁 reporting that after Zhēn’s death (1235) Lǐzōng asked the jīngyán official Hóng Zīkuí 洪咨夔 to compose a preface, saying “I have read this in the late hours and approved it.” The work circulated rapidly thereafter and is the foundational xīnxué-leaning text of late-Sòng Lǐxué. Its YuánMíngQīng reception is significant: Chéng Mǐnzhèng 程敏政 (Míng) made a Xīnjīng zhù 心經註 (KR3a0060 sub-tradition); the work is the principal Chinese-language Lǐxué canonical reference for xīn discourse in Korean Sǒngnihak.

The SKQS tíyào notes a textual issue: the Xīn jīng in present circulation cites the Xīshān dúshū jì — but the Dúshū jì’s yǐ portion was composed by Tāng Hàn after Zhēn’s death (1259), so cannot have been cited by Zhēn himself; later hands have therefore augmented the original.

Tiyao

(Translated from Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào 0191302.)

The Xīn jīng in 1 juan — copy from the Ānhuī Provincial Governor’s submission.

Composed by Zhēn Déxiù of the Sòng. This compilation gathers the géyán of sages and worthies on the heart-mind, with the various schools’ arguments as commentary. At the close, a four-line zàn attached. In Duānpíng 1 (1234), Yán Ruòyú printed it at the Quánzhōu fǔxué, with a colophon saying: “He built a chamber at Yuèshān; though it was a place of ease, always he stood as if the ruler-father were present before him.” In Chúnyòu 2 (1242) Magistrate Zhào Shídì of Dàyú printed this work together with the Zhèng jīng, with a preface by Déxiù’s disciple Wáng Mài that says: “the Xīn jīng one book was current in the world; it reached even the imperial chamber. In Duānpíng yǐwèi (1235), two months after the master’s death, the attending official Hóng Zīkuí was at the jīngyán; the emperor brought out the master’s Xīn jīng and said: ‘Zhēnmǒu this book — I read it in the second watch and have approved it. You should write a preface.‘” Such was its weight.

The Wénxiàn tōngkǎo gives it as Xīn jīng fǎyǔ; this matches the Shūlù jiětí — apparently one book under two names. In the Míng, Chéng Mǐnzhèng once made a commentary, but suspected that some passages cite the Xīshān dúshū jì — these would not be Déxiù’s original text; presumably later hands again supplied additions, not the old recension.

Abstract

The Xīn jīng is the foundational xīnxué-leaning text of late-Sòng Lǐxué, composed during Zhēn Déxiù’s mature years. The composition window is presumably the 1220s through 1234 (the date of Yán Ruòyú’s first printing). The frontmatter brackets to ca. 1220–1235.

The substantive role: a one-juan canon of xīnxìng sayings, with extensive annotation drawing on the Liù jīng, Sì shū, the Northern-Sòng daoxué writings, and Zhū Xī. The work’s pivotal position in late-Sòng Lǐxué — bridging the xīnxìng discourse of Zhū Xī’s mature work and the more xīnxué-inclined positions that emerge later — gives it special importance in Yuán and especially Korean reception.

The textual situation: the late-Sòng / YuánMíng circulating text contains augmentations including citations of the Xīshān dúshū jì’s yǐ portion (which Tāng Hàn finished only after Zhēn’s death) — flagged by Chéng Mǐnzhèng and the SKQS editors as later interpolation. The original Zhēn-hand text is therefore somewhat shorter than the transmitted form.

The bibliographic record: Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo (as Xīnjīng fǎyǔ); Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. Chéng Mǐnzhèng’s Xīnjīng zhù and Lǐ Tuìxī (Yi Hwang)‘s Korean Hyŏngyŏnggǔng simgyŏng buju (心經附註) parallel-tradition extend the work into the YuánMíng and Korean transmission.

Translations and research

  • Theodore de Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart (1981) — the major Western treatment.
  • JaHyun Kim Haboush, Heritage of Mind: Yi T’oegye’s Reflections (Honolulu, 1985) — the Korean xīn-jīng tradition.
  • Yi Hwang [Yi T’oegye] 李退溪, Simgyŏng husaron / Simgyŏng buju — the principal Korean commentary.
  • Standard modern Chinese editions: He Pei-rong et al.

Other points of interest

The pivotal moment of the Xīn jīng’s late-Sòng imperial reception — Lǐzōng asking Hóng Zīkuí for a preface after reading it himself “in the second watch” — is one of the cleaner Sòng-court testimony documents on the imperial reading of Lǐxué literature; the moment is preserved in Wáng Mài’s preface and is much cited.

The work’s Korean reception under Yi T’oegye made it second only to the Sìshū and Jìnsī lù in the Sǒngnihak curriculum.

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