Guànyuán jí 灌園集
The Garden-Watering Collection by 呂南公 (撰)
About the work
Guànyuán jí 灌園集 in 20 juǎn preserves the writings of Lǚ Nángōng 呂南公 (fl. Xīníng–Yuányòu), Nánchéng (Jiāngxī) recluse-classicist who refused to align his prose with the Xīnfǎ curricular orthodoxy and was therefore bùyù (unsuccessful) in the jìnshì exam. The title takes Lǚ’s hào Guànyuán xiānshēng 灌園先生 (“Master of the Watered Garden”) — an allusion to the Zhuāng-zǐ-derived ideal of withdrawal-from-office. Compiled posthumously by Lǚ’s son Lǚ Yù 呂郁 in 30 juǎn; lost from late Sòng. Sìkù reconstruction from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn: 20 juǎn. A separately-circulating manuscript fragment of one juǎn (preserving 24 Mágūshān 麻姑山 poems, 1 Fúshān 福山 poem, and 3 prose pieces) survived but represents less than 10% of the original.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Guànyuán jí in 20 juǎn, by Lǚ Nángōng of the Sòng. Nángōng, zì Cìrú, of Nánchéng. Sòng shǐ Wényuánzhuàn says: “Of books there is none he did not read; of prose he refused to compose-and-stitch chen-yán (cliché). In the Xīníng mid-period the scholars were promoting Mǎ Róng, Wáng Sù, and Xǔ Shèn’s yè (note: in Xīníng mid-period the kējǔ used Wáng Ānshí’s Sānjīng xīnyì and Zìshuō — not the MǎWángXǔ learning. This statement is rather guāiwàng (deviant-and-foolish). The Sòng shǐ’s huānglòu — this is one such instance. Respectfully appended to correct the error)” — piāolüè línmó (plundering, copying). Nángōng would not chase the times’ liking. Once tested at the lǐwéi (ritual-enclosure exam) — failed; retired to build a hermitage and water the garden, no longer concerning himself with advancement. At the start of Yuányòu the ten-categories recommendation was set; Zhōngshū shèrén Zēng Zhào memorialised recommending his bù shì súxué, ānpín shǒu dào, kān chōng shībiǎo (does-not-serve vulgar-learning, calmly-poor keeps-the-Way, fit-to-fill teacher-and-model). Court-discussion was about to grant office; before it could be done, Nángōng died.
Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí says Nángōng wished to compose a Sānguózhì, naming his studio Gǔnfǔ; about-to-finish, Nángōng died — book also not transmitted. Only his son Yù compiled the surviving prose in 30 juǎn — but the woodblocks long lost, transmission long broken. Surviving manuscript-only Lǚ Cìrú jí 1 juǎn — only records Mágūshān poems 24 shǒu, Fúshān poem 1 shǒu, and QiánDèngzhōu bùshāo zhǐqiǎngsòng, Yìyīng zhì, Lóngmǔ mù three piān — these from Sòng wénjiàn and Mágūshānzhì abstracted-and-completed: of ten not preserved one.
Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recorded — gathered, edited, the piānzhì still considerable. Carefully arranged by category into 20 juǎn — though not necessarily fully matching the original count, compared to received copies it is gāibèi (complete-and-prepared) by far. Nángōng’s letter to Wāng mìjiào 汪秘校 (Aide of the Library) on lùn wén says of himself “from LièZhuāngLiùjīngBǎijiā and the eighteen-dynasty histories — through wén seeing dào — soaked-and-submerged-and-derived — privately-allowing — saying the affair of wénxué — though the sage-person were to come back, could not abolish what I assert.” Saying: “From YáoShùn onward — and YángMǎ before — and HánLiǔ’s compositions — these are what I call wén; as for chángwū guǐwěi jiépiāo chuānzáo wěirǒng (exam-arena false-presentation, plundering, deceptive-bored-into, crowded-and-redundant) prose — these are what I am ashamed of. Necessarily as the Yellow River and Tàishān — high-thick high-lofty unmixed-vast surge-and-pour — equal-with Heaven-and-Earth — and Sun-and-Moon cannot age them — these are what I devote-my-mind-to.” Now reading his collection — though what he says is not without overstatement — yet his tánjīng dānsī (concentrating-essence, exhausting-thought) — to power-pursue Qín and Hàn — also resolutely not deluded by sú xué. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Guànyuán jí preserves the writings of one of the more interesting qíshì (eccentrics) of Xīníng–Yuányòu Jiāngxī literary culture: a man who refused to engage with the dominant Xīnfǎ curriculum, lived as a guànyuán (garden-waterer), and was finally recognised by the Yuányòu-era recommendations only to die before appointment. Lǚ’s articulated literary self-positioning — measuring himself against YáoShùn–Yáng Xióng / Sīmǎ Xiāngrú–Hán Yù / Liǔ Zōngyuán, and refusing the exam-arena’s kējǔ wén — is one of the most explicit statements of late-Northern-Sòng ancient-prose orthodoxy outside Sū Shì’s circle. The lost Sānguó zhì re-composition project — under the studio-name Gǔnfǔ 衮斧 (Brocade-and-Axe, the Chūnqiū apparatus of moral judgement) — would have been a major Sòng historiographical work; only Chén Zhènsūn’s notice survives.
The Sìkù tíyào’s correction of the Sòng shǐ error (the Xīníng curriculum was Wáng Ānshí’s Sānjīng xīnyì and Zìshuō, not Mǎ Róng / Wáng Sù / Xǔ Shèn) is a model of Qīng philological intervention into a Yuán-compiled standard history.
The dating bracket runs from c. 1072 (mature compositional period) to 1086 (death after the Yuányòu recommendation).
Translations and research
- Sòng-shǐ j. 444 (Wén-yuán) — biography.
- Bol, Peter K. “This Culture of Ours” (Stanford 1992). Background on the late-Northern-Sòng anti-Xīn-fǎ literary culture in which Lǚ Nán-gōng moves.
- No dedicated monographic study of Lǚ Nán-gōng located.
Other points of interest
- The lost Sānguó zhì re-composition under Gǔnfǔ would have made Lǚ a Sòng analogue to the Táng Chūnqiū-revisionists; only the title survives.
- Lǚ’s articulation of chángwū wén (exam-arena prose) versus zhèng wén (proper prose) parallels but is independent of Sū Shì’s similar formulations of the period — an instance of the broader gǔwén movement reaching its mature self-articulation in the late Northern Sòng.