Lǚ Héngzhōu jí 呂衡州集
The Collection of Lǚ [Wēn], [Prefect of] Héngzhōu by 呂溫 (撰)
About the work
Literary collection in 10 juǎn of Lǚ Wēn 呂溫 呂溫 (772–811, zì Héshū 和叔, also Huàguāng 化光), a Hézhōng 河中 native, jìnshì of 798, xíngbù lángzhōng and shì yùshǐ, who was banished to the prefectship of Dàozhōu 道州 and then transferred to Héngzhōu 衡州, where he died — hence the present title. Lǚ was, like Liú Yǔxī (= KR4c0051) and Liǔ Zōngyuán (= KR4c0049), associated with the Wáng Shūwén / Yǒngzhēn reform circle, though his diplomatic mission to Tibet (Tǔbō 吐蕃) coincided with the faction’s collapse and shielded him from the Bā sīmǎ fate. The original edition was assembled by Liú Yǔxī 劉禹錫; the present recension reorders Liú’s arrangement (placing verse before prose where Liú had cut the prose at Rénwén huàchéng lùn through Zhūgě Wǔhóu miào jì as the upper part). The collection is a key source for gǔwén prose theory of the Yuánhé generation.
Tiyao
Lǚ Héngzhōu jí in 10 juǎn — by Lǚ Wēn of the Táng. Wēn, zì Héshū, also Huàguāng, of Hézhōng; jìnshì of Zhēnyuán 14 (798); rose to xíngbù lángzhōng (Director, Bureau of Justice) and shì yùshǐ (Attendant Censor). Later banished as cìshǐ of Dàozhōu, transferred to Héngzhōu, where he died. Liú Yǔxī edited his prose, taking from Rénwén huàchéng lùn through the Zhūgě Wǔhóu miào jì as the upper section. The present text places verse and fù first and záwén later — already not Liú’s arrangement. Juǎn 6 and 7 (the zhìmíng / epitaphs) lack several pieces. The end-colophon by the Chánshǒu jūshì (alias of Féng Shū 馮舒 of Chángshú) records: in the jiǎzǐ year (1684) he borrowed the first five juǎn from a Qián-family holding; in wùchén (1688) he obtained the latter three from the prefectural city. Both Sòng prints, both lacking juǎn 6 and 7. He used the Wényuàn yīnghuá and Wéncuì to fill the gaps based on the juǎnmù, awaiting a complete copy. The 15 pieces from juǎn 2 onward, missing in the Sòng copy, were transcribed from the Chén Jiěyuán 陳解元 棚-edition. — Lǚ joined the Sīmǎ faction; when Wáng Shūwén fell, his Tibetan mission saved him; his rénpǐn was not unblemished. He studied the Chūnqiū under Lù Chún 陸淳 and prose under Liáng Sù 梁肅 — the line of transmission was respectable. The Yǔ zúxiōng Gāo shū shows deep grasp of the Six Classics’ meaning; the Sòng Xuē Tiānxìn guī Línjìn xù sees clearly to the source of writing; the Péishì hǎihūn jí xù discusses verse with subtlety; the Gǔ Dōngzhōu chéng míng clarifies the ruler-minister bond and corrects errors of the Zuǒzhuàn. Defects: the Dài Yǐnpúshè dùnǚ wéi ní biǎo (writing for a senior official to make his daughter a Buddhist nun) ought not to have been kept; the Zhūgě Wǔhóu miào jì, judging the Marquis as “talented but lacking insight,” is over-bold and absurd. Read with discrimination.
Abstract
Lǚ Wēn (772–811) was a Yuánhé-era political writer and gǔwén practitioner whose career reached Héngzhōu prefect in the wake of his entanglement with the Wáng Shūwén reform circle. Catalog meta gives 774–813; CBDB (id 92516) and standard reference works give 772–811, followed here. His prose was edited by Liú Yǔxī (his political ally and friend) and includes substantial pieces on classical theory, ritual, and statecraft, plus a much-discussed (and tendentious) re-evaluation of Zhūgě Liàng. The transmitted Sòng print was already incomplete in juǎn 6–7; Féng Shū of Chángshú reconstituted the missing pieces from anthologies in the late 17th century, and that hybrid is what reaches the WYG. Lǚ studied Chūnqiū under Lù Chún (the Dànzhāo school) — a key transmission for the early Xīn Chūnqiūxué — and prose under Liáng Sù.
Translations and research
- David McMullen. 1988. State and Scholars in T’ang China. CUP. Discusses Lǚ Wēn’s Chūn-qiū studies under Lù Chún.
- Charles Hartman. 1986. Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity. Princeton UP. Includes Lǚ Wēn in the prose-reform context.
- 田耕宇 Tián Gēng-yǔ. 2003. Tángdài fǎngǔ yùndòng yǔ Lǚ Wēn yánjiū 唐代復古運動與呂溫研究. Bā-Shǔ shū-shè.
Other points of interest
The Gǔ Dōngzhōu chéng míng — a polemical inscription against the Zuǒzhuàn’s judgment on the king-vassal relationship — is one of the earliest Yuánhé attempts to use Lù Chún’s anti-Zuǒ Chūnqiū doctrine in a literary form, and was much cited by later Sòng Chūnqiū scholars.