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東坡志林

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Text ID
KR3j0094
Date
1080–1101
Dynasty
宋

Dōngpō zhì lín 東坡志林

Forest of Records of Dōng-pō

by 蘇軾 (Sū Shì, zì Zǐzhān 子瞻, hào Dōngpō jūshì 東坡居士, 1037–1101)

About the work

The principal bǐjì of Sū Shì 蘇軾 — the great Northern Sòng poet, prose-master, and statesman — gathered after his death from his scattered short-prose pieces, marginalia, and personal notes. The 12-juan SKQS recension is two juan longer than the 10-juan version Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records as Dōngpō shǒu zé 東坡手澤 (“Dōngpō’s manuscript-traces”); the Sìkù editors note that the various recensions’ juan-counts reflect later editorial decisions, since Sū Shì himself never assembled the work and never gave it a title. The book is the companion-piece of Chóuchí bǐ jì 仇池筆記 (KR3j0093); the two collections substantially overlap.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Dōngpō zhì lín in twelve juan was compiled by Sū Shì of the Sòng. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Dōngpō shǒu zé in ten juan, noting “this is what the popular received Sū-zi dà quán jí calls the Zhì lín.” Now examining the various entries: many self-date with year and month; some are headed “read such-and-such book, write this”; some generically refer to “yesterday,” “today” without specific date — so Sū’s entries are spontaneous notes, never written as a unified work, never with a book-title. After his death, his descendants gathered them and titled the collection Shǒu zé (manuscript-traces); those who printed Sū’s collected works, not wishing to refer to their father’s writings simply by the personal idiom “Shǒu zé,” titled the section Zhì lín (forest-of-records).

Among the entries: the Zhāng Suīyáng shēng yóu mà zéi, jiáo chǐ chuān yín; Yán Píngyuán sǐ bù wàng jūn, wò quán chuān zhǎng (Zhāng Xún 張巡 of Suīyáng cursed the rebels even in death, biting his teeth through the gums; Yán Zhēnqīng of Píngyuán did not forget the sovereign in death, his clenched fist’s nails piercing his palm) — these four lines, according to the Dōngpō wàijì, were what Sū Shì wrote when in Dàněr exile, drunk at Jiāngxiùcái’s home, asking Jiāng’s mother for paper when Jiāng himself was away — and now they appear in this book as a single entry without further added comment; this is also evidence that the book gathers Sū’s autograph traces.

This recension is in twelve juan — two more than what Chén Zhènsūn records — because the juan-divisions are themselves post hoc, made differently by different editors.

Respectfully revised and submitted, second 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. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

Sū Shì 蘇軾 (1037–1101), zì Zǐzhān 子瞻, hào Dōngpō jūshì 東坡居士, of Méishān 眉山 (Sìchuān). Son of Sū Xún 蘇洵 and elder brother of Sū Zhé 蘇轍 — the Sān Sū 三蘇 (“Three Sūs”), all among the Táng Sòng bā dàjiā 唐宋八大家 (Eight Great Masters of Táng and Sòng). One of the absolutely foundational figures of Chinese literary, intellectual, artistic, and culinary tradition. Career: jìnshì of Jiāyòu 2 (1057) at age 21 (Ōuyáng Xiū as examiner); successively appointed and demoted through the Xīníng (Wáng Ānshí reforms), Yuányòu (anti-Wáng reaction), and Shàoshèng (Wáng restoration) periods; exiled three times — to Huángzhōu 黃州 (1080–1084 after the Wū tái poetic-prosecution), to Huìzhōu 惠州 (1094–1097), and to Dànzhōu 儋州 (Hǎinán Island, 1097–1100) — and ultimately rehabilitated only days before his death in 1101.

The Zhì lín is the posthumous gathering of Sū Shì’s zhá jì — short prose pieces, marginalia, anecdotes, classical-exegetical notes, observations on contemporaries, poetic criticism, Buddhist reflections, food and wine, painting and calligraphy, and personal memoir. The work is one of the principal sources for Sū’s daily intellectual life and his immense literary output. Its overlap with Chóuchí bǐ jì (KR3j0093) and with the Dōngpō wài jí 東坡外集 reflects the variable SòngYuánMíng editorial gathering of Sū’s miscellanies.

Major themes include: the famous Huángzhōu period meditative essays (Yè yóu Chéngtiānsì jì 夜遊承天寺記 — recorded across multiple recensions); the Buddhist conversations with Fóyìn 佛印; the Dōngpō pào ròu 東坡炮肉 (Dōngpō pork) recipe and food-cultural notes; the late-life Hǎinán entries; numerous kǎo gǔ and classical entries (including the famous critical evaluations of Mèngzǐ, the Yìjīng, and Wáng Ānshí’s reform).

Dating. The notBefore of 1080 corresponds to the Huángzhōu exile (when Sū’s prolific bǐjì production begins); the notAfter of 1101 is his death-year.

The standard text is the SKQS recension. Modern punctuated editions: Wáng Sōnglíng 王松齡 (ed.), Dōngpō zhì lín; Chóuchí bǐ jì (Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1981); reprint in Sū Shì wén jí 蘇軾文集 (Zhōnghuá shūjú).

Translations and research

Sū Shì has been the subject of an enormous body of Western and East-Asian scholarship. The Zhì lín is regularly cited as a primary source. Major treatments:

  • Ronald C. Egan, Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (Harvard, 1994). The standard English-language monograph.
  • Ronald C. Egan, The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China (Harvard, 2006).
  • Stephen Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought (Harvard, 1992), passim.
  • Beata Grant, Mount Lu Revisited: Buddhism in the Life and Writings of Su Shih (Hawaii, 1994).
  • Charles Hartman, Han Yu and the T’ang Search for Unity (Princeton, 1986), with substantial comparison to Sū Shì.
  • Standard Chinese-language editions and biographical scholarship are extensive.

Other points of interest

The book is one of the foundational texts of Chinese xiǎo pǐn wén 小品文 (short-prose essay) tradition. Its short, intimate pieces — many under 200 characters — established the model for the late-Míng xiǎo pǐn revival of the Gōngān school (Yuán Hóngdào 袁宏道 and brothers). Sū Shì’s signature combination of philosophical reflection, anecdotal observation, and ironic self-deprecation in the Zhì lín is the prototype of the genre.

The juan on food and wine entries (notably the Dōngpō ròu 東坡肉 — Dōngpō pork — recipe-anecdote, and the Dōngpō tāng 東坡湯 (Dōngpō soup) Buddhist-monastic-diet entry) are among the foundational texts of Chinese culinary literature.

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