倚松詩集

Yǐsōng shījí 倚松詩集

The Yǐ-sōng Poetic Collection (of Ráo Jié) — also Yǐ-sōng lǎo-rén jí by 饒節 (撰)

About the work

Yǐsōng shījí 倚松詩集 (also Yǐsōng lǎorén jí 倚松老人集 — Ráo Jié 饒節 饒節’s self-given sobriquet, taken from his own gāthā xián xié jīngjuàn yǐsōng lì, shìwèn kè cóng héchù lái — “leaning on a pine carrying a sūtra-roll”) in 2 juǎn is the surviving fragment of Ráo Jié (fl. Yuánfú–Shàoxīng, c. 1065–c. 1129), a Línjì-school Chán-Buddhist monk and Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì-recorded 14-juǎn poet. The 14-juǎn original was lost; the present 2-juǎn state survives through the Qìngyuán 5 / 1199 jǐwèi re-cutting by jiàoguān (collation officer) Huáng Rǔjiā 黃汝嘉 — preserved with the colophon at the end. The Sìkù editors note the work survives in transmitted recensional connection with Xiè Kē 謝薖’s Zhúyǒu jí and Hán Jū 韓駒’s collection — the three together being jiāngxī shīpài (Jiāngxī school) co-recensions in the lost original Jiāngxī shīpài jí in 137 juǎn (per Sòng-period bibliographic tradition, of which only fragments survive). The Sìkù tíyào is therefore a relatively brief jiètí on a fragmentary text.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào (LiǎngHuái Mǎ Yù jiācángběn): Yǐsōng lǎorén jí in 2 juǎn by Ráo Jié of the Sòng. Jié, zì Décāo, of Fǔzhōu. Once was a guest of Zēng Bù; later disagreed with Bù on the New Policies, zhùfà wéi fútú (had his head shaved and entered the Buddhist sangha); changed his name to Rúbì; guàxī (hung his staff) at Língyǐnsì; in late life zhǔ Xiāngyáng zhī Tiānníngsì. Once composed a gāthā: “idly carrying a sūtra-roll, leaning on a pine I stand; let me ask, where do you come from?” — thereupon styled himself Yǐsōng dàorén (the man-of-the-Way leaning on a pine). The collection’s poetry is mostly composed after entering the sangha. Lǚ Běnzhōng’s Zǐwēi shīhuà praises him as xiāosǎn sì Pān Bīnlǎo (Pān Dàlín — Pān Bīnlǎo, an early-Northern-Sòng poet — easy-flowing-like). Lù Yóu’s Lǎoxuéān bǐjì further praises him as the dāngshí shīsēng dìyī (foremost shīsēng of the day). Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Yǐsōng jí in 14 juǎn; today only the surviving hand-copy in 2 juǎn. End has Qìngyuán jǐwèi jiàoguān Huáng Rǔjiā chóngkān (re-cut) one line — clearly still following the Sòng-cut old. Further: the present transmitted běn — with the Xiè Kē and Hán Jū two collections’ hángkuǎn (column-style) is the same; juǎnshǒu biāomù (volume-front title-mark) below all separately title Jiāngxī shīpài four characters — different from other poetry collections. Or could be the Sòng-people-edited Jiāngxī shīpài jí in 137 juǎn — three of its constituents — old recensions becoming damaged-and-fragmentary, later persons separated-them-out for separate-circulation. Qiánlóng [date].

Abstract

Yǐsōng shījí preserves a fragment — about one-seventh — of the original 14-juǎn corpus of Ráo Jié, the Chán-monastic shīsēng whom Lù Yóu pronounced the foremost of his day. The poetic voice is xiāosǎn (easy-flowing) — Ráo’s identity as a former lay-figure-turned-monk gives the collection a secular-monastic synthesis distinct from both Cānliáozǐ 釋道潛’s purely-monastic register and Huìhóng 釋惠洪’s aggressive wénzìchán program. Bibliographically the most striking feature is the Sìkù editors’ identification of the present recension as a fragment of the lost Jiāngxī shīpài jí in 137 juǎn — with the parallel Xiè Kē and Hán Jū collections preserving the same hángkuǎn (column-format) and Jiāngxī shīpài sub-title — a critical clue to the lost monumental Jiāngxī-school anthology’s editorial state. The Huáng Rǔjiā Qìngyuán 5 / 1199 jǐwèi re-cutting note authenticates the recensional state. Dating bracket: Ráo’s death (c. 1129) to the Qìngyuán re-cutting (1199) [thereafter the recension is preserved in copy].

Translations and research

• No substantial secondary literature located in European languages. Standard treatment in Sūn Chāng-wǔ 孫昌武’s Sòng-dài fó-jiào yǔ shī-rén shēng-huó (1988). Pān Yùn-gāo 潘運告. 1990. Sòng-dài Chán-zōng wén-xué 宋代禪宗文學. Hú-nán rén-mín — treats Ráo briefly.
• Schmidt, Jerry D. 1982. “The Buddhist Poet Han-shan.” Background.
• Lèng Cháng-jiàn 冷昌建. Jiāng-xī shī-pài yán-jiū — treats the lost Jiāng-xī shī-pài jí anthology.

Other points of interest

The Sìkù editors’ identification of this fragmentary 2-juǎn text as a survivor of the lost Jiāngxī shīpài jí (in 137 juǎn, the canonical anthology of the Jiāngxī shīpài) is one of the more important Sìkù contributions to Jiāngxī-school bibliographic studies. Ráo Jié’s fǎmíng Rúbì 如璧 — given on his ordination — and his zì-name Yǐsōng (from his self-composed gāthā) together preserve a rare instance of an explicitly self-narrated sangha-naming. The Lù Yóu-praise as dāngshí shīsēng dìyī — pairing Ráo with his contemporary Cānliáozǐ 釋道潛 — is the canonical Sòng evaluation.

Links

• Rao Jie (Wikidata)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §52 (Buddhism in China); §28.2 (Sòng anthologies).