Wúwéi jí 無為集
The Wú-wéi Collection (of Yáng Jié) by 楊傑 (撰), 趙士㣓 (編)
About the work
Wúwéi jí 無為集 is the literary collection of Yáng Jié 楊傑 (fl. c. 1030s–c. 1100s, zì Cìgōng 次公, hào Wúwéizǐ 無為子), a Jiāyòu 4 / 1059 jìnshì native of Wúwéijūn (Ānhuī) and intimate of Hú Yuán, Ōuyáng Xiū, Wáng Ānshí, Sū Shì, and the Korean monk Ŭich’ŏn 義天. Lost entirely after the Nándù, it was reconstituted in Shàoxīng 13 / 1143 by Zhào Shìhū 趙士㣓 then zhī Wúwéijūn — who deliberately excluded the Buddhist and Daoist shīwén (intending a separate biéjí — now lost) and arranged what survived into 15 juǎn (2 juǎn fù; 5 juǎn shī; 8 juǎn wén). The Sìkù editors note that the exclusion produced gaps: poems on Mt. Tài and Wǎguānsì, and a number of monks’ zèngdá poems quoted in Zhāng Dūnyí 張敦頤’s Liùcháo shìjì, Wáng Xiàngzhī 王象之’s Yúdì jìshèng, Qián Yuèyǒu 潛說友’s Xiánchún Línān zhì, and the Tiěwǎng shānhú, are absent here; meanwhile a few residual Buddhist references (juǎn 5: Shū Bǎoshānsì bì; juǎn 7: Tí Bǎoshùyuàn wǔsōng, Dōngfēng Báiyúnyuàn, Yěsì; juǎn 10: Yuántóngān míng, Yuánjìān míng) inadvertently slipped through, breaching Zhào’s own editorial principle.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Wúwéi jí in 15 juǎn by Yáng Jié of the Sòng. Jié, zì Cìgōng, of Wúwéijūn, hence self-styled Wúwéizǐ. Jiāyòu 4 / 1059 jìnshì. In Yuánfēng held Lǐbù yuánwàiláng, sent out as zhī Rùnzhōu, transferred to LiǎngJiāng tídiǎn xíngyù, died in office. The yuánxù (original preface) calls him Shìjiǎng Yáng xiānshēng — that being his concurrent attached title. Jié jí (took part in friendship) with Ōuyáng Xiū, Wáng Ānshí, Sū Shì — hence his poetry, though xìngxiàng (image-evocation) is not deep, has guīgé (compositional norm); his easy-flowing pieces approach Bái Jūyì; his qíjué like the Sòng Lǐ Pījiāng approach Lú Tóng — but the prevailing register is still Yuányòu tǐ. He also jí with Hú Yuán, hence his learning has roots. As Tàicháng he discussed diǎnlǐ yīngé (ritual continuity-and-change) with much tǎolùn (deliberation); in the collection the Bǔzhèng Sānlǐtú, Huángzú fúzhìtú prefaces, the dìxiá and míngtáng yuèlǜ memorials all bear on diǎnzhì. Only his prose is somewhat weak, the biānfú (compass) somewhat narrow. The collection has 2 juǎn fù, 5 juǎn shī, 8 juǎn wén. Edited in Shàoxīng 13 / 1143 (癸亥) by Zhào Shìhū then zhī Wúwéijūn. Shìhū’s preface says: “I have shānchú (deleted) the wúlèi (overgrown), kept what is yǒubǔ yú jiàohuà (helpful for moral cultivation); the shī and wén of Shì (Buddha) and Dào — these appear in the biéjí.” Today the biéjí is not transmitted — hence Zhāng Dūnyí’s Liùcháo shìjì records his Yǔhuātái shī; Wáng Xiàngzhī’s Yúdì jìshèng records his Jìngjūsì shī; Qián Yuèyǒu’s Xiánchún Línān zhì records his Xīhú Cānliáo shānfáng shī; the Tiěwǎng shānhú records his Fórìshān bié zhǎnglǎo Bìgōng shī — all by-monk-composed; today none are visible in the collection. However in juǎn 5 there is a Shū Bǎoshānsì bì; in juǎn 7 a Tí Bǎoshùyuàn wǔsōng, an East-fēng Báiyúnyuàn, a Yěsì; in juǎn 10 a Yuántóngān míng, a Yuánjìān míng — none avoid mutual mixing with the case (against the announced editorial principle). Further: 5 míng placed in záwén, zàn also in záwén — yet listed in shī; shī divided into gǔtǐ and lǜtǐ — and the Hé Xiè pànguān yàn Nánlóu — originally an ǎotǐ 7-character lǜshī — is mistakenly placed in the gǔshī arrangement: biāncì particularly disordered. Further: the Wèi Zhāojūn zàn — the zhāo character was a Rénzōng xiánmíng (semi-tabooed name) — but the next juǎn still calls him Wèi Zhēngjūn cǎotáng — the jiàochóu (collation) is also not fully refined. Nevertheless, Jié’s collection, after the Nándù, was buried and not transmitted; Shìhū with two years’ effort searched out and edited it, making it once again transmissible to the present — his biǎozhāng (recovery) merit cannot be wholly suppressed. Qiánlóng 44 (1779) 7th month, respectfully collated.
