Lǐ Wéngōng jí 李文公集
The Collection of Lǐ Wén-gōng [Lǐ Áo] by 李翱 (撰)
About the work
Prose collection in 18 juǎn of Lǐ Áo 李翱 李翱 (772–841, zì Xízhī 習之), a Lǒngxī Chéngjì 隴西成紀 native (descended from Liáng Wǔzhāo wáng, Lǐ Hào 李暠), jìnshì of Zhēnyuán 14 (798), eventually jiǎnjiào hùbù shàngshū. Lǐ was Hán Yù’s nephew-by-marriage and senior disciple, and the leading interpreter and consolidator of Hán’s gǔwén program in its philosophical dimension. The Fùxìng shū 復性書 — Lǐ’s three-treatise meditation on “recovering the [innate] nature” — is the single most influential mid-Táng text in the prehistory of SòngMíng Neo-Confucianism, anticipating (and in places explicitly transmitting) the xīnxìng lùn developed by the Chéng brothers and Zhū Xī. The collection contains 104 pieces in 18 juǎn, the count agreeing with the Táng yìwénzhì. The transmitted text comes via a Míng Jǐngtài (1450–57) manuscript copy by Xíng Ràng 邢讓 of Hédōng, printed by Xú Yǎngyuán in the early Qīng but with many corruptions; the present WYG copy is the Máo Jìn 毛晉 Jígǔ gé edition, retaining 18 juǎn, possibly descended from Sū Tiānjué’s 蘇天爵 Yuán holding.
Tiyao
Lǐ Wéngōng jí in 18 juǎn — by Lǐ Áo of the Táng. Áo, zì Xízhī, of Lǒngxī Chéngjì, descended from Liáng Wǔzhāo wáng, Lǐ Hào; jìnshì of Zhēnyuán 14; rose to Nándōngdào jiédùshǐ and jiǎnjiào hùbù shàngshū. The Táng yìwénzhì gives 18 juǎn; Zhào Fǎng’s Dōngshān cún gǎo records “108 juǎn… 104 piān… the holding of the JiāngZhè xíngshěng cānzhèng, Sū gōng of Zhàojùn (Sū Tiānjué)” — agreeing with the Táng zhì. Chén Zhènsūn says the Shǔ edition has 20 juǎn. Two recent recensions exist: a Míng Jǐngtài manuscript by Xíng Ràng of Hédōng, printed by Xú Yǎngyuán of the present dynasty, very corrupt; and the present Máo Jìn edition, in 18 juǎn — possibly the Sū Tiānjué copy. Yán Ruòjù’s Qiánqiū zhájì records doubts about whether the Máo edition is a complete copy. Áo was Hán Yù’s nephew-by-marriage; his learning all derived from Hán. The collection’s Dá Huángfǔ Shí shū claims that Áo’s own Gāo Mǐnnǚ Yáng lièfù zhuàn is not below Bān Gù or Cài Yōng — slightly self-aggrandizing. Yet the Yǔ Liáng Zàiyán shū discusses prose at length, and the Jì cóngdì Zhèngcí shū defines literature as not a yīyì (mere art) but the carrier of rényì — and prose so framed has a basis. Lǐ’s command of cái and xué is below Hán’s, but his words have roots: warm, balanced, restrained — unlike Lǐ Guān (= KR4c0057) and Liú Tuì (= KR4c0080) with their forced postures. Sū Shùnqīn judged Áo’s prose “cí not up to Hán, but lǐ surpassing Liǔ” — a sound assessment. Zhèng Xiè’s claim that he favored substance over craft is too harsh.
The compiler is unknown. The collection has the second of two Yǔ Hóugāo shū but not the first — the editorial selection was deliberate. The Huángzǔ shílù however is presumptuous in its title: huáng and kǎo in the Lǐjīng are emperor-only honorifics; the shílù genre name was reserved by Sòng-period regulation for sovereigns. Áo, predating these strictures, can be allowed his huángzǔ; but the shílù name, applied to his grandfather’s biographical record, exceeds the TángSòng convention.
[Long discussion of the (false) attribution of two stray verses to Lǐ Áo follows: a piece in the Chuándēng lù (the dialogue with the Chán master Yàoshān) and an inscription poem from a Zhèngzhōu stele. Lǐu Pān’s Zhōngshān shīhuà notes that the Zhèngzhōu Lǐ Áo is a different person (the Zhèngzhōu cìshǐ, not Hán Yù’s disciple); Wáng Móu argues otherwise on the basis of the Sēnglù. The tíyào sides with Liú Pān. The Zhèngzhōu inscription is a different Lǐ Áo; the Yàoshān dialogue verse, like Hán Yù’s Dàdiān sānshū, is a Buddhist forgery to claim Lǐ Áo’s posthumous adherence.]
Abstract
Lǐ Áo (772–841) is the philosophical pole of the Hán Yù gǔwén movement: the Fùxìng shū — composed in three parts, in the Yuánhé period — is the foundational pre-Sòng treatise on xìng (nature), qíng (feeling/emotion), and chéng (sincerity). Its terminological apparatus (tiānmìng zhī wèi xìng, míngshàn fùxìng) directly anticipates the ChéngZhū learning and was acknowledged by Zhū Xī as proto-orthodox. The collection also contains substantial epigraphic and xíngzhuàng (biographical) prose, including the Lǐ Hànlíng zhuàn (his uncle), the Hán Wéngōng xíngzhuàng (the principal source for Hán Yù’s late career), and the Láinán lù (the diary of his journey from Chángān to Língnán in 809–810, the first surviving Chinese travel diary). The transmission is solid through the Sòng (recorded in Táng yìwénzhì, Sū Tiānjué Yuán holding, Chén Zhènsūn descriptive bibliography) but the Míng Jǐngtài manuscript line is corrupt; the WYG follows the Máo Jìn Jígǔ gé re-collation.
Translations and research
- Barrett, T. H. 1992. Li Ao: Buddhist, Taoist, or Neo-Confucian? Oxford UP. The principal English-language monograph; treats the Fù-xìng shū in the context of Lǐ’s broader thought.
- Hartman, Charles. 1986. Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity. Princeton UP. Substantial chapter on Lǐ Áo.
- Tillman, Hoyt Cleveland. 1992. Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy. Hawai’i. Treats the Sòng reception of the Fù-xìng shū.
- 王开元 Wáng Kāi-yuán. 2002. Lǐ Áo nián-pǔ 李翱年譜. Tài-běi.
Other points of interest
The Láinán lù (in juǎn 18) is the earliest surviving Chinese rìjì (literary diary), recording Lǐ Áo’s official posting from Chángān to Língnán in Yuánhé 4 (809) — predating Lù Yóu’s RùShǔ jì by some 360 years. Modern scholarship treats it as the prototype of the genre. The tíyào’s defensive treatment of the absent verse — both arguing against the Zhèngzhōu stele attribution and reading the surviving silly Xìzèng piece as proof Lǐ wrote no other verse — is one of its more elaborate single-text textual-critical operations.