Zhōng Huì jí 鍾會集
Collected Works of Zhong Hui (Reconstructed) by 鍾會 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the literary and philosophical writings of Zhōng Huì 鍾會 (225–264 CE), Cáo Wèi 曹魏 general, strategist, and xuánxué 玄學 philosopher. Organized in two juǎn, the fragments are cited in the Wénxuǎn commentary and Tàipíng yùlǎn traditions. Zhong Hui’s writings include philosophical discussions, memorials, and letters; his Sì běn lùn 四本論 (Essay on the Four Roots [of Talent and Nature]) was a central work in the cáixìng zhī biàn 才性之辯 debate about whether talent (cái 才) and nature (xìng 性) are the same or different.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Zhōng Huì 鍾會 (225–264 CE; zì Shìjì 士季; CBDB id 429798) was the son of Zhōng Yáo 鍾繇 (the calligrapher) and one of the most brilliant and ill-fated figures of the late Cáo Wèi. A military prodigy, he led the Wei forces that destroyed the Shǔ Hàn 蜀漢 in 263 CE alongside Dèng Ài 鄧艾. He then attempted his own rebellion in Chéngdū 成都 in 264 CE and was killed in the ensuing mutiny. His biography is in the Sānguózhì 三國志, Wèishū, juǎn 28.
His philosophical essay the Sì běn lùn addressed the central question of whether innate moral nature and intellectual talent are identical (tóng 同), different (yì 異), coincident (hé 合), or discrete (lí 離). This text, along with responses by Fù Gù 傅嘏, Liú Shào 劉劭, Lǐ Fēng 李豐, and Wáng Guǎng 王廣, generated the key metaphysical debate of the early Wèi period; the main arguments are preserved in the Shìshuō xīnyǔ 世說新語 and its commentary. He also wrote on musical theory and is credited with discussions of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (Zhúlín qíxián 竹林七賢), though authorship of some texts is contested.
The Suíshū Jīngjízhì lists a Zhōng Huì jí in twenty juǎn. By the Sòng the collection was effectively lost; Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 included a Zhōng Shìjì jí 鍾士季集 in his Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集. The present two-juǎn reconstruction draws on lèishū citations and philosophical texts.
Translations and research
- Wagner, Rudolf G. The Craft of a Chinese Commentator: Wang Bi on the Laozi. Albany: SUNY Press, 2000. (For the intellectual context of xuanxue debates involving Zhong Hui.)
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. Entry on Zhong Hui.
Links
- Wikipedia: Zhong Hui