Xiàngshān jí 象山集
The Xiàng-shān Collection by 陸九淵 (撰), 陸持之 (編)
About the work
Xiàngshān jí 象山集 — 28 juǎn in the Sìkù WYG recension, with a 4-juǎn yǔlù (recorded conversations) appendix; 36 juǎn in the more capacious SBCK Xiàngshān xiānshēng quánjí — is the biéjí of Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵 (1139–1193, zì Zǐjìng 子靜, of Jīnxī 金谿 in Fǔzhōu). Lù Jiǔyuān, the most influential Southern-Sòng critic of Zhū Xī 朱熹 朱熹 and the founder of xīnxué 心學 (mind-learning), built a hut on Mt. Xiàngshān 象山 in Guìxī 貴溪 and lectured there to a wide following — hence the cognomen Xiàngshān xiānshēng. The collection was compiled by his eldest son Lù Chízhī 陸持之 (1171–1225, zì Bówēi 伯微) shortly after his father’s death; it preserves Lù’s letters (juǎn 1–17 — including the famous Yǔ Zhū Yuánhuì 與朱元晦 letters debating Tàijí/Wújí in 1188), memorials, zázhù miscellanies, lectures (notably the Báilù shūyuàn Lùnyǔ jiǎngyì delivered when Zhū Xī invited him to lecture at the Báilùdòng shūyuàn in 1181), examination essays, poetry, sacrificial texts, xíngzhuàng and tomb-inscriptions, and the yǔlù compiled by his disciples — most notably Yáng Jiǎn 楊簡 and Yuán Xiè 袁燮. A niánpǔ (chronological biography) closes the collection.
Tiyao
[The WYG tíyào is not present in the source file (frontmatter contains only the SBCK prefaces); below is a synopsis of the standard Sìkù tíyào from the Zǒngmù (juǎn 159).]
The Xiàngshān jí in 28 juǎn with附錄 4 juǎn was composed by Lù Jiǔyuān of the Sòng. Jiǔyuān’s zì was Zǐjìng, a man of Jīnxī. Jìnshì of Qiándào 8 (1172); held office to Tàichángsì zhèng and Zhī Jīngménjūn. Compiled after his death by his son Chízhī. The collection contains shū (letters) in 17 juǎn — primarily with disciples Fù Zǐyuān, Bāo Yángdào, Yán Bēn, Yáng Jiǎn, and the famous polemics with Zhū Xī on Wújí Tàijí; zòubiǎo in 1 juǎn; jì, xù, zèng, and zázhù — including the major Báilù shūyuàn lecture; cèwèn in 1 juǎn of 16 questions; shī; xíngzhuàng and mùzhì; chéngwén (examination essays) in 3 juǎn — preserving Jiǔyuān’s exam pieces, since he was jìnshì and at one time set examination policy; and a yǔlù in 4 juǎn compiled by his disciples. While the Sìkù editors recognize Jiǔyuān as one of the principal lights of late-Southern-Sòng learning, they note that yǔlù style is not the proper line of wénzhāng, and the heart of his learning lies in the letters and the Báilùdòng lecture. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), respectfully collated.
Abstract
Xiàngshān jí is one of the foundational works of xīnxué 心學, the LùWáng school of Neo-Confucianism, transmitted continuously from its first compilation by Lù Chízhī down through standard editions in Jiādìng 5 (1212, the Yuán Xiè preface), Jiājìng 40 (1561, the Wáng Zōngmù 王宗沐 cut at Guǎngxī, with the prefaces of Wáng Shǒurén 王守仁 (1521), Yáng Jiǎn (1205), and Yuán Xiè (1212) prepended), to the WYG and SBCK recensions used today. The principal content-anchors:
- The Yǔ Zhū Yuánhuì letters (juǎn 2): the 1188 exchange with Zhū Xī over the Tàijí/Wújí terminology of Zhōu Dūnyí’s 周敦頤 Tàijítú shuō, the most famous philosophical correspondence of Southern Sòng. Lù argued that Wújí is a Daoist intrusion and that Tàijí alone, understood as identical with xīn 心, is sufficient.
- The Báilùdòng shūyuàn jiǎngyì (juǎn 23): in 1181 Zhū Xī, despite philosophical differences, invited Lù to lecture at his Báilùdòng academy on Lùnyǔ 4.16 (“the jūnzǐ understands yì; the xiǎorén understands lì”). Zhū Xī wept openly during the lecture and had the text engraved on stone.
- The yǔlù (juǎn 34–35): records of conversations compiled by Yáng Jiǎn, Fù Mèngquán, and others — the principal source for Lù’s mature sayings, including the famous “the universe is my mind; my mind is the universe” (宇宙便是吾心吾心便是宇宙).
- The niánpǔ (juǎn 36 in the SBCK): the standard chronological biography compiled by Lù Chízhī, whose 1175 entry preserves the Éhú zhī huì 鵝湖之會 — the Éhú meeting between Lù and Zhū at Lǚ Zǔqiān’s 呂祖謙 invitation, traditionally read as the originary event of the LùZhū split.
The dating bracket: 1192/1193 (Lù’s death — CBDB id 3632 gives 1192, but Wikidata, Wikipedia, and standard biographies including Sòngshǐ j. 434 give 1193, followed here as the more widely-accepted figure) marks the earliest possible compilation; 1212 is the date of Yuán Xiè’s preface, the terminus ante quem for the principal recension.
Translations and research
- Cady, Lyman V. 1939. The Philosophy of Lu Hsiang-shan, a Neo-Confucian Monistic Idealist. Yenching University. Pioneering English study.
- Huang, Siu-chi. 1944. Lu Hsiang-shan: A Twelfth Century Chinese Idealist Philosopher. American Oriental Society. Standard mid-century monograph.
- Foster, Robert W. 1997. “Differentiating Rightness from Profit: The Life and Thought of Lu Jiuyuan (1139–1193).” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard. The fullest English-language treatment.
- Ivanhoe, Philip J. 2009. Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism. Hackett. Includes substantial translations from the Xiàngshān jí.
- Tillman, Hoyt Cleveland. 1992. Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy. Hawai’i. Treats Lù-Zhū polemics in detail.
- 鄧艾民. 1965. *陸九淵集釋》. Standard PRC critical edition.
- *陸九淵集》, Zhōnghuá shū-jú, 1980 (ed. 鍾哲). The standard punctuated edition.
Other points of interest
The 32-juǎn Jiādìng (Lù Chízhī) recension, mediated through Jiājìng-era reprints (notably the 1561 Wáng Zōngmù Guǎngxī cut and the Cíhú recension), preserved an enormous polemical literature on the LùZhū divergence: the prefaces of Yáng Jiǎn (1205) and Yuán Xiè (1212) — both first-generation disciples — defend Lù as a direct heir of Mèngzǐ; Wáng Shǒurén’s 1521 Xiàngshān wénjí xù is the foundational Míng xīnxué reading of Lù; Wáng Zōngmù’s 1561 long postface (preserved in the SBCK) attempts to reconcile Lù and Zhū against the Míng-era LǐWáng faction-banishments. The presence of all these prefaces in the SBCK makes the SBCK rather than the WYG the more useful research recension.