Fěirán jí 斐然集
Splendid-Unfolding Collection by 胡寅 (撰)
About the work
Fěirán jí 斐然集 in 30 juǎn is the literary collection of Hú Yín 胡寅 (1098–1156), Sòng Huīyóugé zhíxuéshì, adopted son of the Chūnqiū master Hú Ānguó 胡安國, brother of Hú Hóng 胡宏 KR4d0197. The 30-juǎn count is preserved in the Sòng shǐ běnzhuàn and matches the WYG version, which descends from Duānpíng yuánnián (1234) Féng Bāngzuǒ 馮邦佐’s Sìchuān cut (with Lóu Yuè preface) and the parallel Jiādìng 3 (1210) Zhèng Zhàozhī 鄭肇之’s Húnán cut (with Zhāng Yǐng 章頴 preface). The collection’s principal political content is the run of jiāzǐ and memorials from the Jīngkāng / Jiànyán / Shàoxīng periods, including: Jīngkāng yuánnián (1126) refusal to sign the petition installing Zhāng Bāngchāng 張邦昌 (the abandonment-of-office moment); Jiànyán 3 (1129) yíbì (relocation) memorial of wànyán (10,000-word) length; Shàoxīng 4 (1134) memorial against the proposed mission to Yúnzhōng. Hú’s principal late-life controversy (his refusal to mourn his birth-mother under the yíqì zhī zǐ doctrine) and his fundamental commitment to ChéngHú anti-Buddhism (the Chóngzhèng biàn and the Zīshàntáng memorial) are both documented in the collection.
Tiyao
Fěirán jí in 30 juǎn, by Hú Yín of the Sòng. Yín, zì — Sòng shǐ makes-it Míngzhòng; this collection’s title-shows it Zhònghǔ; Lóu Yuè’s preface further calls-it Zhònggāng — surely there are 3 zì. Of Chóngān. Originally Hú Ānguó’s brother’s son. His mother — having many sons — wished not to raise; [Hú] Ānguó’s wife took-and-raised; thus he became Ānguó’s son. Xuānhé 3 (1121) achieved jìnshì jiǎkē. After southward-crossing, office to Huīyóugé zhíxuéshì. Opposed Qín Guì, banished to Xīnzhōu. Guì died, then restored to former-office. Shàoxīng 21 (1151) [should read Shàoxīng 26 = 1156, per CBDB] died. Career detailed in Sòng shǐ Rúlín zhuàn.
This collection — Duānpíng yuánnián (1234) Féng Bāngzuǒ cut at Shǔ; Lóu Yuè wrote-the-preface. Jiādìng 3 (1210) Zhèng Zhàozhī further cut at Xiāngzhōng; Zhāng Yǐng wrote-the-preface. Sòng shǐ běnzhuàn makes-it 30 juǎn — matches this version. Surely still from Sòng-cuts transcribed.
[Hú] Yín’s father-sons-brothers firmly-believed in Chéng learning. [Hú] Yín especially with qìjié known. His late banishment to Xīnzhōu — Yòu zhèngyán Zhāng Fù impeached him for not-holding-mourning for his birth-mother. [Hú] Yín wrote-letter to Guì to defend himself; the prose now in juǎn 17. Main meaning saying: yíqì zhī zǐ (abandoned-son) is not-the-same as chūjì zhī zǐ (the adopted-out son for whom ēnyì jì jué — gratitude-and-rationale severed — is appropriate); not further-discussed-as a běnshēng (birth-mother). But the mother-and-son tiānshǔ (heaven-belonging) bond — even-if encountering the misfortune of rénlún zhī biàn (human-relations transformation), yì wú jué lǐ (rationale has no severing-principle). Zhāng Fù’s impeachment — although issued from yínghé (currying-favor with) Qín Guì, jiǎ gōng yǐ jì qí sī (using-public-to-private) — what he held — cannot be called wú lǐ (without principle). [Hú] Yín preserved this letter within the collection — what is called yù gài mí zhāng (wishing-to-cover, the more-clearly-shown).
