Zǐwēi zá shuō 紫微雜說
Miscellaneous Discussions of Zǐ-wēi [Lǚ Běn-zhōng]
by 呂本中 (Lǚ Běnzhōng, 1084–1145; zì Jūrén 居仁, hào Zǐwēi 紫微).
About the work
A 1-juàn Southern Sòng bǐjì by 呂本中 of the great Lǚ lineage (of Lǚ Yīhào 呂夷浩 and Lǚ Gōngzhù 呂公著), grandson of Lǚ Xīzhé 呂希哲 and a cousin of Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙. The book is an yǔlù-cum-kǎozhèng notebook of Lǚ’s reading and discussion: classical exegesis (especially Lùn yǔ, Shī jīng, Mèng zǐ, Lǐ jì, Zuǒ zhuàn), Sòng-Lǐ-xué-influenced commentary, and refinements on the Chéng school’s transmitted readings. Lǚ Běnzhōng was a sīshū disciple of the Chéng school (sīshū in that he never met Chéng Yí personally but received the Chéng transmission through Yáng Shí 楊時, Yóu Zuò 游酢, and Yǐn Tūn 尹焞), and the book is a key witness for the Chéng-school yǔlù line from those teachers to the Lǚ family.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Zǐwēi zá shuō in one juan, old recension titled “compiled by Lǚ Zǔqiān of the Sòng” — another exemplar simply “Dōnglái Lǚ Zǐwēi zá shuō” without the compiler’s name. Examining Zhào Xībiàn’s Dúshū zhì records: “Dōnglái Lǚ Zǐwēi zá shuō 1 juan, Shī yǒu zá zhì 1 juan, Shī huà 1 juan — all are sayings of Lǚ Běnzhōng Jūrén; Zhèng Yín printed them in Lúlíng.” Per this, it should be Lǚ Běnzhōng’s. The Lǚ kinship in their time were all called Dōnglái xiān-sheng; transmitters of this book accordingly erred and ascribed it to Zǔqiān’s hand, not knowing that Běnzhōng had once held office as Zhōngshū shèrén (which was the office at the Zǐwēi-yuán), hence “Zǐwēi” — if it were Zǔqiān, who ended only as Zhùzuò láng, he could not have been called “Zǐwēi.” Moreover the book has “since returning from beyond the Lǐng (i.e. the Five Ranges)” — and Běnzhōng’s Dōnglái jí has a Bì dì guò Lǐng poem matching the events. So it is Běnzhōng’s — no doubt.
The book arranges entries by topic: on doubtful points of the Liù jīng, on historical matters, on the various schools’ positions — all with debate. Often the entries are pure and substantive, fit for adoption. As for instance: the jīng “zhì” 致 has the senses both “qǔ” (to take/fetch) and “nà” (to gather in/receive), the older Confucian gloss having stayed only with “to-reach-to-the-utmost” — incomplete. Or: the Tán gōng “Qí gǔ Wángjī zhī sàng” entry’s “gǔ” should be “gào” — “to inform”; and the entry “shǐ bì zhī qí fǎn yě” “zhī” should be the zì jì “rú” — both align with the classical training. Or: the Lùn yǔ “sì tǐ bù qín, wǔ gǔ bù fēn” — the line is what the Hédiànzhàngrén says of himself — these too are sometimes new readings.
Otherwise the book runs mostly to balanced, transparent, decisive arguments on principle and the Way. Běnzhōng’s sīshū descent from Chéngzǐ and his association with Yáng Shí, Yóu Zuò, Yǐn Tūn made his transmission especially well-grounded; so a pure-Confucian air rests on the entries, more than the standard bǐjì-school can claim.
The book’s first entry is on the Héng mén poem, which says “[the poet] mourns the sovereign of his time having no ambition” — and Zǔqiān, in later writing his Shī shū jì, follows the same reading: the pedigree of the school is the more clearly seen.
Respectfully revised and submitted, second month of the forty-fifth year of Qiánlóng (1780).
Abstract
The Zǐwēi zá shuō — taking its name from Lǚ Běnzhōng’s Zǐwēi (Chinese Secretariat) office — is one of the most important bǐjì of the Lǚ-school transmission of the Chéng school in the Southern Sòng. Lǚ Běnzhōng (1084–1145) was the great-grandson of Lǚ Yīhào 呂夷浩 and grandson of Lǚ Xīzhé 呂希哲 (one of Chéng Yí’s first disciples), and is the principal channel through which the Chéng school’s transmission entered the Lǚ family — leading to the Dōnglái school of Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙 (1137–1181) a generation later. Lǚ Běnzhōng’s own teaching includes the Lùn yǔ, the Shī jīng, the Mèng zǐ, the Lǐ jì, and Zuǒ zhuàn — and these are the subjects of the Zá shuō.
The Sìkù editors’ tíyào is also concerned with restoring the correct authorship: the older recension misattributed the book to 呂祖謙 (Lǚ Zǔqiān), since both Lǚ Běnzhōng and Lǚ Zǔqiān were called Dōnglái xiān-sheng in their respective periods. The editors correctly establish Lǚ Běnzhōng’s authorship on three grounds: (a) Zhào Xībiàn’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì records the book as Běnzhōng’s, printed by Zhèng Yín 鄭寅 in Lúlíng; (b) Lǚ Běnzhōng — but not Lǚ Zǔqiān — served as Zhōngshū shèrén (the office of the Zǐwēiyuàn), giving him the right to the Zǐwēi sobriquet; (c) internal references — “since returning from beyond the Lǐng” — match Lǚ Běnzhōng’s southern-refuge biography.
Dating. The book’s internal references include the Língwài return — Lǚ Běnzhōng was demoted in Shàoxīng 11 (1141) and died in 1145 — placing the Zá shuō in the 1140s, with the bulk of its material reflecting Lǚ’s mature teaching, transmitted to disciples from the time he held Zhōngshū shèrén (Shàoxīng 5–10 = 1135–1140). NotBefore 1135 / notAfter 1145.
The standard text is the SKQS recension, restored from the manuscripts circulated under the misattribution to Lǚ Zǔqiān.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation. The book is regularly cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on the Chéng school’s Southern Sòng transmission, on the Dōng-lái Lǚ school, and on the lineage from Chéng Yí through Yáng Shí, Yóu Zuò, and Yǐn Tūn to the Lǚ family. See Tián Hào 田浩 (Hoyt Tillman) for the broader Lǐxué-school history.
Other points of interest
The book’s opening entry on the Héng mén poem of the Shī jīng (“[the poet] mourns the sovereign’s lack of ambition”) explicitly anticipates the reading later given by Lǚ Zǔqiān in the Lǚshì jiāshú dú shī jì 呂氏家塾讀詩記 — a pedigree of school-transmission that the Sìkù editors flag.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Zǐwēi zá shuō entry.