書齋夜話

Shū zhāi yè huà 書齋夜話

Night Talks from the Studio

by 俞琰 (Yú Yǎn, 1258–1314; zì Yùwú 玉吾, hào Línwū shānrén 林屋山人), Sòng-loyalist Yì-and-inner-alchemy scholar of Wújùn.

About the work

A 4-juàn late-Southern-Sòng / Yuán bǐjì by 俞琰 (Yú Yǎn), the great Yì jīng / Cāntóngqì synthesist. The book represents Yú’s suí bǐ (random-pen) reading-notes from his Sòng-loyalist seclusion at Línwūshān. The first juàn is classical exegesis (focused on Lùn yǔ, Mèng zǐ, and the Wǔ jīng); the second and third extend the various Confucian masters’ sayings, with substantial coverage of the Hé tú / Luò shū and the Xiān tiān tài jí èr tú — the central concerns of Yú’s Yì-scholarship; the fourth is on literary-and-prose composition. Yú’s Yì-school affiliation is with 陳摶 (Chén Tuán) and the inner-alchemy tradition — his Cāntóngqì fāhuī (KR5a1005) being the principal late-Sòng / Yuán authority on the Zhōu yì cāntóng qì — and the book accordingly draws Daoist material into Confucian-classical exegesis. The Sìkù editors regard the book as primarily an Yì-exegesis work and acknowledge Yú’s literary-prose strengths as inferior to his Yì strengths.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Shū zhāi yè huà in four juan was compiled by Yú Yǎn of the Sòng. Yǎn has the Dà Yì jí shuō, already recorded. This book is his daily reading-and-discussion, set down as he reflected and brushed it.

Juan 1 is wholly biàn lùn of classical principle. His refutation of Kǒng Ānguó’s reading of “Luò shū to grant Yǔ” as wrong, is firmly grounded; on the various classics’ zì xùn (word-glosses) and the zhèng é (correcting transmission errors), the book is quite comprehensive — e.g. the Lùn yǔ Fù yǔ guì chapter — read with “bù yǐ qí dào” 不以其道 as a phrase-ending — and the Mèng zǐ Zé mù shǎo ài — taking “mù ài shǎo shuāi zhī sī” — reading shǎo with shǎngshēng (rising tone) — these are also worth taking for cān zhèng.

Juans 2 and 3 are reverent-elaboration of the prior Confucians’ arguments — much elucidation of the Hé tú / Luò shū and the Xiān tiān / Tài jí two diagrams — which Chén Tuán transmitted, using dānjué (cinnabar-formula) to penetrate the Yì; the origin is from the Daoist house. Yǎn’s annotations on the Yīn fú jīng and the Cāntóng qì are explanations of the HuángLǎo shénxiān doctrine; the Xí shàng fǔ tán and the Yì wài bié zhuàn he composed are research into lú huǒ xiūliàn (the alchemical-furnace cultivation) arts — hence his commentary on the Yì all transmits Shào’s [Shào Yōng’s] learning, and this book repeatedly re-elucidates the same, not departing from this approach.

The final juan is wholly lùn wén (discussion of literary-prose) — but rather lacking in deep refinement. Yǎn’s cí zhāng (rhetorical-composition) learning is not as deep as his Yì learning. Look at the Línjū shānrén jí he produced — and the same may roughly be seen.

Respectfully revised and submitted, fourth month of the fifty-first year of Qiánlóng (1786).

Abstract

The Shū zhāi yè huà is one of the principal bǐjì of 俞琰 (Yú Yǎn) — the consummate late-Sòng / Yuán Yì jīng synthesist of the 陳摶 (Chén Tuán) line. The book is structured as a four-fascicle classified bǐjì:

1. Juàn 1: classical kǎozhèng — particularly the refutation of Kǒng Ānguó’s “Luò shū to grant Yǔ” reading; word-glossing across the classics; the Lùn yǔ Fù yǔ guì phrase-ending; the Mèng zǐ Zé mù shǎo ài tonal reading.
2. Juàn 2–3: Hé tú / Luò shū and Xiān tiān / Tài jí èr tú elaborations — central to Yú’s Yì-scholarship and presented in conjunction with the Daoist material (from his Cāntóng qì fāhuī KR5a1005 and Yīn fú jīng zhù KR5a0126).
3. Juàn 4: literary-prose discussion — judged inferior to the Yì sections by the Sìkù editors.

The book is a significant testament to Yú’s lifelong project of integrating Yì-divination, inner alchemy, and Sòng Neo-Confucian thought. It is, alongside Yú’s KR1a0064 Zhōu yì jí shuō and KR1a0065 Dú Yì jǔ yào, the principal vehicle of his transmitted Yì-teaching.

Dating. The book belongs to Yú’s mature/late period in Sòng-loyalist retreat at Línwūshān. NotBefore 1280 / notAfter 1314 (his death). The standard text is the SKQS 4-juàn recension.

Translations and research

No complete Western-language translation. The book is cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on Yú Yǎn (especially Lì Cōng-běn 李崇本) and on the Sòng-Yuán Yì-and-alchemy syncretism. See Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three (2011) for the broader Cān-tóng qì context.

Other points of interest

The book’s combination of Confucian classical exegesis, xiàngshù Yì-diagrammatology, Daoist inner alchemy, and literary-prose discussion is one of the most characteristic late-Sòng / Yuán intellectual syntheses, and the book is regularly cited as a witness to the syncretic late-Sòng / Yuán intellectual milieu.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Shū zhāi yè huà entry.