Xìnglǐ qúnshū jùjiě 性理羣書句解
Sentence-Annotation of the Various Books on Xìnglǐ compiled by 熊節 (Xióng Jié, zì Duāncāo 端操, 宋, 編); annotated by 熊剛大 (Xióng Gāngdà, 宋, 注)
About the work
A 23-juan topical anthology of late-Northern / early-Southern Sòng Lǐxué writings — compiled by Xióng Jié (a direct ZhūXī disciple) and annotated phrase-by-phrase by his fellow Jiànyáng townsman Xióng Gāngdà — drawing material from the seven Lǐxué sages: Zhōu Dūnyí (濂溪), Chéng Hào (明道), Chéng Yí (伊川), Shào Yōng (康節), Sīmǎ Guāng (涑水), and the two later additions Lǐ Tóng (Yánpíng) and Zhū Xī. The work is the earliest substantial Sòng Lǐxué topical anthology, predating the celebrated Xìnglǐ dàquán (KR3a0078) of Yǒnglè 1415 by roughly two centuries. Distinctive feature: the inclusion of Sīmǎ Guāng among the seven sages. As the SKQS tíyào explains, this follows Zhū Xī’s own Shàoxī 5 (1194) inclusion of ZhōuChéngShàoZhāngSīmǎYánpíng in the seven-sage cóng sì at the Zhúlín jīngshè; the formula was eventually narrowed in late-Sòng / YuánMíng tradition (excluding Sīmǎ Guāng), but Xióng Jié as a direct Zhū-school student preserved the master’s choice.
Structure: opens with biographical traditions of the great Confucians; then zàn (eulogies), xùn (instructions), jiè (warnings), zhēn (admonitions), guī (regulations), míng (inscriptions), shī (poems), fù (rhymed prose), xù (prefaces), jì (records), shuō (essays), lù (reports), biàn (disputations), lùn (arguments), tú (charts), then the Zhèng méng, Huángjí jīngshì, Tōng shū, then literary writings, closing with the seven sages’ deeds and lives.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that the Xìnglǐ qúnshū jùjiě in 23 juan was compiled by Xióng Jié of the Sòng, with annotation by Xióng Gāngdà. Jié, zì Duāncāo, was a man of Jiànyáng. He held office to Tōngzhí láng with assignment as Mǐnqīngxiàn. Gāngdà also a Jiànyáng man; studied under Cài Yuān 蔡淵 and Huáng Gàn 黃榦. Jìnshì in Jiādìng. Self-styled Juéxuānménrén; held charge of the Jiànān Academy where Zhū Wéngōng [Zhū Xī] and the various sages were ritually venerated. His official career is otherwise unrecoverable. The annotation refers to “in recent years the Sovereign personally inscribed the Báilùdòng regulations to bestow on Nánkāng” — Lǐzōng-period [1224–1264] man.
Jié studied under Zhūzǐ. This book draws from various Sòng Confucians’ bequeathed writings, classified and arranged. Opens with the traditions of Liánxī, Míngdào, Yīchuān, Kāngjié, Sùshuǐ and other great Confucians’ Way-lineage and side-streams. Next zàn; next xùn; next jiè; next zhēn; next guī; next míng; next shī; next fù; next xù; next jì; next shuō; next lù; next biàn; next lùn; next tú; next Zhèng méng; next Huángjí jīngshì; next Tōng shū; next wén — and closes with the seven sages’ xíng shí (deeds-and-lives).
The listing of Sīmǎ Guāng alone — at variance with later lecturers — examining: Zhūzǐ in Shàoxī 5 (1194), winter, built the Zhúlín jīngshè and led the disciples in performing the shè cài rite to the former sages and former masters, with Zhōu, Chéng, Shào, Zhāng, Sīmǎ and Yánpíng — seven masters — cóng sì. The collection contains his zhù wén with the line: “Shào, Zhāng, and Sīmǎ, though their learning differs, the Way is one” — so Zhūzǐ’s listing of the xuétǒng originally had Guāng. Later as schools divided, the lecturers excluded him. Jié, having studied directly under Zhūzǐ, accordingly does not dare freely make high judgments.
The writings collected likewise centre on the seven sages, but Yáng Shí, Luó Zhòngsù 羅仲素 [Luó Cóngyàn], Fàn Jùn 范浚, Lǚ Dàlín, Cài Yuándìng 蔡元定, Huáng Gàn, Zhāng Shì, Hú Hóng, Zhēn Déxiù are also included. The mention of Fàn Zhì 范質: because Zhūzǐ in composing the Xiǎo xué once cited Fàn Zhì’s “jiècóngzǐ shī”, he too is included.
[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 Xìnglǐ qúnshū jùjiě is the earliest comprehensive Sòng Lǐxué topical anthology and the proximate model for the Yǒng-lè-period Xìnglǐ dàquán (KR3a0078). Composition window: bracketed by the working lives of the two Xióng compilers — Xióng Jié (post-Zhū-Xī disciple, fl. early thirteenth century) and Xióng Gāngdà (Lǐzōng-period). The frontmatter brackets to ca. 1200–1264.
The substantive position is methodologically ZhūXī orthodox in its inclusion of the seven sages following Zhū’s own 1194 ritual-pedagogical formulation. The continued inclusion of Sīmǎ Guāng — while later Lǐxué tradition narrowed the canon — gives the work standing value as a documentary witness to Zhū Xī’s own broader canon-formation.
The bibliographic record: Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. The work was eclipsed in canonical-anthology status by the Xìnglǐ dàquán but remained in scholarly use through the Míng and into the Qīng.
Translations and research
- No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
- The work is treated within studies of Sòng-Yuán Lǐxué anthology-formation.
Other points of interest
The Xióng Jié / Xióng Gāngdà pair — same surname, same district, both Zhū-Xī-school — represents one of the cleanest cases of Sòng-period local Lǐxué lineage continuity at the Jiànyáng centre. The annotation methodology — phrase-by-phrase jùjiě — anticipates the Yuán Sìshū jízhù commentary tradition.
Links
- Xìnglǐ dàquán (KR3a0078) — the Yǒng-lè-period successor anthology.
- Zhū Xī, “Zhúlín jīngshè zhùwén” (Shàoxī 5 / 1194) — the seven-sage ritual model.
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikidata