Zhōuzǐ chāo shì 周子抄釋
Selections from Master Zhōu, Annotated by 呂柟 (Lǚ Nán, 1479–1542, 明)
About the work
A two-juan abridged-and-glossed selection from Zhōu Dūnyí’s writings — the first of Lǚ Nán’s tetralogy of Northern-Sòng daoxué abridgements (KR3a0089–0092). Juan 1: Tàijí tú shuō and Tōng shū; juan 2: Yí wén (lost text) and Yí shī (lost poems), with Zá jì (the běn zhuàn biography, mù jié tomb-marker, shì zhuàng deeds-record) appended. Each item carries a one- or two-sentence gloss by Lǚ Nán, either summarising the main bearing or extending the unsaid implication. The work is methodologically distinguished from contemporaneous biji-style polemics by its reticent gloss-form. Compared to the parallel Zhōuzǐ quán shū (collected works of Zhōu Dūnyí, in the SKQS), Lǚ Nán’s chāo shì is more compact and analytically focused.
The Wú Jí xū shī — Lǚ’s gloss on Zhōu’s “*Xúnzǐ at first did not know chéng"" item — defends Xúnzǐ against Zhōu’s attack, taking Dà xué / Zhōng yōng on chéng (sincerity) to compare with Xúnzǐ’s chéng; the SKQS tíyào judges this bó zá (uneven). Lǚ’s gloss on the Yǎng xīn tíng jì — taking guǎ yù (curtailing desire) as yǔn zhí jué zhōng (firmly holding the mean) but cautioning against wú yù (no desire at all) as universally applicable — is also flagged.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that the Zhōuzǐ chāo shì in 2 juan was composed by Lǚ Nán of the Míng. Nán’s Jīngyě jīng shuō has been catalogued elsewhere. Of the Northern Sòng five masters, Zhōuzǐ wrote the fewest works, but the various Confucians’ biàn lùn on Zhōu are the most. The wújí tàijí discussion: Zhū / Lù schools’ contesting argument has gone five or six hundred years and cannot reach unity. The Tàijí tú shuō / Tōng shū “biǎolǐ relationship” claim: Yuán Hé Xūzhōng wrote a special book debating this single sentence; the discussion goes back and forth without settled judgment. The zhǔ jìng (taking stillness as master) doctrine has been argued especially fiercely in the Míng.
This compilation, based on Zhōuzǐ quán shū, gathers the essence: 1 juan as the Tàijí tú shuō and Tōng shū; 2 juan as the bequeathed text and bequeathed poems; with appended zá jì — that is the běn zhuàn, tomb-stone deeds-record. Compared to the quán shū, especially clean. Below each entry is glossed in 1–2 sentences — either standing the main bearing or pushing out the unsaid meaning. Compared to the various schools’ continuous-page-piled debate, especially pure-and-substantive.
His gloss on the [Zhōuzǐ’s] “Xúnzǐ at first did not know chéng” item: claims [Zhōu] disparages Xúnzǐ too far, and uses Dà xué / Zhōng yōng on chéng to compare Xúnzǐ — uneven. His gloss on the Yǎng xīn tíng jì: claims guǎ yù (curtailing desire) is also the meaning of yǔn zhí jué zhōng (firmly holding the mean); if it reaches wú yù (no desire at all), hard to apply broadly. Also unable to convey his thought.
But the main bearing is not contrary. Those who view Zhōuzǐ’s book may take its essence approximately set out here.
[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]
Respectfully revised and submitted, ninth month of the forty-fifth year of Qiánlóng [1780].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.
Abstract
The Zhōuzǐ chāo shì is the first of Lǚ Nán’s four chāo shì abridgements of Northern-Sòng daoxué sources (KR3a0089–0092). Composition window: bracketed by Lǚ Nán’s mature working life. The frontmatter brackets to ca. 1530–1542.
The substantive role: a compact pedagogical resource for Lǐxué-orthodox students, distilling Zhōu Dūnyí’s writings into essential form. The Wújí tàijí and zhǔ jìng controversies — both centring on Zhōu’s positions — are addressed via Lǚ’s reticent glosses rather than developed polemic.
The bibliographic record: Míng shǐ yìwén zhì; Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.
Translations and research
(See KR3a0087 for the broader Lǚ Nán context.)
Other points of interest
The four chāo shì together form a complete pedagogical Lǐxué abridgement-tetralogy — Zhōu, Zhāng, ÈrChéng, Zhū — methodologically the prototype for the Yǒnglè Xìnglǐ dà quán’s reduced 26-juan reproduction of these same four masters’ works.
Links
- Zhōuzǐ quán shū (the parent corpus, separately catalogued).
- Companion chāo shì by Lǚ Nán: Zhāngzǐ chāo shì (KR3a0090), ÈrChéngzǐ chāo shì (KR3a0091), Zhūzǐ chāo shì (KR3a0092).
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikidata