隱居通議

Yǐn jū tōng yì 隱居通議

General Discussions of a Recluse

by 劉壎 (Liú Xūn, 1240–1319; zì Qǐqián 起潛, hào Shuǐyúncūn 水雲村), SòngYuán transition literatus of Nánfēng.

About the work

A 31-juàn Yuán bǐjì by 劉壎 (Liú Xūn), composed in his late retirement. The book is divided thematically into 11 sections: Lǐxué 理學 (3 juàn); Gǔ fù 古賦 (2 juàn); Shī gē 詩歌 (7 juàn); Wén zhāng 文章 (8 juàn); Pián lì 駢儷 (parallel prose, 3 juàn); Jīng shǐ 經史 (3 juàn); Lǐ yuè 禮樂 (1 juàn); Zào huà 造化 (1 juàn); Dì lǐ 地理 (1 juàn); Guǐ shén 鬼神 (1 juàn); Zá lù 雜錄 (1 juàn). The Lǐxué section is firmly partisan for 陸九淵 (Lù Jiǔyuān) — “lǐxué takes wù (sudden-comprehension) as its core, honours Lù Jiǔyuān as the orthodox transmission, while citing Zhū Xī to reconcile [with Lù]” — and even reaches the polemical position that “Master Zhū in his later years became friendly with Daoist Bái Yùchán 白玉蟾 and knew that reading books was wasted effort,” anticipating the later Yáojiāng (Wáng Yángmíng) school’s “Zhū Xī’s late determined view” doctrine. The Sìkù editors are critical of the Lǐxué sections (and the Jīng shǐ / Guǐ shén sections, judged as either dòudìng compilation or bàiguān-style minor) but warmly approve the shī gē / wén zhāng sections — twenty juàn of late-Sòng poetry-and-prose criticism, with substantial preservation of now-lost works.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Yǐn jū tōng yì in thirty-one juan was compiled by Liú Xūn of the Yuán. Xūn’s zì was Qǐqián; a Nánfēng man. The book’s Kāiqìng yuánnián (1259) reference — “the year I was twenty” — places his birth in 1240; at the fall of Sòng (1276) he was 36; so on Sòng matters he often has the nèi cí (insider’s word). Yet the book also speaks of “Zhìdà xīnhài (1311) — Nánjiànzhōu xuéguān” — counting his age then as 72; in his last years he served the Yuán emoluments — yet the book is named “recluse” — most unfathomable.

Examining his Shuǐyúncūn gǎo’s Yányòu jǐwèi chóng tí Méi-shi hǎitáng shī (1319) — “hexagenarian doubly returned, eighty-year-old man” — Xūn lived 44 years into the Yuán; most aged and long-lived. This book was composed at his late-life retirement.

The eleven divisions: Lǐxué 3 juan; gǔ fù 2 juan; shī gē 7 juan; wén zhāng 8 juan; pián lì 3 juan; jīng shǐ 3 juan; lǐ yuè, zào huà, dì lǐ, guǐ shén, zá lù — one juàn each.

His discussion of Lǐxué takes wù (sudden-comprehension) as the core, honours Lù Jiǔyuān as the orthodox transmission, and cites Master Zhū to combine with him. To the point of saying Master Zhū in his later years was friendly with the Daoist Bái Yùchán, and knew that reading books was wasted effort — this is the original of the Yáojiāng school’s late-determined-view doctrine. All this is private partisan-village-school argument; no use to argue at length.

The Jīng shǐ and other six sections — the kǎozhèng is also not particularly jīnghé (refined-and-exact), and often dòudìng (piled together). The Guǐ shén section is especially close to bàiguān xiǎoshuō.

Yet the twenty juan of píng shī lùn wén — Xūn was born at the end of the Sòng; many older collections he preserves; what he cites is much now-unseen in their fascicles; the men he cites are also mostly mò shí (unrecognised) by name. He further records often full pieces head-and-tail-complete — sufficient to supplement the various house-collections’ lacunae. E.g.: Sòng Jǐng’s Méihuā fù — today only Tián Yìhéng’s Liúqīng rì zhá transmits one Xiānyú Shū-written piece; further, by Lǐ Gāng’s Zhōngdìng jí — knowing the original fù was already lost, Gāng’s was a supplement. Now reading what Xūn records — there were two recensions current in the SòngYuán period. Or: Lù Yóu’s having followed Hán Tuōzhòu being due to a beloved-concubine-and-young-son matter — others don’t speak of this. Lì È’s Sòng shī jì shì records Lǐ Yìshān poetry but cannot give his career; observing what Xūn records reveals he had once been Jiāngdōng tíxíng zhī Chízhōu. All these widen audition-and-sight.

