穆參軍集

Mù cānjūn jí 穆參軍集

The Collection of Aide-de-Camp Mù (Mù Xiū) by 穆修 (撰)

About the work

Mù cānjūn jí 穆參軍集 is the small 3-juǎn (with 1-juǎn yíshì 遺事 appendix) collection of Mù Xiū 穆修 (979–1032, zì Bócháng 伯長), the early-Sòng gǔwén polemicist whose intellectual lineage is the second principal channel from Liǔ Kāi to Ōuyáng Xiū. The title commemorates Mù’s first office, cānjūn 參軍 of Tàizhōu sīlǐ 泰州司理 — the title by which contemporaries always referred to him. The collection’s editor was Zǔ Wúzé 祖無擇, who in Qìnglì 3 / 1043 prepared the recension that descends to the WYG.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: the Mù cānjūn jí in 3 juǎn with a 1-juǎn yíshì appendix was composed by Mù Xiū of the Sòng. Xiū, zì Bócháng, of Wènyáng 汶陽; his deeds are in Sòngshǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. Sū Shùnqīn’s Lament (in KR4d0034) says Mù took the jìnshì in the Xiánpíng era, while the present collection’s Letter to the Yǐngzhōu shìláng Liú says “I obtained the jìnshì in Dàzhōngxiángfú”; Shào Bówēn’s 邵伯溫 Yìxué biànhuò also says Mù was a jìnshì of Xiángfú 2 (1009), Liáng Gù 梁固’s class — so Sū Shùnqīn was simply mistaken. Released to Tàizhōu sīlǐ cānjūn; for his uprightness slandered by Tōngpàn Qín Yìng 秦應 and demoted to Chízhōu; pardoned twice and transferred to literary clerkships of Yǐng and Cài; died of illness in Míngdào 1 / 1032. Sòng men always called him “Aide-de-Camp Mù” — from his first office. Mù studied shùxué 數學 (the numerological-cosmological learning) with Chén Tuán 陳摶; the smuggling of the Xiāntiān tú 先天圖 into the Confucian tradition begins with Mù. As to his prose, his master is unrecorded; but Ōuyáng Xiū in his discussion of Yǐn Zhū’s epitaph says Mù studied gǔwén before Yǐn, and Zhū Xī’s Míngchén yánxíng lù also says Yǐn studied gǔwén with Mù. Shào Bówēn’s Biànhuò says Mù had Tang-text HánLiǔ collections at home and hired craftsmen to cut blocks; the present Liǔ Zōngyuán jí still has Mù’s postface. Heaven endowed him highly; he traced back to Hán Yù and Liǔ Zōngyuán and got it on his own. The Sòng gǔwén movement was indeed founded by Liǔ Kāi 柳開 and Mù Xiū as forerunners — but Liǔ’s learning died with him, while Mù’s at one remove was Yǐn Zhū 尹洙, at two removes was Ōuyáng Xiū, and the Sòng wénzhāng peaked there: thus his contribution was not small. According to Sū Shùnqīn’s Lament, when he sought Mù’s surviving prose he could find only four pieces — the Rén Zhōngzhèng shàngshū jiāmiào bēi, the Jìngshèng tíng jì, the Xú shēng mùzhì, the Càizhōu tǎ jì — not enough for a juǎn. Zǔ Wúzé’s KR4d0055 collection has Mù’s jí xù saying that Mù’s surviving writings were obtained from the heir-son Mù Zhào 穆照: 56 poems, shūxùjìzhìjìwén totaling 20 — arranged into 3 juǎn. The preface is dated Qìnglì 3 / 1043; the listed numbers match the present recension — so this collection still preserves Zǔ Wúzé’s original arrangement. Wáng Déchén’s Zhǔ shǐ cites Shǐ Xiāng’s words criticizing the Jù dào shī 巨盜詩 — Mù’s poem mocking Dīng Wèi 丁謂 — as “burdensome to the Way.” On examination, Shào Bówēn’s Biànhuò records that Dīng was Mù’s poor-and-low friend, but after Dīng rose, Mù refused even to yī him; Dīng held a grudge and pushed him into demotions; Mù’s Wén bào zì Yá xǐ Léi in this collection is for Dīng — what Shǐ called “burdensome to the Way” was the suspicion of personal grudge. Yet his poetry’s denunciation of treachery does not really violate public yì and we cannot heavily criticize. Yè Shì’s Shuǐxīn jí mocked Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Sòng wén jiàn selection of Mù’s Fǎxiàng yuàn zhōng jì and Jìngshèng tíng jì as “rotten and coarse” — also said too far. Only the third juǎn’s opening Bózhōu Wèi Wǔdì zhàngmiào jì says “Cáo Cāo founded great deeds and pacified the central realm, leaving an enduring radiance for later ages” and “as emperor’s hero, had heaven extended his prowess only a few years more, what could mean Wú and Shǔ not be subdued?” — words that express opinions far from righteous. (The tíyào continues with corrections of fact.) Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 9th month, respectfully collated. — Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

