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呻吟語摘

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Text ID
KR3a0096
Date
1592–1616
Dynasty
明

Shēn yín yǔ zhāi 呻吟語摘

Selected Groanings by 呂坤 (Lǚ Kūn, zì Shūjiǎn 叔簡, hào Xīnwú 新吾, 1536–1618, 明)

About the work

A two-juan abridgement by Lǚ Kūn of his earlier four-juan Shēn yín yǔ 呻吟語 — the major Late-Míng moral-philosophical yǔlù completed in Wànlì rénchén (1592) with Guō Zǐzhāng 郭子章’s preface. The abridgement, completed in Wànlì bǐngchén (1616, Lǚ at age 80), retains roughly two- or three-tenths of the original four-juan text plus several additional items by Lǚ’s son Lǚ Zhīwèi 呂知畏. The abridgement is therefore Lǚ’s own late-life dìng běn (final-form text). The title — shēn yín yǔ “groanings” — captures the work’s character as moral-philosophical reflection in biji-style, often in pointed aphorisms.

Structure: Nèi piān (Inner Chapters) in 7 mén: Xìng mìng 性命, Cún xīn 存心, Lún lǐ 倫理, Tán dào 談道, Xiū shēn 修身, Wèn xué 問學, Yìng wù 應務. Wài piān (Outer Chapters) in 9 mén: Shì yùn 世運, Shèng xián 聖賢, Pǐn zǎo 品藻, Zhì dào 治道, Rén qíng 人情, Wù lǐ 物理, Guǎng yù 廣喻, Cí zhāng 詞章. The work avoids speculative metaphysical discourse in favour of dǔ shí (sober reality) and jiàn lǚ (concrete practice). The SKQS tíyào’s judgment: at first glance the work seems “cū qiǎn” (rough and shallow) compared to scholastic jiǎng xué, but in fact “chǐ chǐ cùn cùn wù qiú guī jǔ ér yòu bù wéilì yú qínglǐ” (every inch and foot exactly seeks the rule, yet does not contradict feeling and reason) — distinguishing it from the failures of the late-Lù and late-Zhū schools.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that the Shēn yín yǔ zhāi in 2 juan was composed by Lǚ Kūn of the Míng. Kūn’s Sì lǐ yí has been catalogued elsewhere. The Míng shǐ yìwén zhì records the Shēn yín yǔ in 4 juan; this only has 2 juan. Examining the close-of-volume Wànlì bǐngchén (1616) postface by his son Zhīwèi: “this is what Kūn from the 4 juan personally cut and trimmed, with some [items] added in by Zhīwèi — preserving 2 or 3 tenths”.

From Wànlì rénchén (1592), when Guō Zǐzhāng made the preface, another 24 years had passed — apparently Kūn’s late-life dìng běn.

The Nèi piān divides into 7 mén: Xìng mìng, Cún xīn, Lún lǐ, Tán dào, Xiū shēn, Wèn xué, Yìng wù. The Wài piān divides into 9 mén: Shì yùn, Shèng xián, Pǐn zǎo, Zhì dào, Rén qíng, Wù lǐ, Guǎng yù, Cí zhāng.

Largely it does not extravagantly discuss jīng wēi (refined-and-subtle), but takes dǔ shí (substantial-fact) as base; not vainly speaking gāo yuǎn (high-and-far), but takes jiàn lǚ (concrete-practice) as the standard. Among Míng-period jiǎngxué jiā it seems somewhat cū qiǎn (rough-shallow); but every inch exactly seeking the rule, yet not contradicting feeling and reason — viewing the Lù-school’s mòpài (late faction) wildly running, the Zhū-school’s mòpài circuitously perverting — its gain-and-loss has space.

[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]

Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].

General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.

Abstract

The Shēn yín yǔ zhāi is one of the most-cited Late-Míng yǔlù-style moral-philosophical works, with continuing modern use as a popular xiūshēn aphorism collection. The composition window runs from the original Shēn yín yǔ’s completion in 1592 to the present abridgement’s completion in 1616. The frontmatter brackets to 1592–1616.

The substantive position — dǔ shí jiàn lǚ (sober reality and concrete practice), avoiding metaphysical speculation — places Lǚ Kūn within the Late-Míng Lǐxué-recovery tradition that culminated in Liú Zōngzhōu (KR3a0097–0098) and Huáng Zōngxī. Lǚ’s distinctive contribution is the consistently aphoristic form, making the work suitable for popular-pedagogical reading rather than scholarly debate.

The bibliographic record: Míng shǐ yìwén zhì (4 juan original); Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi (2 juan abridgement). Modern editions: standard Chinese reproductions of the SKQS, plus modern readers’ editions.

Translations and research

  • Joanna F. Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought: The Reorientation of Lü Kun and Other Scholar-Officials, University of California Press, 1983. The standard English-language critical study; treats Shēn yín yǔ extensively.
  • Joanna F. Handlin Smith, “Lü K’un’s New Audience: The Influence of Women’s Literacy on Sixteenth-Century Thought”, in M. Wolf and R. Witke (eds.), Women in Chinese Society, Stanford UP, 1975 — context.
  • No standalone English translation of the Shēn yín yǔ exists, but Handlin’s monograph translates many passages.
  • Standard modern Chinese reproductions: Zhōnghuá Shūjú reprints.

Other points of interest

Lǚ Kūn’s other major works — particularly the Guī fàn 閨範 (women’s pedagogy, with Empress Zhèng Guìfēi connections) and the Shí zhèng lù (statecraft anthology) — make him a major Late-Míng intellectual figure. The Shēn yín yǔ / Shēn yín yǔ zhāi dyad provides the philosophical core of his work.

The pairing of an original (4-juan) with a self-abridged final-form text (2-juan) is unusual in late-imperial Chinese authorship; the zhāi form Lǚ chose to canonise represents his late-life judgment about which materials should survive.

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