蠡海集

Lí hǎi jí 蠡海集

“Measuring-the-Sea-with-a-Gourd” Collection

by 王逵 (Wáng Kuí, fl. 1368–1424); a Hóngwǔ / Yǒng-lè-period Míng author of Qiántáng.

About the work

A 2-juàn Míng bǐjì by 王逵 (Wáng Kuí). The original recension is mistakenly attributed by the Míng Bài hǎi printer Shāng Wéijùn to a Sòng-period Wáng Kuí, but the Sìkù editors persuasively demonstrate that the author is a Hóngwǔ / Yǒng-lè-period Wáng Kuí of Qiántáng — a lame man who lived in poverty, supported himself by selling medicines and divination, and was renowned for his learning in zǐshǐ bǎijiā (the Hundred Schools). The book’s school-affiliation is to Shào Yōng — modelled on the Huángjí jīng shì Guān wù wài piān — and organised in eight thematic sections: Tiānwén (astronomy), Dìlǐ (geography), Rénshēn (the human body), Shùwù (assorted objects), Lì shù (calendar), Qì hòu (weather-and-season), Guǐ shén (spirits), and Shì yì (matters-and-righteousness). Each section pursues cóng shù jiū lǐ — “through numbers, investigate principle” — to derive the why-and-wherefore of heaven, earth, humans, and things. The Sìkù editors regard the book as chuān záo (forced) in places but also as yǒu jīng yì (containing refined insights). The book is notable for its discussion of the èrshífān huāxìn fēng (the twenty floral wind-signals) — the most ordered surviving account, against Yáng Shèn’s Dānqiān lù citation of Liáng Yuándì without surviving source.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Lí hǎi jí in one juan, old recension titled “compiled by Wáng Kuí of the Sòng.” Examining: the Sòng has three Wáng Kuí. The first — Wáng Kuí, no place-name; under Rénzōng, an official of Jiāngnán xīlù zhuǎnyùnshǐ; transferred to Huáinán zhuǎnyùnshǐ; Bāo Zhěng successively submitted seven memorials to impeach him — all in Zhěng’s collected memorials. They violently denounce him as covetous, mean, cruel, and tyrannical — apparently not a book-author. The second — Wáng Kuí of Púyáng; jìnshì of Tiānxǐ 3 (1019); held office to Xíngbù lángzhōng; his composed-work is recorded only in Lǚ Xīzhé’s Zá jì — gives one verse he sent to Cài Xiāng; Ruǎn Yuè’s Shī huà zǒng guī records his Yǒng jiǔ lián (Wine-banner Ode) couplet — no mention of this book. The third — Wáng Kuí of Zīzhōu; in Jiànyán knew Xúzhōu; grandson of Wáng Fùzhī; son of Tàipúchéng Wáng Yǐ; his work is recorded only in the Lúpǔ bǐ jì — gives one verse he sent to Tián È; also no mention of this book.

This book’s lùn mài (pulse) entry — speaking of qī biǎo bā lǐ jiǔ dào (seven outer, eight inner, nine paths) totalling 24 — appears in Shū Hé’s Mài jué — Mài jué is a Xīníng (1068–1077) period book; the first Wáng Kuí could not have seen it. The lùn bǎi kè (hundred-quarters-of-the-day) entry — saying “Zhào Yuándū also has one doctrine” — is a post-Zhìyuán (1264–) book; the later Wáng Kuí also could not have seen it. How then could he cite it?

Examining the Míng Huáng Jīshuǐ’s Pín shì zhuàn — records Wáng Kuí Qiántáng rén (Wáng Kuí, Qiántáng man), lame in one foot, family extremely poor, with no daily-bread; sold medicine, but [income] did not last; further taken up divination at the market; thoroughly explored the Zǐshǐ bǎijiā (Hundred Schools); when guests arrived, would discuss ancient-and-modern without stopping; men knew his biànbó (versatile-extensive learning); often consulted him on doubtful matters — to his every question, he answered. Lists him after Zhāng Jièfú and before Wáng Bīn — apparently a Hóngwǔ / Yǒnglè period man. The composer of this book must be this Wáng Kuí. Shāng Wéijùn in cutting it into the Bài hǎi did not investigate; erroneously took it as the Sòng Wáng Kuí.

His learning derives from Shàozǐ; his book also models on the Guān wù wài piān. Divided into 8 sections: astronomy, geography, the human body, assorted objects, calendar, weather-season, spirits, matters-and-righteousness — all by cóng shù jiū lǐ (through numbers investigate principle) to push and seek heaven, earth, men, and things’ so-being. Although it is rather chuān záo (forced), it also frequently has jīng yì (refined insights). The world’s saying of èrshífān huāxìn fēng (twenty-fold floral wind-signals) — Yáng Shèn’s Dān qiān lù cites Liáng Yuándì’s doctrine — separately has no source-citation; presumably an yītuō (fabricated attribution); the doctrine is also cānchà bù hé (inconsistently aligned); only this book’s listing is the most orderly — must have a derivation.

Respectfully revised and submitted, ninth month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng (1777).

Abstract

The Lí hǎi jí — “shell-measure ladling out the ocean” — is one of the more interesting Hóngwǔ / Yǒng-lè-period bǐjì. The book’s distinctive features:

1. Shào-Yōng-school cosmology: organised in the eight-section thematic mode of the Huángjí jīng shì Guān wù wài piān, with the methodological principle “through numbers investigate principle.”
2. èrshífān huāxìn fēng: the most ordered surviving listing of the twenty floral wind-signals — a YuánMíng natural-philosophical doctrine that the Sìkù editors regard as “must-have-a-derivation.”
3. Authorial attribution correction: the book’s standard attribution to a Sòng-period Wáng Kuí is corrected by the Sìkù editors — through careful philological argument citing the Mài jué and Zhào Yuándū internal references that no Sòng-period Wáng Kuí could have made — to the Hóngwǔ / Yǒng-lè-period Wáng Kuí of Qiántáng, lame-and-poor and known to Huáng Jīshuǐ’s Pín shì zhuàn.

The book’s natural-philosophical content includes substantial discussion of the qī biǎo bā lǐ jiǔ dào pulse-doctrine, the bǎi kè (hundred-quarter) calendrical-divinatory system (citing Zhào Yuándū), and the cosmological-numerical derivation of huāxìn fēng.

Dating. Given the corrected authorial attribution: NotBefore 1380 (the Hóngwǔ period) / notAfter 1420 (the Yǒnglè period; Wáng Kuí’s fl. per Huáng Jīshuǐ’s Pín shì zhuàn listing). The standard text is the SKQS 2-juàn recension (the meta-catalog lists 2 juàn; the Sìkù tíyào opens with “1 juàn” but the body and the SKQS layout in V866.14 give 2 juàn).

Translations and research

No complete Western-language translation. The book is cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on Míng Shào-Yōng-school cosmology, on the Yuán-Míng huā-xìn fēng tradition, and on the Hóng-wǔ-Yǒng-lè-period scholarly underclass.

Other points of interest

The Wáng Kuí of Qiántáng — lame, indigent, supporting himself by selling medicines and divination, yet broadly learned and consulted by his neighbours — is one of the more striking instances of the early-Míng pín shì (poor scholar) class, whose existence Huáng Jīshuǐ’s Pín shì zhuàn is one of the few surviving witnesses to.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Lí hǎi jí entry.
• Huáng Jīshuǐ, Pín shì zhuàn, Wáng Kuí entry.