Mù Xiū’s literary-historical importance is summed up by the Sìkù tíyào itself: he is the second link in the gǔwén lineage Liǔ Kāi → Mù Xiū → Yǐn Zhū → Ōuyáng Xiū, and the figure who carried the gǔwén program through the Tiānshèng / Jǐngyòu generation when Liǔ Kāi’s direct disciples had died out. Equally important is his role in the transmission of Chén Tuán’s 陳摶 Xiāntiān tú 先天圖 numerological-cosmological diagrams: Mù studied shùxué with Chén Tuán’s tradition (probably via Lǐ Zhīcái 李之才), and the xiāntiān line of Sòng yìxué descends through him to Lǐ Zhīcái 李之才 and then to Shào Yōng 邵雍 — so Mù is a hinge between the gǔwén movement and the xiāntiān school of Yìxué.

The collection is small. The 3 juǎn preserve the surviving prose (4 bēijìzhì pieces — Rén Zhōngzhèng jiāmiào bēi, Jìngshèng tíng jì, Xú shēng mùzhì, Càizhōu tǎ jì; plus 20 shūxùjìzhìjìwén) and 56 poems. The 1-juǎn yíshì appendix gathers anecdotes — including the famous one about Mù carrying Liǔ Zōngyuán manuscripts on his back to Kāifēng to find a buyer (the legendary origin of the Sòng Liǔ Hédōng jí print line). Mù’s Bózhōu Wèi Wǔdì zhàngmiào jì — the unusually pro-Cáo Cāo essay flagged by the Sìkù compilers — is one of the more interesting Northern-Sòng deviations from orthodox ShǔHàn legitimacy.

The dating brackets Mù’s death (1032) to Zǔ Wúzé’s editorial preface (1043), the terminus ad quem of the present recension.

Translations and research

• Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP, ch. 5. Treats Mù’s place in the gǔ-wén lineage.
• Smith, Kidder, Bol, Adler, and Wyatt. 1990. Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching. Princeton UP. Discusses Mù’s role in transmitting the Xiān-tiān tú.
• Hatton, Russell. 1995. “Sung Studies of the Lao tzu: A Bibliographical Survey.” Journal of Chinese Religions 23 — discusses Mù’s shù-xué.
• Hé Cān 何燦. 1990. Mù Xiū yán-jiū 穆修研究. Hé-nán dàxué chūbǎnshè. Standard modern Chinese monograph.

Other points of interest

Mù Xiū’s house-printing of Hán Yù and Liǔ Zōngyuán’s collected works — recorded by Shào Bówēn — is one of the earliest documented instances of a private gǔwén publishing program in the Northern Sòng, and is the proximate origin of the Sòng Hán / Liǔ printed transmission that descends through Liào Yíngzhōng’s 廖瑩中 Shìcǎitáng edition into modern critical editions.

Links

• Mu Xiu (Wikidata Q56286253)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (gǔwén movement); §47 (Sòng Yìxué).