Sūn Chuò jí 孫綽集
Collected Works of Sun Chuo (Reconstructed) by 孫綽 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the literary writings of Sūn Chuò 孫綽 (320–380 CE), Eastern Jìn 東晉 official, Daoist-Buddhist lay thinker, and poet. Organized in two juǎn, the surviving fragments are cited in the Yìwén lèijù 藝文類聚, Tàipíng yùlǎn 太平御覽, and the Wénxuǎn 文選 commentary. The collection is notable for containing the full text of Sun Chuo’s 〈三月三日蘭亭詩序〉 (Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering Poems, Third Day of the Third Month), the companion piece to Wáng Xīzhī’s 王羲之 celebrated Lántíng xù 蘭亭序. The Hóng míng jí 弘明集 juǎn 3 and the Chū sānzàng jìjí juǎn 15 also preserve Buddhist-related texts from his pen.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Sūn Chuò 孫綽 (320–380 CE; zì Xīnggōng 興公; CBDB id 69877, fl. 330–365) was a leading Eastern Jìn literary official and thinker from Tàiyuán 太原 Zhōngyūan 中都. He held positions including Hùbù Shàngshū 戶部尚書 and was one of the most prominent prose and verse writers of the Eastern Jìn. He was closely connected with Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之, Xǔ Xún 許詢, and the broader intellectual circle that gathered at the Lántíng 蘭亭 event of 353 CE.
Sun Chuo is best known for two genres: his ornate fù 賦 in the tradition of the Xuanxue thinker-aesthetes, and his expository essays (lùn 論) arguing for the compatibility of Buddhism and Confucianism. The 〈Yóu Tiāntāi shān fù〉 遊天台山賦 (Rhapsody on Excursion to Tiāntāi Mountain) is his most celebrated fù, preserved in Wénxuǎn juǎn 11. His 〈Yú Dào lùn〉 喻道論 (Essay Explaining the Way) and related pieces in the Hóng míng jí make him a key figure in the Buddhist apologetics of the Eastern Jìn. The Suíshū Jīngjízhì records a Sūn Chuò jí in fifteen juǎn. Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 included a Sūn Xīnggōng jí 孫興公集 in the Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集.
Translations and research
- Mather, Richard B. “The Mystical Ascent of the T’ien T’ai Mountains: Sun Ch’o’s Yu T’ien-t’ai shan fu.” Monumenta Serica 20 (1961): 226–45. (Translation of the 遊天台山賦.)
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959.
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. Entry on Sun Chuo.
Links
- Wikipedia: Sun Chuo