As-for Qín Guì’s crimes — qìngzhú nánshū (bamboo cannot-be-exhausted-to-write) — yet within the collection’s Shàng Guì dìyī shū — only criticised his fondness-for-Buddhism — that’s-trivial-to-an-extreme. Further [Hú] Yín composed Chóngzhèng biàn 3 juǎn — refuted-Buddhism without-restraint. The Zīshàntáng honoured Buddha-image; [Hú] Yín to-the-point of formally-impeaching — recorded in this collection’s juǎn 15. Yet juǎn 30’s end has Cíyún zhǎnglǎo kāitáng shū, Yánzhōu Bàoēn zhǎnglǎo kāitáng shū, Guāngxiào zhǎnglǎo qǐng shū, Guāngxiào chāotí shū, Lóngshān zhǎnglǎo kāitáng shū, Lóngshān zhǎnglǎo qǐng shū — 6 pieces — yóu wèimiǎn zìluàn qí lì (further unable to avoid self-disordering his own example).
But Jìngkāng yuánnián (1126) — Jīn-people deliberated-installing Zhāng Bāngchāng. [Hú] Yín, then Sīmén yuánwàiláng, with Zhāng Jùn and Zhào Dǐng both unwilling to sign-the-petition. [Zhāng] Bāngchāng installed — accordingly abandoned-office and fled. Jiànyán 3 (1129) — as Qǐjū láng — at-the-time-decree deliberated relocation-of-imperial-residence — sent-up wànyán shū — strongly-arguing — the prose now in juǎn 10. Shàoxīng 4 (1134) — as Zhōngshū shèrén — at-the-time deliberation-was sending-envoys to Yúnzhōng — further kàngshū lìjiàn (resisting-letter, strong-remonstrance) — prose now in juǎn 10. Both míngbái kǎiqiè (clear-and-fluent, pointed-and-incisive). [Continued …] Respectfully collated.
Abstract
The Fěirán jí in 30 juǎn is the standard recension of Hú Yín’s collection, descending from twin Sòng cuts (Jiādìng 3 = 1210; Duānpíng 1 = 1234). The juǎn-count matches the Sòng shǐ běnzhuàn exactly. The collection is structurally important for the early-Southern-Sòng Dàoxué lineage: Hú father-and-sons-and-brothers (Hú Ānguó, Hú Yín, Hú Hóng) constitute the central Chéng (Chéng Yí) transmission line in the HúXiāng (Húnán region) school.
The principal Sìkù editorial intervention: the editors take a sharper view than Hú on the yíqì zhī zǐ (abandoned-son) doctrine that Hú used to defend his refusal to mourn his birth-mother. Where Hú argued the parent-child bond was severed by adoption, the Sìkù editors hold the bond is tiānshǔ and not severable by reasoning. The editors also note Hú’s anti-Buddhist Chóngzhèng biàn and his memorial against the Zīshàntáng Buddha-image are inconsistent with the Cíyún and Lóngshān etc. Buddhist temple-opening shū preserved at the end of the collection — yóu wèimiǎn zìluàn qí lì (still self-undermining his own principle).
The principal political-historical content: refusal to sign Zhāng Bāngchāng’s installation petition (1126); yíbì memorial (1129); Yúnzhōng mission objection (1134). All preserved in juǎn 10 of the collection.
CBDB id 1063 confirms 1098–1156. The Sìkù tíyào’s “Shàoxīng 21” death-year is a Sìkù-error (the standard Sòng shǐ and CBDB record Shàoxīng 26 = 1156).
Translations and research
- Sòng shǐ j. 435 Rú-lín zhuàn — Hú Yín biography.
- 樓鑰 collection-preface (1234) — preserved in WYG.
- 章頴 collection-preface (1210) — preserved in WYG.
- Sòng yuán xué-àn — Hú-Xiāng-school lineage.
- No dedicated Western-language monograph located. Treated in surveys of Southern-Sòng Dào-xué.
Other points of interest
- Hú Yín’s Chóngzhèng biàn 崇正辨 in 3 juǎn — separately preserved as a Dàoxué anti-Buddhist treatise — is the principal external articulation of Hú’s intellectual position.