Yǎngshēng yuèlǎn 養生月覽
Monthly Compendium for Nourishing Life compiled by 周守忠 Zhōu Shǒuzhōng (fl. Southern Sòng, Jiādìng era).
About the work
A two-juan month-by-month yǎngshēng anthology — the seasonal complement to the same author’s much larger topical anthology Yǎngshēng lèizuǎn (KR3eo022). The text proceeds calendrically from the first month through the twelfth, each month subdivided into entries for specific dates (the New Year’s day, the yuánrì, the zǐ hour of the first month, etc.) and seasonal observances. For each entry Zhōu cites a named source — Yuèlìng tújīng 月令圖經 (月令圖經), Sìshí zuǎnyào 四時纂要 (四時纂要), Zá Wǔxíng shū 雜五行書 (雜五行書), Lǚgōng suìshí zájì 呂公歲時雜記 (呂公歲時雜記), Jīngchǔ suìshí jì 荊楚歲時記 (KR2j0003), Suǒsuìlù 瑣碎錄 (瑣碎錄) of 溫革 Wēn Gé, Tàipíng yùlǎn 太平御覽 (KR3k0012), Zhōu Chǔ Fēngtǔ jì 周處風土記 (周處風土記), Cuīshí Sìmín yuèlìng 崔實四民月令 (崔實四民月令), Yùzhú bǎodiǎn 玉燭寶典 (玉燭寶典) — many of these the principal pre-Sòng “seasonal almanac” (yuèlìng) sources, several preserved chiefly through Zhōu’s anthology.
Prefaces
The jicheng.tw reprint of the Yuèlǎn preserves no separate xù; the work opens directly with juàn shàng zhèngyuè 卷上正月 (“Upper Juan, First Month”). For the editorial xù-tradition see 胡文煥 Hú Wénhuàn’s joint preface to the Yǎngshēng lèizuǎn (KR3eo022).
Abstract
The Yuèlǎn is one of the most important Southern-Sòng witnesses to the early-medieval seasonal-almanac tradition. Many of the specific yuèlìng texts 周守忠 Zhōu Shǒuzhōng cites — particularly the Yuèlìng tújīng 月令圖經, the Sìshí zuǎnyào 四時纂要 (the Táng / Five-Dynasties almanac attributed to 韓鄂 Hán È), the Lǚgōng suìshí zájì 呂公歲時雜記, the Suǒsuìlù 瑣碎錄, the Zá xiūyǎng shū 雜修養書 (雜修養書) — are partly or wholly preserved through Zhōu’s anthology, making the Yuèlǎn one of the principal modern sources for the reconstruction of these earlier traditions. The very first entry, citing the Yuèlìng tújīng on the burning of dung at the zǐ-chǒu hour of the first lunar day, is itself a major piece of evidence for the Yuèlìng tújīng — a text now lost except for fragments.
The work’s organisation as a regimen-by-date schedule marks it as the prototype of the late-imperial popular almanac (lìshū 曆書) tradition, in which the yǎngshēng directives are tabulated against the days of the year. Zhōu’s Yuèlǎn effectively codified the classical “yǎngshēng calendar” for subsequent Yuán-Míng compilers.
The dating bracket 1208–1220 reflects Zhōu’s known active period in the Jiādìng era. The catalog meta records dynasty as 宋; the present record specifies 南宋.
Translations and research
- Zhōng-guó yī-jí dà-cí-diǎn, s.v. 養生月覽.
- 周一謀, Yǎng-shēng wén-xiàn tōng-kǎo (Shàng-hǎi, 2008).
- 蕭登福, 《荊楚歲時記研究》, for the yuè-lìng almanac context.
- Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Yuelin”: entries in Schipper and Verellen, Daoist Canon (Chicago, 2004).
- No substantial English-language treatment specifically of the Yuè-lǎn located.
Other points of interest
The Yuèlǎn is the principal medieval-Chinese yǎngshēng almanac and the source of many of the calendrically-fixed observances (the Túsū jiǔ of the yuánrì, the juéfǎn 屠蘇酒 ritual of the New Year, the zhúyì 桃逸 talismanic procedures, the jíbàozhú 庭前爆竹 firecracker tradition) that became part of the late-imperial popular calendar. The 胡文煥 Hú Wénhuàn 1596 Qiántáng print made the work available again in late-Míng circulation, and the present jicheng.tw recension is the most accessible modern reprint.
Links
- Companion: KR3eo022 養生類纂 (Zhōu’s topical anthology).
- Related: KR3e0013 備急千金要方, in the Qiānjīn tradition.
- Yúnjí qīqiān tradition (KR5d0055).
- Kanseki DB
- 養生月覽