Yì lín 意林
Forest of Ideas
by 馬總 (Mǎ Zǒng, d. 823), Táng prefect-administrator and bibliographer.
About the work
A 5-juàn mid-Táng zázuǎn (miscellaneous compilation) by 馬總 (Mǎ Zǒng), Protectorate-General of Annam and later Hùbù shàngshū. The work is a topical anthology drawing from over seventy of the Zhōu, Hàn, and SòngWèi zǐ (philosophers) and selected xiǎoshuō; each cited work is given a brief notation with its principal sayings extracted. Its position in Chinese literary history is significant as an early systematic effort to digest the zǐbù tradition. The opening of the work in the WYG copy is prefaced by the Yùtí Yì lín sān jué jù — three imperial quatrains by the Qiánlóng emperor, citing the yǒngníngjūn (Yǔyǐngchuān, i.e., Mǎ Zǒng’s office) and his administrative achievement, and praising the work for “compactly digesting the broad” (chè wén yī luán, zhī wèi quán — “tasting one slice of the cauldron, knowing the whole flavor”). The full table of contents shows works extracted from Yùzǐ, Tàigōng jīnguì, Tàigōng liù tāo, Zēngzǐ, Yànzǐ, Zǐsīzǐ, Mèngzǐ, Guǎnzǐ, Dàodé jīng, Xún Qīngzǐ, Lǔliánzǐ, Wénzǐ, Dèngxīzǐ, Fànzǐ, Húfēizǐ, Mòzǐ, Chánzǐ, Suícháozǐ, Shīzǐ, Hánzǐ, Lièzǐ, Zhuāngzǐ, Héguānzǐ, Wángsūnzǐ, Shēnzǐ, Shènzǐ, Yān Dānzǐ, Guǐgǔzǐ, Yǐn Wénzǐ, Gōngsūn Wénzǐ, Lù Jiǎ Xīnshū, Cháo Cuò Xīnshū, Jiǎ Yì Xīnshū, Lǚshì chūnqiū, Huáinánzǐ, and many others. The Yuán-dynasty Hú San-xǐng edition added 60-some titles, expanding from the original.
Tiyao
(Note: the Sìkù tiyao block in the source text is short and the full prose discussion is incorporated above in About the work.)
We respectfully submit that Yì lín in 5 juàn was compiled by Mǎ Zǒng of the Táng. Zǒng’s zì was Huìyuán 會元; a Fúfēng man; was Protectorate-General of Annam, later Hùbù shàngshū. He died in Chángqìng 3 (823). His Yì lín digests the Zhōu Hàn zǐshū and xiǎoshuō, in 70-some works, each with its principal yàoyán. This is one of the foundational Táng-period anthologies of the zǐ tradition.
The Yuán Hú Sānxǐng re-cutting reached a further expansion; the WYG copy reverts to the original 5-juàn arrangement.
Abstract
The Yì lín is the foundational mid-Táng anthology of the zǐ (philosophers / masters) tradition. 馬總 (Mǎ Zǒng, d. 823) — Protectorate-General of Annam, Hùbù shàngshū, and the namesake of the great Hàn frontier hero Mǎ Yuán (the Mǎ Fúbō of the imperial quatrains’ praise) — compiled the work as a digest of the Zhōu, Hàn, and SòngWèi zǐ corpus, with selected xiǎoshuō.
The book’s principal contributions:
- Earliest extant zǐbù digest. The Yì lín is one of the earliest surviving Chinese encyclopedic digests of the zǐbù corpus, predating Sòng lèishū by several centuries. Its arrangement by source-text rather than by topic makes it especially valuable for textual scholarship.
- Fragmentary text preservation. The work preserves substantial fragments of zǐ texts that have since been lost in their complete forms — Lǔliánzǐ, Húfēizǐ, Chánzǐ, Suícháozǐ, Shīzǐ, Wángsūnzǐ, Yān Dānzǐ, Gōngsūn Wénzǐ, and others.
- Textual recensions. The book exists in two main recensions: the original 5-juàn Táng text (preserved in WYG) and Hú Sānxǐng’s Yuán expanded recension. Each has scholarly utility.
- Source for Qián-lóng-era literary reception. The Qiánlóng emperor’s three imperial quatrains prefacing the WYG copy mark the work’s enduring canonical status.
Dating. Mǎ Zǒng died in 823. The work must be from his middle career, with administrative service in Annam (where the Tóngzhù — the bronze pillars of Mǎ Yuán’s frontier — are mentioned in the imperial preface). NotBefore c. 800, notAfter 823.
Translations and research
No complete Western-language translation. The work is widely cited in modern Chinese textual scholarship on the zǐ tradition, especially in studies of fragmentary texts. The Hú Sān-xǐng edition and the Sìkù WYG edition together form the principal recensions; the standard punctuated edition is in the Cóng-shū jí-chéng series.
Other points of interest
The work is the bibliographical ancestor of subsequent Sòng-era zǐ digests, including Zēng Zào’s Lèi shuō (KR3j0180) and the various smaller anthologies of the late Sòng. Its method — extract by source rather than by topic — preserves the integrity of the zǐ texts in a way that later topical lèishū (e.g., Tàipíng yùlǎn, Tàipíng guǎngjì) do not.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 5, Yì lín entry.