His lùn shī lùn wén still more transmits the qián bèi xù yú (elders’ lingering thoughts) — all from outside the various houses’ shuōbù — for zhēng wén kǎo xiàn (citation-evidence and consultation), all have substantial help; for those who tán yì (discuss the art) this is essential.

Xūn composed Shuǐyúncūn gǎo — the world has two recensions; one is titled Mǐn gǎo, the volume-count rather fewer; one cannot know who cut three-thirds of this book and appended at the gǎo end — markedly defective. This 31-juan version is the complete original — truly a rare bibliographic treasure. Within the book sometimes there are àn yǔ (annotator’s remarks) — apparently his descendants’ addition; self-signed name Níng — early in our dynasty there was Nánfēng Liú Níng zì Èrzhì who composed Jī lǐ biàn, Lùn yùn yuán biǎo, Shí gǔ wén dìng běn — could this be him?

Respectfully revised and submitted, fourth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).

Abstract

The Yǐn jū tōng yì is one of the largest Yuán-period bǐjì (31 juàn) and the principal bǐjì of 劉壎 (Liú Xūn). The book’s eleven-section thematic organization is methodical — Lǐxué leading, with fù, shī, wén, piánlì (parallel prose), and jīngshǐ / lǐyuè / zàohuà / dìlǐ / guǐshén / zálù in sequence. The Sìkù editors are clear on which sections to recommend:

1. Lǐxué (3 juàn): partisan for Lù Jiǔyuān; advances the controversial claim that Zhū Xī in his late years became friendly with Bái Yùchán and abandoned the reading-of-books — anticipating the Yáojiāng school’s “Zhū Xī’s late determined view” position by some 250 years.
2. Wén zhāng and shī gē (15 juàn combined): the book’s most valuable sections — preserving substantial fragments of now-lost Sòng poets and prose-stylists. Specific contributions: two recensions of Sòng Jǐng’s Méihuā fù (one preserved through Xiānyú Shū’s calligraphy; another supplemented by Lǐ Gāng); the Lù Yóu / Hán Tuōzhòu xiáqiè yòuzǐ (concubine-and-young-son) anecdote (otherwise unrecorded); the Lǐ Yìshān career-history (the Jiāngdōng tíxíng zhī Chízhōu office).
3. Jīng shǐ and guǐ shén sections (4 juàn): regarded by the Sìkù editors as relatively weak.

The book is significant as a witness to the Lù-school’s persistence into the Yuán dynasty and to the survival of late-Sòng literary memory through the dynastic transition.

Dating. NotBefore 1300 (the post-Sòng-fall retirement period; the book’s principal composition is mature-and-late) / notAfter 1319 (Liú’s death; the Zhìdà xīnhài = 1311 reference places much of the book in the 1310s). The standard text is the SKQS 31-juàn recension, the only complete recension; the other circulating recension (titled Mǐn gǎo in some printings, attached to the Shuǐyúncūn gǎo) is truncated to about one-third the length.

Translations and research

No complete Western-language translation. The book is widely cited in modern Chinese-language Yuán intellectual-history scholarship — particularly on the survival of the Lù school into the Yuán, on the Sòng-Yuán yí-mín (loyalist) literature, and on late-Sòng shī huà preservation.

Other points of interest

The book’s anticipation of the Yáojiāng (Wáng Yángmíng) school’s “Zhū Xī in his late determined view” position (Zhūzǐ wǎnnián dìnglùn 朱子晚年定論) — first proposed by Wáng Yángmíng c. 1518 — by some 250 years is one of the more striking instances of late-Sòng / Yuán Lù-school polemical theology surviving in bǐjì form to be retrieved (perhaps directly) by the Míng Xīn xué school.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Yǐn jū tōng yì entry.