The yuánxù by Zhào Shìhū dates the collection’s reconstitution to Shàoxīng guǐhài / 1143; his rationale frames Yáng Jié’s gōngcí diǎnlì, lìyì àomiào (refined-elegant diction, deep-mysterious meaning) as a model for xuézhě (students), suitable for the post-Nándù programme of yǎnwǔ xiūwén (laying down arms, restoring civil culture).
Abstract
Yáng Jié occupies a peculiar position in late-Northern-Sòng cultural history: a zhìyǒu of all three of the major gǔwén protagonists (Ōuyáng Xiū, Wáng Ānshí, Sū Shì); a student of Hú Yuán and a serious participant in the Tàicháng ritual debates of the Yuánfēng period (his Bǔzhèng Sānlǐtú and Huángzú fúzhìtú prefaces, and the dìxiá and míngtáng yuèlǜ memorials, are major sources); the principal Sòng-side host of the Korean monk Ŭich’ŏn during his 1085 pilgrimage; and a serious jūshì (lay Buddhist) — yet the entire Buddhist-Daoist portion of his work was deliberately excluded from the collection by Zhào Shìhū. The result is a fragmentary picture of a polymath. The Sìkù editors’ careful enumeration of the cross-citations (in Liùcháo shìjì, Yúdì jìshèng, Xiánchún Línān zhì, Tiěwǎng shānhú) is the principal record of the missing portion. Yáng Jié’s relationship with Ŭich’ŏn — preserved in the Goryeo-sa and Daegak guksa munjip on the Korean side — makes him an important figure in Sòng–Goryeo Buddhist exchange. Dating bracket: Zhào Shìhū’s editing (1143) to the Sìkù re-collation (1779).
Translations and research
- Huang, Chi-chiang. 1995. “Elite and Clergy in Northern Sung Hang-chou: A Convergence of Interest.” In Buddhism in the Sung, ed. Peter N. Gregory & Daniel A. Getz Jr. University of Hawai’i Press. Treats Yáng Jié as the principal Northern-Sòng jū-shì host of Ŭich’ŏn.
- Yi Pyŏng-uk 李丙旭. 1986. Daegak Kuksa Ŭich’ŏn yŏn’gu 大覺國師義天研究. Seoul. Treats Yáng Jié in the Goryeo-Sòng exchange.
- Levering, Miriam L. 1987. “Ta-hui and Lay Buddhists.” In Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society, ed. David Chappell. Hawai’i.
- Smith, Paul J. & Richard von Glahn, eds. 2003. The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History. Harvard. Background.
Other points of interest
The deliberate exclusion of the Buddhist-Daoist portion of Yáng Jié’s work — and the survival of references to it across half a dozen miscellanies — makes this collection a textbook case of biéjí editorial filtering. The Sìkù editors’ detailed attention to those gaps (and to the editorial slips that left a handful of Buddhist pieces in the main collection) is a model of bǎnběn / textual control. The 1085 hosting of Ŭich’ŏn — the principal Goryeo Buddhist pilgrim of the Yuánfēng period — is the flagship moment of Northern-Sòng / Goryeo Buddhist exchange and is documented in detail on the Korean side in the Daegak Kuksa munjip.
Links
- Yang Jie (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §50.4 (Sòng-Liáo-Jīn-Goryeo).