Jiézhāi jí 絜齋集
The Jié-zhāi Collection by 袁燮 (撰)
About the work
Jiézhāi jí 絜齋集 in 24 juǎn is the Sìkù-reconstructed biéjí of Yuán Xiè 袁燮 (1144–1224, zì Héshū 和叔, hào Jiézhāi 絜齋, of Yín 鄞 in Qìngyuánfǔ, modern Níngbō), jìnshì of Chúnxī 8 (1181), who held office to Lǐbù shìláng and Bǎowéngé zhí xuéshì, with the posthumous title Zhèngxiàn 正獻. Yuán Xiè was one of the sì xiānshēng 四先生 of Yǒngshàng 甬上 — the four chief disciples of Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵, alongside Yáng Jiǎn 楊簡, Shū Lín 舒璘, and Shěn Huàn 沈煥 — and the principal exponent of xīnxué in its applied-canonical form. The original 26-juǎn main collection plus 12-juǎn hòují (recorded in Mǎ Duānlín’s Jīngjí kǎo) was lost; the Sìkù editors reconstructed the present 24-juǎn recension from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and from Yuán Xiè’s son Yuán Fǔ’s 袁甫 postface.
Tiyao
[Includes the Yùzhì 御製 imperial poem by Qiánlóng — six rhymes praising Yuán Xiè as a jūnzǐ rú whose xìngwù (nature-awakening) follows Lù [Jiǔyuān] but whose shēnmíng (conduct-and-name) does not differ from Zhū [Xī]: “[Yuán Xiè] served Lù Jiǔyuān and obtained from him direct instruction, possessing root-and-source; he also from his youth set himself the standard of name-and-integrity. In court he repeatedly offered upright counsel; wherever he held office his administrative record was worth recording. Among the various Southern-Sòng rú he can be said to be one whose learning had body-and-application — fully detailed in the Sòngshǐ biography.” Followed by the Sìkù tíyào proper:]
[We have respectfully examined that] the Jiézhāi jí was composed by Yuán Xiè of the Sòng. Xiè’s zì was Héshū, a man of Yínxiàn. He passed the jìnshì examination, held office to Lǐbù shìláng and Bǎowéngé zhí xuéshì; was posthumously canonized Zhèngxiàn; scholars called him the Jiézhāi xiānshēng. His career is detailed in the Sòngshǐ biography. Xiè in his early days, with his fellow-townsmen Shěn Huàn, Yáng Jiǎn, and Shū Lín, sharpened himself with them on dàoyì (Way-and-righteousness); afterwards he served Lù Jiǔyuān as his teacher and obtained from him direct instruction, possessing root-and-source. From his youth he set himself the standard of name-and-integrity. In court he repeatedly offered upright counsel; wherever he held office his administrative record could be recorded. Among the various Southern-Sòng rú, [he is one] who can be said to be one whose learning had body-and-application. His lifetime writings include the Jiézhāi jí in 26 juǎn and hòují in 12 juǎn — their entries seen in Mǎshì Jīngjí kǎo — long lost-and-untransmitted. Lì È in compiling the Sòngshī jìshì searched but did not obtain it, so even sank the man’s name. Now uniquely scattered in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — gathering and editing — we obtained 239 prose pieces and 177 poems. Although the count does not exhaust the original, what survives is also abundant. Xiè’s shī and wén are simple-and-direct, not engaged in cosmetic-coloring, while his zhēnqì (true-spirit) flows-overflow, very close to the natural. His analyses of yìlǐ (righteousness-principle) and his exposition of governance-affairs are also extremely earnest, detailed-and-clear, sufficient to be called cídá lǐjǔ (diction-arrives-and-principle-rises) — indeed the rúzhě’s words have no withering-leaves, and certainly may not be slighted as plain-and-near. Only within the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn the marks distinguishing the front- from the back-collection are unclear and cannot be told apart; respectfully arranging by category, dividing into 24 juǎn, with Xiè’s son Fǔ’s postface appended at the end to preserve the old [arrangement]. Fǔ was 1st-place jìnshì of Jiādìng 7 (1214), reaching the office of Bīngbù shàngshū; his prominence is also detailed in the Sòngshǐ — indeed one capable of carrying on the family-learning. Qiánlóng 45 (1780), 6th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Jiézhāi jí is the central record of Yuán Xiè’s career as a senior administrator and xīnxué exponent, recovered substantially by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The collection is heavy with administrative prose — zòushū and zòuzhuàng fill the first five juǎn (some 47 memorials), supplemented by 18 cèwèn in juǎn 6, 14 lùn and 9 zázhù in juǎn 7. Yuán’s notable zhāzǐ (recorded in the imperial Yùzhì preface) extend to nearly 30 pieces, including a treatise on frontier strategy (“料敵論”) and detailed proposals on civil administration (“陳民務述治要”). The remainder is xíngzhuàng and mùzhìmíng — about 50 funerary inscriptions in juǎn 11–21, providing a detailed prosopography of the Yǒngshàng literati network of which Yuán was the principal connector.
The Qiánlóng emperor’s Yùzhì poem prefaced to the Sìkù edition is itself notable: it explicitly endorses the line that Yuán’s “nature-awakening follows Lù but conduct-and-name does not differ from Zhū” — a Sìkù-period attempt to draw the late-Sòng xīnxué tradition under the orthodox Lǐxué canon. The dating bracket: 1181 (Yuán’s jìnshì year) through 1224 (his death year per CBDB id 10289).
Translations and research
- de Weerdt, Hilde. 2007. Competition over Content. Harvard. Discusses Yuán’s role in the Yǒng-shàng xīn-xué network.
- Tillman, Hoyt Cleveland. 1992. Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy. Hawai’i.
- Sòng-Yuán xué-àn 宋元學案 juǎn 75 (絜齋學案) is the principal traditional reference.
- Yuán Fǔ’s Méng-zhāi jí 蒙齋集 (separate work, also in WYG) records substantial material on his father’s career.
Other points of interest
Note that 33 of the 50+ funerary inscriptions in this collection cluster around the Sìmíng 四明 (Níngbō) literati circle; the collection is therefore one of the principal prosopographical sources for the late-Southern-Sòng Yǒngshàng xīnxué community.